8 Kolobrzeska, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Bieszczady Range covers the south east tip of Poland. It is famous region considered to be the most pristine and wild in the country. Tourists can meet here a real European Bison by the road, and at night hear distant howling of wolves. The fame of outcast Bieszczady inhabitants has also been legendary. In the last few years, the region greatly opened to tourists and a lot of new comfortable hotels, shops and restaurants emerged. There are countless hiking, cycling and horse riding routes, picturesque meadows, mountain peaks, but also villages and small towns. It is enough to move away from larger towns to plunge into the rich world of plants and animals. Majority of Bieszczady forests have leaves that show the real richness of autumn. Moreover, Bieszczady peaks have meadows called ‘połoniny’ that also turn interesting colours in autumn and offer magnificent views to the lower laying deciduous woods. Bieszczady are really worth to be discovered especially during COVID pandemics that threatens huge agglomerations.
Pieniny National Park was created in 1932 to protect fairly small group of mountains from Czorsztyn to Szczawnica towns and Dunajec Gorge in this area. The park area is 2 346 hectares. The most famous peaks include Sokolica 747 m above sea level and Trzy Korony 982 m above sea level. In the park there are 35 km trails among them walking, cycling and skiing ones. Still, the most popular attraction of Pieniny is rafting in Dunajec gorge. Autumn is the best time of the year to take Dunajec cruise where the gorge bursts with all kinds of autumn colours. There are also anthropological attractions such as castle ruins in Czorsztyn or Niedzica Palace. Flora of this fairly small area is very diverse. 167 species of typically mountain plants were noted and also 2 endemic species. There are also 7 thousand animal species here. The most interesting ones include butterflies species and bats. Lots of tourist claim that Pieniny are the prettiest mountains in Poland.
Bory Tucholskie National Park was created in 1996 to protect forest areas and after glacial sandur outwash plains. Still, only 1.9% of Tucholskie Forest areas are protected by national park. This is why it is definitely the capital of mushroom pickers. The national park area is 4 613 hectares of forests, lakes, meadows and bogs. Tourists will find here 21 lakes. The deepest and the biggest one is Ostrowite (272 ha). There are also very peculiar crystal water lakes such as Wielkie Gacko, Małe Gacko, Nierybno and Głuchawe that offer very pretty autumn panoramas. Just by the park there are also some famous touristic rivers among which Brda is the best well known. In the park there are 37 distinctive groups of plants. Still, pine forests are dominant. In general all Bory Tucholskie region water tourism is highly developed (numerous lakes and rivers) there is also a great number of walking and cycling trails. The biggest tourist centers are by Charzykowskie and Krasińskie Lakes. Brda River is one of the best well known kayak trails in Poland. Tuchola Forest is also the place where the biggest mushroom in the country was found.
It is the only area in Poland that was enlisted at natural UNESCO world heritage list. It is the oldest National Park in Poland which was created in 1932. The area of the park is 10 517.27 hectare. The park protects the last primeval virgin forest in European Lowland region. In the park there are more than 4 000 species of plants and more than 8 000 species of animals. Among them there are 120 species of birds and 52 species of mammals. Still, the most famous animal in Białowieża is European Bison which is also the park’s symbol. In the park there are many touristic and educational trails that can be visited with national park guides’ supervision and during autumn they offer beautiful views. There are also two very interesting sites worth visiting: the modern natural history museum of the national park and the bison sanctuary. It is also interesting to sightsee Białowieża village itself as it is still in majority wooden settlement that peacefully joins various religious communities.
Kotlina Kłodzka (Kłodzko Valley) is a charming mountainous area of Poland with magical spa towns and multitude of attractions also numerous underground ones. It is really worth to stay in one of the resorts in the valley and take trips to sightsee the rest of it. Kotlina Kłodzka is situated in the south of Lower Silesia District and is surrounded by border mountain range with the Czech Republic from the west, south and east. The best way to get there is to fly to Nicholaus Copernicus Airport in Wrocław and then taking a coach to one of spa towns in the valley such as Polanica Zdrój, Duszniki Zdrój, Kudowa Zdrój, Lądek Zdrój, Bystrzyca Kłodzka or Międzylesie. They can become ideal accommodation bases for Kotlina Kłodzka sightseeing. We recommend to stay at least 2 weeks in the area to discover all the marvels.
Every season of the year offers different type of attractions. Still, Polish Golden Autumn offers very stable and tourist friendly weather conditions and a whole beauty of autumn landscapes. We greatly encourage all tourists to take autumn strolls in Poland and enjoy this spectacular event. There is great probability to encounter sunny, high pressure weather thanks to which visitors can admire the beauty of autumn. As likely, there won’t be much of such sunny days left this year, we want to inspire everyone to enjoy colourful autumn leaves.
Author: Agnieszka Szwedzińska
Date: 31.08.2021
