Sądecki Bartnik Beekeeping Farm, Stróże

Sądecki Bartnik in the village of Stróże near Grybów is one of Poland's best-known beekeeping farms. The family business was founded in 1973 by Anna and Janusz Kasztelewicz in an area where the Beskid Sądecki, the Low Beskids and the Ciężkowice Foothills meet. According to the farm itself, its apiaries count more than one and a half thousand bee colonies, and the clean surrounding forests and meadows yield spring, lime, honeydew and single-variety honeys. The name refers to the old forest beekeepers (bartnicy) who took honey from wild bees nesting in hollows of living trees.

For a traveller, Sądecki Bartnik is not just a company shop but a whole beekeeping homestead: wooden cottages in a park, historic hives, animals, a restaurant with honey cuisine and little houses for "hive-air" inhalations. On the grounds stands the Carpathian Millennium Bee Tree (Karpacka Barć Milenijna), a trunk-hive more than ten metres tall — the tallest in Poland, listed in the Polish "Book of Records and Curiosities".

What to see and do

• Guided tour of the beekeeping open-air collection (about one hour): more than 100 hives — log hives, figurative hives, straw skeps; two hives from 1822 are listed monuments. Among the figurative ones are St Ambrose, patron of beekeepers, and "the Devil", who in old beliefs protected the apiary from harm. The guide explains how people once "went about the bees" and shows honey extractors, smokers and other tools.
• The Miodowa Spiżarnia shop. It sells natural honeys — honeydew, heather, multifloral, lime, acacia, buckwheat and rapeseed — plus bee bread, pollen, propolis, honey with royal jelly and the traditional meads półtorak, dwójniak and trójniak. There are beeswax candles and books on beekeeping too.
• The Bartna Chata restaurant with honey cuisine and the "U Babci Marysi" guest houses (46 beds).
• Api-inhalations. In five "api-houses" you can breathe air from the hives; they operate from May to October.
• Mini-zoo and "Bee Village". Goats, Hucul horses, ponies, poultry and a playground; in the summer holidays children up to 7 can have a pony ride (7 zł per lap, daily 13:00–15:00).
• Biesiada u Bartnika — an annual festival on the first weekend of July with a honey-harvest demonstration, honey tasting, regional food and folk music.

Practical information

Address: Stróże 235, 33-331 Stróże (Nowy Sącz county). Stróże lies about 5 km in a straight line north of Grybów; a car is the easiest option, and parking on site is free.

Guided tours of the open-air collection in 2026 run daily at 11:30, 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00 (on Corpus Christi at 14:30 and 16:00); you can walk the grounds on your own from 9:00 to 17:00. Tickets (sold in the Miodowa Spiżarnia shop): standard 29 zł, reduced 25 zł, family (2+2) 69 zł. In May and June there are many school groups on weekdays, so individual visitors are asked to arrange the tour time in advance: +48 18 414 05 79, [email protected].

The shop is open Mon–Sat 9:00–17:00, Sundays and holidays 11:00–17:00. The Bartna Chata restaurant is open May–September Mon–Fri 10:00–19:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–20:00, and October–April Mon–Fri 10:00–18:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–19:00. An api-house costs 90 zł (stays up to 3 days) or 70 zł (over 3 days). Closed in 2026: 1 and 6 January, 4–6 April, 1 November, 24–26 December (restaurant: 3–6 April, 1 November, 23–26 December).

It is a good place for families with children: a large green area, picnic tables, a gazebo and a playground.

Nearby

Within half an hour's drive are the Lemko wooden churches in Brunary and Owczary, the church in Sękowa and historic Biecz. Further south-east, in Regietów, is the Gładyszów Hucul horse stud.

Official website: bartnik.pl

Photos: bartnik.pl; Zalasem1, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.