EN
The purpose of the article is to analyse the methods of spatial planning of tourist and recreational areas on the basis of planning documents in force in the selected tourist communes: Karpacz, Bystrzyca Kłodzka, Lądek Zdrój, Mikołajki, Rewal, Międzyzdroje and Ryn. The choice of communes constituting the representative group was made on the basis of quality and quantity criteria of tourist attraction and location of these communes in tourist regions. The adopted method was the analysis of the binding studies of conditions and directions of development, local plans, their correlation and compliance with the legal regulations concerned with spatial planning.On the basis of the conducted analyses it was stated that lack of precise regulations ordering the issues of spatial planning has led to extremely different models of planning tourist and recreational areas as regards their quality. The current legal framework is insufficient in regulating the principles of development of the analysed areas. The situation may be remedied by changing the regulations that define the criteria of qualifying communes as tourist communes and the resulting duty of a wider and more comprehensive approach to the analysed issues in the structure of the planning documents.