European Fair of Regional Products, Zakopane (every August)

The European Fair of Regional Products (Europejskie Targi Produktów Regionalnych) is a five-day festival of food, crafts and music held every August on Górna Równia Krupowa, a large green in the centre of Zakopane a few minutes' walk from Krupówki street. It is organised by the Tatra Agency for Development, Promotion and Culture, and in 2026 it took place for the seventeenth time. According to the organiser, the fair aims to show the region through the people who keep traditional products and methods alive, and to let visitors meet the living cultural heritage of Poland and other European countries.

The fair is lined with tents of cheese, meat, honey, bread and sweet makers, plus a separate craft zone for goods made by non-industrial methods with motifs from local culture. Next to them, rural women's associations (KGW) serve regional dishes.

For a visitor it is a convenient way to see and taste Podhale's protected products in a single day: Bryndza Podhalańska became the first Polish product to gain EU Protected Designation of Origin, and oscypek and redykołka later received the same status. At the fair they are sold by the shepherds themselves, so you can ask which meadow the cheese comes from and how it was smoked.

Why go

The highlight for cheese lovers is the "Podhale Day" with the Festival of Oscypek and All Kinds of Cheese (Festiwal Oscypka i Serów Wszelakich): shepherds demonstrate oscypek-making and a jury chooses the "Best Oscypek and Cheese of the Fair". In 2026 there were also a Polish Day, a Roma Day and Polish-Slovak days.

Every day the "Zorymbek Tradycji" zone hosts demonstrations and workshops: embroidering highland bodices, wool processing, blacksmithing, basket weaving, wood carving, Slovak woodcarving and leatherwork, fabric painting and shepherding activities for children. Woodcarver Marcin Lichosyt shows his work every day. In the evenings highland and Slovak bands and folk ensembles play on the stage. It is a good family outing: everything happens on a flat green in town, with no climbing.

What to taste and buy

• Oscypek, bundz, bryndza and redykołki from Podhale shepherds, at the height of the grazing season.
• Cheese, sausages, honey, bread and pastries from Małopolska, other Polish regions and neighbouring countries.
• Crafts: wooden ladles and spoons, carvings, embroidery, woollen goods, ceramics, forged items.
• Dishes from rural women's associations — home-style regional cooking with tastings.

Practical information

Venue: Górna Równia Krupowa, Zakopane — the green between Kościuszki, Zamoyskiego and Krupówki streets, about 10 minutes' walk from the bus and railway stations. Parking in the centre is difficult in August; better leave the car at a paid car park near the station.

Dates: in 2026, 14–18 August; the grounds opened daily at 11:00 and concerts ran into the evening. The organiser publishes the next year's dates and programme in summer at produkty-regionalne.eu.

Prices: free entry; products at stallholders' prices, some accept cash only. Weekend evenings are the busiest; to taste cheese in peace come before lunch, and bring a cool bag if you are taking cheese a long way.

Organiser contacts: +48 18 20 613 20, [email protected].

Nearby

• Krupówki street — Zakopane's main pedestrian street.
• Market below Gubałówka — a daily bazaar with cheese and souvenirs.
• Gwarno brewpub below Gubałówka.
• Wielka Krokiew ski jump — about 1.5 km.

Official website: produkty-regionalne.eu

Photos: produkty-regionalne.eu.