Lower Krynica is the southern district of the town, which lies in a valley of Kryniczanka. A large part of it was a separate town formerly known as Krynica-Wieś. According to folk tradition, at the turn of 16th and 17th century the first settler here was a man called Homa, which is why the place was called ‘Homowe Sioło’. In 1651 the Greek Catholic parish was established here, as most residents were Łemkos. In addition to agriculture and pasturing, they were also cloth makers. In 1911 a separate rural municipality was constituted here, although the inhabitants remained strongly associated with the main resort. They sold there their farm products and forestry and worked at the resort as a carriage drivers (at that time, there was no rail link between Muszyna and Krynica). In the interwar period, Lower Krynica had its own mill, two sawmills, a fulling mill, two brickyards and a slaughterhouse. Ruska Włościańska Party and the Lemko Society (the latter publishing its own weekly magazine “Łemko" were ‘born’ here. The main publisher of “Lemko” weekly, Metody Trochanowski, worked out a Lemko primer. All these activities slowly formed the identity of the Lemko Ruthenian as a separate nation (and not, as some people believe, an ethnic sub-group of Ukrainians or Russians). During the Second World War, Lemko activists were subjected to repression, sometimes even deported to concentration camps. Many of them cooperated with Polish underground organizations, helping to organize courier routs to Hungary. On January 21st 1945 the Red Army entered Krynica. The frightened Lemko population consented to a voluntary deportation to the Soviet Union. Those remaining were expelled to the western Polish territories during the "Operation Wisla" in 1947. On December 28th 1946, the Greek Catholic parish was changed to a Roman Catholic. In the late 1950s, some of previously deported Lemko families returned to Lower Krynica. This population amounts today to ca. 400 people. In the recent years, this part of Krynica expanded greatly, losing entirely its rural character.
Old Cemetery is located at the street of the same name. Many people of particular merit for the town are buried here, including Leon Nowotarski (the long-time director of the spa), Roman Nitribitt, Fr. Cc. Adam Cisowski (the builder of St. Anthony Church), dr. Mieczyslaw Dukiet, the poet Henry Zbierzchowski, and Epifan Drowniak, known as Nikifor (his burial place being an often visited place in the recent years). In front of the cemetery chapel, a stone monument with the inscription "Victims of Nazism and Communism," and behind the chapel there is a burial place of the First World War soldiers.
The Czarny Potok Valley flows west of the Kraszewski Street (behind the hospital building to the right). It owes its name to the mountain stream rushing along the road going in the north-west direction. After 3.5 km you can turn to the Ludowa Street, where the recreation center of the Agricultural University of Cracow and the seat of the Forest Experimental Station headquarters are located. The latter serves as a Forest District Office and the educational and training center of the Faculty of Forestry of the Agricultural University in Krakow. Further up the Czarny Potok stream is the campsite and the lower station of the gondola cable car to Jaworzyna Krynicka, which is the greatest attraction of the area. Opened on August 21st 1997, it is 2,284 m long, has 56 cars and the transfer capacity of 1,600 people per hour, and until 2007 carried over 7 million passengers to the Jaworzyna Krynicka summit. The cable car has now become a hallmark of the Krynica resort. In the winter season (December to March) a number of ski runs of various difficulty level are at their disposal of the skiers, and in recent years a ski lift was built on the so-called ‘Izwor’. In the future, the lower station in the town center is planned. At the end of Czarny Potok stand two large hotels ("Pegasus" and "SPA Dr Irena Eris") with a spacious parking lot.
