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Spatial accessibility is usually understood in relation to the possibility of a specific location being reached from another location (Guzik, 2014). It is one of the main factors affecting land use and land-use changes (Hansen, 1959; Prishchepov et al., 2013) in relation to which the greatest variation is to be observed in mountainous areas (Jobe & White, 2009). The aim of the study detailed here was thus to identify variation in the spatial accessibility of mountainous areas in terms of their being used in agriculture. The problem of agricultural accessibility is here exemplified by three mesoregions of the Polish Carpathians, i.e. the Bieszczady Mts., Low Beskid Mts. and Sanok-Turka Mts. These are all areas in which spatial accessibility and landscape structure have changed markedly over the last 70 years. Cost of access in these areas was calculated by assigning resistance values to each distance unit, in relation to land-cover type and slope. To generate an output raster, use was made of a cost-distance algorithm implemented in ArcGIS. The research described here gave rise to a figure presenting the agricultural accessibility of the study area. Very varied accessibility was demonstrated, both in the research area as a whole and between mesoregions. Results obtained were compared with values for currently used arable fields. Areas accessible to agriculture were also identified, and compared with the distribution of arable fields actually in existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]