Navigation Walking Poland Walks in Bieszczady National Park :: Home :: Greek islands :: Poland .... Bieszczady ::.... 3 walks ::..... Maps ::.. Tatra :: Links :: Sitemap Web site counter Bieszczady is located in the south east corner of Poland, at the country borders of Ukraine and Slovak Republic in the Carpathian mountain range. It's the most eastern part of the Beskid mountains, an area once called the "Polish Wild East." Not many people lives in these deserted parts and the human influence on nature is low. The park has about 250.000 visitors per year. Tourists were first allowed to visit the area in the 1950s. Bieszczadzki National Park is the third largest national park in Poland (29200 ha). Established in 1973. Allmost 70% of the park area has status of strictly protected zone and the public access to the park is regulated by a well prepared system of marked tourist trails and controlling observation of visitors. Around 80 % of the park is covered by forest and is a part of Europe's largest primeval and natural beech forest complex. The rest is covered by mountain meadows (poloniny), and non-forest associations in lower altitudes. The uppermost mountain grassland areas are called 'polonina'. Picture: Mount Tarnica (1346 m above sea level). In the park lives Brown Bear, Wolf, Wildcat, European Bison, Red Deer and Lynx. The size of Brown Bear population is about 50 animals. The area is very suitable for walking and hiking with around 130 km of well marked trails. The highest point of Bieszczady is Mount Tarnica (1346 m above sea level). Picture: Ustrzyki Gorne. We stayed in Ustrzyki Gorne, a small village in the heart of Bieszczadzy. There is a Ranger camp, small shops, bars, accomodations, a primitive kind of hostal and a small campground in the village and a four bedded hostal and a campsite in the outskirt of the village. We stayed at both the hostal and the campsite. The hostal was fine, toilets, showers and a small kitchen. The campsite had all needs as well. Itinerary: From Krakow we went by train to Sanok by a midnight train and the journey time was about 6 hour. "The Bieszczady Express" was not even close to its name. But we had a good nights sleep, in an almost empty train, instead of a room in Krakow and saved the value. Just outside the train station in Sanok there is more than one minibus with destination Ustrzyki Gorne. The bus leaves when it's full - not before. But there are quite a few people going that direction, mostly polish hikers, and soon you will be on our way. The walk to Polonina Carynska is about 12 - 13 km long and leads you over 3 summits (1107, 1230 og 1297m. a.s.l.). The Wiekel Rawka walk is about 14 - 15 km and the trail passes 2 summits at 1302 and 1304 m. a.s.l. and only a few hundred meters from the Ukraine border. The trail to Mount Tarnica is a nice 13 - 14 km long walk in meadows to the highest peak in Bieszczady. (All walks in september) > top of page Part of erikpetersen.dk Design wepsites.dk Updated 03-03-2007 jan. 2006 ©copyright: epwalks.com All rights reserved