Wolski Forest

In 1917, in the middle of the First World War, the Kraków Municipal Savings Bank bought the woods on the city's western hills and handed them over to the city as a people's park. That is how Wolski Forest came about — 419 hectares of beech and oak woods and limestone crags, home to the zoo, Piłsudski Mound, three nature reserves and around 40 km of paths. It belongs to Kraków's municipal forests and is still above all a place for recreation.

Nature: hills, ravines and crags

The forest covers the highest summits of the Sowiniec range: Sowiniec (358 m above sea level), Pustelnik (352 m), Ostra Góra (347 m) and Srebrna Góra (317 m). The slopes are cut by deep ravines known locally as "doły" — Wilczy Dół, Zielony Dół, Łupany Dół and others — with Jurassic limestone crags rising above them. There are 32 tree species here; stands dominated by oak, beech and birch cover about 89% of the area, and the forest's make-up is close to natural. The rocks of Zielony Dół hide several small caves and rock shelters, including the Jaskinia w Lesie Wolskim and the Jaskinia w Zielonym Dole.

What to see

• Piłsudski Mound on Sowiniec, built in 1934–1937, about 35 m high, with a panorama of Kraków.
• The zoo, on Pustelnik Hill since 1929.
• The Camaldolese monastery at Bielany — an early Baroque complex from the early 17th century on Srebrna Góra.
• The Panieńskie Skały reserve (6.41 ha, since 1953) — deep loess gullies with fantastically shaped rocks and a patch of natural beech forest.
• Willa Baszta in Przegorzały, a half-rotunda villa designed in 1928 by Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz, and the neighbouring "castle" built by the Germans during the Second World War on the edge of the Przegorzały rocks.
• The Okocim Pavilion of 1936, a modernist building that now houses the "Symbioza" environmental education centre.

Reserves and climbing

Three nature reserves have been created in the forest: Bielańskie Skałki (1950) and Skałki Przegorzalskie (1959) protect dry grasslands and warmth-loving scrub, while Panieńskie Skały (1953) protects a forested landscape of gullies. Climbing is banned on the rocks inside the reserves, but climbers train legally on Wolski Murek and Kawalerskie Skały. The largest meadow, Polana Juliusza Lea, covers 2.42 ha; other popular resting spots include the meadows at Sowiniec and Bielany and the Polana Harcerska.

Tripto tip

Bus 134 from the Cracovia Stadion stop takes you to the zoo, where it terminates; alternatively take bus 102 from Krowodrza Górka towards Zakamycze and walk into the forest from the mound side. Cars are banned from the interior of the forest at weekends and on public holidays, so drivers leave their cars at the Łysa Góra car park on ul. Kukułcza. The best route is the Two Mounds Trail: from Salwator via Kościuszko Mound, Sikornik and Panieńskie Skały to Piłsudski Mound. Allow half a day for a loop with the mound and Panieńskie Skały, or a full day if you add the zoo. The ravines can be muddy after rain, so wear shoes with good grip.