Poland's Tatra mountains are an alpine wonderland for walkers, cyclists and wildlife-watchers. Steve Crawshaw leads us up the right path.

Over the years, I have travelled south from the old Polish city of Krakow to the Tatra mountains a dozen times­ first when I lived in Krakow 20 years ago, and on return visits to Poland in the years since then. By bus and by car, in July sun and January snow, in fresh-green spring and crimson-blazing autumn. By rights, the route should get dully familiar. It refuses to do so. Each time, as I take the road that leads out through the ugly suburbs of this otherwise beautiful city, my spirits inevitably lift.