Landscape parks

Puszcza Knyszyńska Landscape Park

Puszcza Knyszyńska stretches north of Białystok, right beyond the city limits — and although it sits next to a conurbation, 78 percent of its area is still forest. The Knyszyn Forest Landscape Park, named after Prof. Witold Sławiński, was established on 24 May 1988; it now covers more than 72,800 hectares across 12 municipalities, and at its founding was the largest landscape park in the country.

Forests, bogs and traces of the glacier

The landscape was shaped by a glacier: moraines, kames, eskers and outwash plains, with hills locally exceeding 200 m above sea level. The Supraśl river runs through the park, and bogs hide in valleys and undrained hollows. 843 vascular plant species grow here, including wild garlic and the bog myrtle, while ornithologists have counted 153 bird species — from the black stork to the eagle owl. European bison roam the forest, though meeting this rarest of neighbours takes luck and silence.

19 nature reserves and Tatar villages

The park contains 19 nature reserves (two more in its buffer zone), starting with Budzisk, designated in 1970. It is also a culturally distinctive corner of Podlasie: the municipalities of Sokółka and Krynki hold the Tatar villages of Bohoniki and Kruszyniany, with wooden mosques — the oldest still active in Poland. The park's capital, Supraśl, draws visitors with its historic monastery complex on the river.

Planning your visit

Bring a bike: the dense network of forest roads and trails makes the forest one of the more rewarding cycling areas in north-eastern Poland. Autumn is mushroom season, spring brings flowering bogs. Base yourself in Supraśl or Wasilków, both a quarter of an hour from Białystok.