Things to do in Podlaskie
115 attractions in Podlaskie, including Białowieża National Park, Augustów Canal and Biebrza National Park. Map, details and practical tips before you go.
All attractions (115)
National parks
Białowieża National Park
Białowieża
Białowieża National Park (say "byah-wo-VYEH-zhah") in far eastern Poland protects the best-preserved part of the Białowieża Forest, one of the last large fragments of the primeval lowland forest that once covered much of Europe. It is the…
180–300 min
Technical monuments
Augustów Canal
Augustów
The Augustów Canal (pronounced roughly "ow-GOOS-toof") is a 19th-century waterway in northeastern Poland that links the Vistula and Neman river basins, running from the Biebrza River through the lakes around Augustów to the Neman in Belaru…
120–480 min Free entry
National parks
Biebrza National Park
Osowiec-Twierdza
Biebrza National Park (Biebrzański Park Narodowy, roughly "bee-EB-zhah") in northeastern Poland is the country's largest national park and one of Europe's great wetland wildernesses. It protects the valley of the Biebrza River — vast peat…
180–480 min
National parks
Wigry National Park
Wigry
Wigry National Park (roughly "VEE-grih") in Poland's far northeast is a mosaic of 42 lakes, forests and peat bogs around Lake Wigry, one of the deepest and most beautiful lakes in the country. Established in 1989, it is known for its Baroq…
240–480 min
Palaces
Branicki Palace in Białystok
Białystok
In the 19th century more than a hundred statues disappeared from the gardens of Branicki Palace — reportedly because the nude figures might corrupt the pupils of the tsarist Institute for Young Ladies of Noble Birth that had moved into the…
60–120 min
National parks
Narew National Park
Kruszewo
Narew National Park (Narwiański Park Narodowy; "nar-VYAN-skee") protects about 50 km (30 miles) of the Narew River valley west of Białystok in northeastern Poland. Here the river does not flow in a single channel: it splits into a maze of…
Churches & monasteries
Kruszyniany Mosque
Kruszyniany
From a distance it looks like one of the two-towered wooden churches typical of the Podlasie region. Only up close do you notice the crescents on the cupolas and the dark green of the walls — the colour of Islam. Kruszyniany Mosque is the…
Churches & monasteries
Bohoniki Mosque
Bohoniki
The date this mosque was built was only discovered in 2005, when the year 1873 was found written on the entrance door frame during a major renovation. The wooden mosque at Bohoniki, a village near Sokółka in north-eastern Poland, is one of…
Churches & monasteries
Supraśl Orthodox Monastery
Supraśl
The white walls by the River Supraśl hide one of the most important centres of Orthodox Christianity in Poland, and a history that has changed direction several times. The Monastery of the Annunciation was founded by the Lithuanian marshal…
Fortifications
Osowiec Fortress
Osowiec-Twierdza
The Russians built this fortress at a point where the belt of Biebrza marshes narrows. The railway from Białystok to Ełk and on to Königsberg ran through this gap. The wetlands worked as a natural moat, and the forts sealed the only dry ro…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Białystok
Białystok
St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Białystok is the city's main Orthodox church and the seat of the Białystok–Gdańsk diocese of the Polish Orthodox Church. Its white classical facade, the silhouette of its dome and bell tower, and its fres…
20–45 min Free entry
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Great Synagogue in Tykocin
Tykocin
Before World War II, Jews made up roughly half of Tykocin's population — about 2,000 people. On 25–26 August 1941 the Germans murdered about 2,500 people in the nearby Łopuchowo Forest — almost the entire local community. What remains is t…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
St Roch's Basilica in Białystok
Białystok
An openwork tower topped by a figure of the Virgin Mary on a crown rises over central Białystok from the hill on Lipowa Street. St Roch's Basilica was built as a church-monument to Poland's regained independence and is one of the key works…
Hidden gemLandscape parks
Suwałki Landscape Park
Czajewszczyzna
Suwałki Landscape Park (roughly "soo-VOW-kee") is Poland's oldest landscape park and one of the most striking pieces of scenery in the country's far northeast. Within about 63 km² (24 sq mi) you'll find steep glacial hills, fields scattere…
Free entry
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Białystok
Białystok
The walls and domes of this church are shaped like the tongues of fire that descended on the apostles at Pentecost — hence its dedication. The Church of the Holy Spirit in Białystok's Wysoki Stoczek district is considered the largest Ortho…
Hidden gemLandscape parks
Knyszyn Forest Landscape Park
Sokołda
When Knyszyn Forest Landscape Park was established in 1988, it was the largest landscape park in Poland. Today it covers 72,860 ha in twelve municipalities north and east of Białystok, and forests make up 78% of its area. It is a good choi…
Free entry
Nature
Knyszyn Forest
Jałówka
A dozen or so kilometres north of Białystok begins a forest that naturalists compare to the taiga. Knyszyn Forest covers about 1,050 km² of spruce and pine woods, springs and river valleys, making it the second-largest forest complex of th…
Free entry
Hidden gemLakes
Lake Serwy
Serwy
More than 40 metres deep, with clear water and a quiet zone where motorboats are banned, Lake Serwy lies on the edge of the Augustów Forest, about 20 km from Augustów. For years it has drawn people looking for swimming, canoeing and woodla…
180–480 min Free entry
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, Hajnówka
Hajnówka
A roof of irregular, interlocking concrete shells makes it look more like a sculpture than a traditional Orthodox church. The Holy Trinity Cathedral in Hajnówka holds about 5,000 worshippers, one of the largest Orthodox churches in Poland,…
Hidden gemNature
Red Marsh (Czerwone Bagno) at Grzędy
Wólka Piaseczna
Czerwone Bagno, the Red Marsh, is one of the wildest places in Central Europe: raised bogs with stunted pines and birches, bog forest and old dunes roamed by moose and wolves. It has been protected for almost a hundred years and is now a 2…
Hidden gemLakes
Lake Necko
Augustów
Linguists trace the lake's name to the Yotvingian word methis, meaning "to throw", and a document from 1396 records it as Meten. Necko is a glacial ribbon lake that makes Augustów both a town and a resort: the town shore has beaches, prome…
120–360 min Free entry
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Holy Trinity Cathedral, Drohiczyn
Drohiczyn
In the 18th century the regional assemblies of the Podlasie nobility met beneath these vaults; during the Second World War the church was turned into a stable, and later into a shooting range. Today the Baroque Jesuit church above the Bug…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Church of the Lord's Resurrection, Białystok
Białystok
In the Wysoki Stoczek district of Białystok stands a church that looks Baroque but is only a little over thirty years old. The Church of the Lord's Resurrection was built in 1991–1996 as an echo of a lost church in Berezwecz, in what is no…
Hidden gemMuseums
Podlasie Museum in Białystok (Town Hall)
Białystok
Białystok's town hall was never home to the city authorities – from the start it was a market hall full of stalls. In 1940 the Soviet authorities demolished it to make room for a statue of Stalin, and today's building is a post-war reconst…