It was the largest extermination camp of the Third Reich which claimed over 1 million victims, mainly Jews, Poles, Roma, Russians.

Babia Gora National Park was established in 1954. The area of the Park is 3392 ha. 94% of the area is taken by forests communities. In 1976 UNESCO recognized the Park as the world reserve of the biosphere. The massif of Babia Gora (Babia Mountain) built of magurski sandstone constitutes a separate ridge of the Beskid Wysoki. It runs evenly with a parallel of latitude around 11 km, reaching the maximum height of 1725 meters (the peak of Diablak).

The last natural forest ecosystem in Europe and the largest forest in this continent with elsewhere unprecedented wealth of fauna and flora.

Bialowieza National Park was founded in 1921 covering the area of 10502 ha, including the nature preserve with the area of 4747 ha. In 1977 UNESCO recognized the Park as the World Reserve of Biosphere and in 1979 the Bialowieza National Park was put on the List of the World Heritage Site.

Bieszczady National Park was made in 1973 on the area of 5587 ha, until 1996 it was enlarged to 27834 hectares. In 1992 UNESCO recognized the international Polish-Slovakian-Ukrainian reserve of the biosphere called “The Eastern Carpathians”, with the area of 164190 ha. The Polish part of the reserve contains Bieszczadzki National Park and two Landscape Parks: “Cisniansko-Wetlinski” and “The Sun Valley”. 18425 ha are strictly protected, including forests – 91% and mountain pastures – 9%.

Best places to make canoe expeditions are on the Masurian lakes and in Augustow Canal. Most beautiful trips to be made are along River Krutynia and on the Western Pomeranian Lakes. Few hours riding from Krakow, on Dunajec River an interesting canoeing or rafting expedition in Pieniny National Park can be done.

Around 400 castles have survived in Poland until today. In the times of first Piast rulers, fortified settlements were built in Poland. Starting from 13^th century, many of them were replaced with castles – originally Gothic, then enlarged and modernized until the 17^th century.

Why not a bike? It's good activity not only to move your body, but also it's more interesting to see the world from bike-saddle perspective. Rent-a-bike services are not only in big cities, but often in little touristic towns it is also possible to rent a bike.

It was established in 1990 on the area of 11342 ha, of which the forest take 83%. It protects naturally most interesting area of the Western Lake District, representing the most valuable fragments of early glacial landscape of outwash plains, formed during the last phase of the Baltic glaciation. The landscape is composed of kame hills, numerous post-glacial gullies and 13 lakes of various depths and fertility with the biggest one – Lake Ostrowieckie with the area of around 370 ha.

This sport hasn't been popular in Poland until the late '90s. Now it is becoming more and more popular, but it is still considered to be an exclusive sport for rich and famous. In fact, lots of politicians, businessmen and celebrities practise this sport.

Gorce National Park was established in 1981 and covers the area of 7019 ha; the main element of the landscape are forests taking 95%.

It is a typical forest mountain Park, with a layer configuration of plants (lower and upper prealps). It comprises the central part of the Gorce with 5 summits of over 1200 meters, with the highest one – Jaworzyna Krzemieniecka (1233 meters). In the slopes of Turbacz on the area of the Park rise 10 streams, with “the queen of the Gorce rivers” - the Kamienica, which belong to the catchment area of the Dunajec and the Raba – the right-bank tributaries of the upper Vistula.

There are lot of hang-glidnig schools in Poland, usually they are close to the sport airfields or on their territory. Some of these schools are open all year round, some only in tourist season. All of them have professional equipment and stuff prepared to flying safe, with proper qualifications.

Wandering through the mountains is very popular, especially in the summer time in Poland. People like spending their free time enjoying nature and strolling through the shady paths in forests. Tatry Mountains and Zakopane are again the most popular placse for hiking fans.

In 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, Nazis destroyed completly 85% of the Warsaw Old Town. After the war Poles decided to rebuilt this the most beautiful part of their capital, carefully following preserved historic documentation, old plans, maps and photos.

Big cities like Krakow, Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw etc. with many historic relics, museums and other tourist attractions are quite well known, so in our travel guide we want to present you also some small towns and villages often very picturesque and enchanting, with typical small-town architecture. Many of them were destroyed by wars and fires, later reconstructed. Most of them are rarely visited by foreign tourists but they are certainly very interesting.

This sport has a long tradition in Poland. Abundance of horse riding clubs which are associated in Polish Horsemanship Federation (around 400), offer horse riding. It is also possible on agrotouristic farms. Services can be different: from a short recreative ride with an instructor to few weeks horse riding camps in the land.

In summer Masurian Lakes, Polish „land of thousand lakes” and paradise for sailors, are full of people. Not too many people know that sailing on them is possible also in the winter. Thanks to that sailors who are really addicted to this sport can find something interesting for themselves.

The second largest Polish Park was founded in 1959, covering the area of 38544 ha, of which 75% is taken by the forests, 15% by the arable land, 3% by the waters and swamps. It comprises a fragment of the Kampinos Forest lying in the proglacial valley of the Vistula. The characteristic feature of the landscape is the strip configuration of the dune lying evenly with a parallel of latitude, with the height of 12-20 meters separated by swamp depression.

Karkonosze National Park was established in 1959 on the area of 5562 ha. In 1992 UNESCO created an international Polish-Czech reserve of the biosphere called “The Karkonosze” with the area of over 60 thousand ha for the protection of the oldest mountains of Harz-Caledonian era in Central Europe.

A former capital of Poland, medieval centre of merchandising, the city where all the legends were once true. Undamaged by the Second World War, Cracow has been listed by UNESCO as one of the most significant historic sites in the world.

It's a merchant city from XIII century with the largest market square in Europe, historic tenement houses, palaces and churches.

A country manor house is traditionally regarded in Poland as a typical seat of gentry. This is where the ancestral, patriotic and religious customs were maintained and the so-called Sarmatian moral values cherished. From the 16^th century onwards, picturesque manors of the landed nobility were typical in the Polish landscape.

There are more than 750 museums in Poland, greatly differing in their character. Most significant for Polish cultural heritage are the museums in the royal castles: on Wawel Hill in Krakow and in Warsaw. Some museums are widely known, e.g. Lancut Castle, some are quite unheard of, like the poetess Maria Konopnicka’s manor house at Zarnowiec.

It was established in 1956 and covers the area of 2146 ha, of which the forests take 71%. It comprises the most beautiful fragment of the Krakow Highland. The Park has diversified and rich krastic sculpture of the earth's surface, which is composed of steep walls of gorges built of upper Jurassic limestones, accompanied by inselberg forms of rock limestones, going up to the height of 50 meters.

Polish kings of the Early Modern era wielded relatively little power and had rather shallow coffers; however real power lay in the hands of the nobility. That is the reason as to why the palaces built by the wealthiest Polish families, such as the Radziwills, Potockis, Lubomirskis or Dzialynskis, repeatedly surpassed in opulence the royal residences.

Pieniny National Park was established in 1954. It has 2231 ha, of which 1564 are covered by forests, which is 70% of the total area.

The Park is located in the central part of the Pieniny Central Range which consists of the Czorsztynskie Pieniny (Nowa Gora, 903 meters), the Trzy Korony Massif (982 meters) and the Pieninki with Sokolica (747 meters). This range is built of Jurassic and creataceous limestone rocks and earlier sandstones, slates and pudding stones.

The Park was established in 1990 with the area of 9648 ha, of which 41% is covered by forests. Polesie National Park is situated on the eastern confines of Poland, in the central part of Leczynsko – Wlodawskie Lake District, where one of the last European peat and swamp areas remained, representing a minature form of European tundra and forest-tundra. The mosaic landscape consists of intermingled water, peat and thicket-forest ecosystems.

Sacred places were worshipped in the Polish land as early as pagan times. Later on Christian churches were built in these and other places. Today 85% of Polish sanctuaries are connected with the cult of Our Lady. Those most frequented by Catholic pilgrims are Czestochowa (with Jasna Gora Monastery), Stary Lichen and Kalkow-Godow. Since November 2010 small town of Swiebodzin in western Poland also became important place on religious map of Poland thanks to second tallest statue of Jesus Christ in the world. The best known goal of Orthodox pilgrimages is the village of Grabarka (famous for Holy Mountain of crosses). Jewish pilgrims go mainly to Lezajsk and Krakow. Muslims have two oldest mosques at Bohoniki and Kruszyniany.

It's quite dangerous sport for fit and courageous, determined people. The best places for climbing are in Tatra Mountains, picturesque surroundings of Marine Eye Lake or Five Polish Ponds Valley are good choice, because besides climbing there is an opportunity to admire the beauty of the landscape.

It was established in 1974 on the area of 8482 ha, of which the forests take 95%. The diversified landscape of the Park is composed of ranges of woody hills built of cretaceous and limestone rocks traversed by the river Wieprz and the stream Swierszcz valleys.

Sailing is quite popular sport in Poland, mostly because in north-eastern part of the country there is a „land of a thousand lakes” - Masuria. Many hills configurated the territory and there are around 2000 lakes, including the biggest ones in Poland - Sniardwy and Mamry.

Skiing and snowboarding are the most popular winter sports in Poland. There are lots of places where you can ski, but most of them are located in the south of Poland, in Tatry and Sudety Mountains. If you are interested not only in spending your time on a ski lift, Zakopane, the winter capital of Poland, rich with culture and history heritage, will probably be the best choice.

It was established in 1967, protecting the area of 18789 ha, of which 5935 ha are strictly protected, 25% is covered by forest, 54% by waters and 4% by meadows and peatbogs. In 1977 UNESCO recognized Slowinskie Coast National Park as the world relict of biosphere.

The Stolowe Mountains in the central part of the Sudetic syncline are the only Polish sandstone tablelands of plate structure. Breaking up into blocks of sandstone and going through a selective process of decay they create here, on a small area (17x4 km), a unique landscape consisting of labyrinths and countless numbers of isolated rocks of incredibly fantastic shapes.

“The Jodlowa Forest of the Zeromski National Park” was the first name of the part of the area of the Swietokrzyskie Mountains on the Srodkowomalopolska Highland, on which Swietokrzyskie Mountains National Park was established in 1950. It covers the area of 7632 ha, of which 95% is covered by forests.

The only miner's object in the world which is constatly open since medieval ages till today. It extends on 9 levels, has 2040 chambers and 360 km of galleries which form a mysterious labyrinth.

It was established in 1957 covering the area of 7620 ha, of which the forests occupy 58% of the total area. The sculpture of the earth's surface and landscape variety of the Park are composed of: terminal moraines, with the biggest one near Pozogowo (132 meters) post-glacial guillies with water (12 lakes), esker ridges, drumlins, ravines, dunes and the network of left-bank tributaries of the Warta river.

Wigry National Park was founded in 1989 covering the area of about 15 thousand ha, of which the forests constitute 61%, the waters 19% and the arable land 15%. 386 ha are strictly protected, including 35% of forests and 65% of waters. In 1979 the group of Wigierskie lakes was put in the International Project AQUA.

The park was created in 1960 at professor A. Wodiczko's suggestion. It comprises the area of 10937 ha. It is situated at the estuary of the Odra river and comprises naturally most valuable north-western part of the Island of Wolin, between Szczecinski Bay and the Baltic Sea.