Biebrza National Park – what to see?
While planning a visit to the Biebrza National Park, you should keep in mind to stay on the appointed trails. It’s worth checking the park’s website, if some of the routes aren’t currently closed. The swampy area can cause some of the paths to be tmeporarily closed. While going to the park you must purchase an entrance ticket – you can do it in the headquarters of the Biebrza National Park in Twierdza-Osowiec or on the eParki website. A one day entrance ticket for the land or water trails costs 8 PLN for a grown up , or 4 PLN for children and young people (children below the age of 7 can enter the park for free).
Twierdza-Osowiec
You can start exploring the Biebrza National Park with a visit to Twierdza—Osowiec. Visiting this never-conquered fortress, which was constructed here in the 19th century, is only possible with a guide. The fortress can be explored from Monday to Friday, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. During the approximately 2-hourv visit, the guide will show you the museum, as well as the corridors and undergrounds of the fortress.
If you prefer to spend your time surrounded by nature, there are educational paths in the close surroundings. The Góra Skobla nature-history path is marked with the red color and it begins right by the headquarters of the Biebrza National Park. The route is approximately 2 kliometers long and mostly runs through the dense forestm which is bursting with greens in the late spring. Along the way, you can see the remainings of the fortifications, and also go to the observation point, fropm which you can admire the valley of the river Biebrza.
In order to get to the Kładka educational path, you’ll have to ride a few kilometers away from Twierdza-Osowiec. While following the highway leading from Białystok to Ełk, you must turn by the signpost to Osowiec and ride several hundred meters to the wild parking lot under the willow trees. From there you can begin your walk through the wooden footbridge, which will lead you between the lush vegatation, through the swampy areas. The route will eventually lead you to the main highway, where on the other side of the street you can find the Kanał Rudzki observation point. Then you’ll follow the asphalt road back to the parking lot. Such a walk is slightly more than 2 kilometers long in total.
The Tsar Road
The Tsar Road, also called the Moose Highway, runs through the southern part of the park and connects Twierdza-Osowiec with Strękowa Góra. You can ride through it by car, (but you gotta be careful), or by bicycle, while stopping from time to time, to visit the most interesting attractions of the Biebrza National Park. At the road begin the walking trails to the swamps. While riding through the Tsar Road, you’ll have a chance to encounter a moose – it has been said, that they canc even stop by the highway itself. This is an incredibly picturesque route, surrounded from both sides by lush vegetation, and a thick forest. If you have limited time for epxloring the park, you should definitely take a trip along the Moose Highway and a short walkl through one of the swamp paths.
The swamp paths
While travelling through the Tsar Road, it’s worth stopping at least by one road, which leads through the swamps. The shortest of those paths – Długa Luka – is 400 meters long. At the end of the footbridge there is an observation point, from which you can admire the extensive peat bogs. All you can hear in the background is the birds’ singing. In the Biebrza National Park you can encounter many unique and rare animals, such as the long-eared mud and the aquatic warbler. Don’t forget to take your binoculars, so you can admire the gorgeous nature in all of its glory.
Roughly 1.5 kilometers away from Długa Luka there is an observation point, from which you can see the Ławki swamp, extending all the way to the horizon. This is one of the most primitive places in the park’s area. Here, you can see plants, that are impossible to find anywhere else in Poland, and the swamp meadows are one of the moose’s favourite places. So be careful! This is also the place, where the Swamp Meadow Mowing Championship is organized, during which the participants must mow the marked fragment of the meadow as fast as possible with the help of a classic scythe.
For those, who appreciate wild nature and have more time we recommend two other trails: Grobla Honczarowska and Barwik-Gugny. The first route is 7 kilometers long and leads deep within the peat bogs, towards the river Biebrza. The second path is much more demanding. Here, you’ll need some special shoe – without good boots it might be difficult to get through it, especially in the early spring. You have two options: The green trail is approximately 5 kilometers long, while the more difficult red trail is approximately 9.5 kilometers long. The Biebrza National Park recommends getting the GPS co-ordinates of the red trail earlier, because in some places it is weakly marked and you can easily get lost. If you have little time and no boots, you’ll probably have to skip this route.
However, you might want to reserve a lot of time to visit the path by Czerwone Bagno in the northern part of the Biebrza National Park. It is supposedly the wildest area of the entire par, which by the way is strictly protected. There are several educational paths and a footbridge leading through this area.
Active Podlasie
At the area of the park there are four running paths. Two of them – Na Skraju Czerwonego Bagna and Trzyrzeczki are located in the northern part of the park, and two other – Wokół Fortu and Barwik are located in the southern part of the park. What is it like to rumn through the Biebrza National Park? Excellent! Silence, forest surroundings and deer running somewhere in the distance.
On a bicycle
Through the area of the Biebrza National Park runs the Green Velo cycling route and Podlaski Szlak Bociani. Between the southern end of the trail and Twierdza-Osowiec they run just like the Tsar Road. You can get through this fragment by riding down the asphalt roaf, at the roure there are also Places of Bicycle Service. You can find the full description and a map of the cycling routes
(and more) at the Biebrza National Park’s website. Of course, you can also find plenty beautiful cycling routes in close surroundings. Because of the shape of the area, cycling trips through the picturesque region of Podlasie are a perfect idea of sightseeing combined with an active way of spending your time.
Kayaking
Biebrza is a calm, although quite meandering river. The gente flow and rich fauna and flora cause even a several-hour trip on a kayak to be an interesting adventure. For several hours you’ll be able to enjoy silence, peace and the singing birds.
You can begin your flow, for example, in the village of Wroceń and arrive at Goniądz – such a route is 12 kilometers long, at it takes about 3 hours to conquer it. And if you want to move your oar faster, you can start in Wroceń and end your adventure in Twierdza-Osowiec, by the Bóbr camping site. For those, who are only beginning their adventure with kayaks or have less time (hello, summer vacation?), we can recommend a shorter version – an 8-kilometer long route from Goniądz to Osowiec, which can be conquered in 1.5 hours. If you’re planning a family trip on a kayak, don’t forget to take your binoculars with you – the Biebrza National Park is home to many species of birds, which can be spotted along the way
While going on a kayaking trip down the Biebrza river, you must rememberto purchase an entrance ticket to the water trails in the Biebrza National Park. These tickets cost 8 PLN for growbn-ups and
4 PLN for children.