Roztocze National Park

Roztocze National Park (Roztoczański Park Narodowy; say "ross-TOH-cheh") is Poland's most heavily forested national park, with woodland covering 95.5% of its area. It lies in the Lublin region of eastern Poland, right next to the small town of Zwierzyniec and about 30 km from Zamość, whose Renaissance old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Come for fir and beech forests, the Echo Ponds with free-roaming Polish konik horses, an easy forest bike route and a multimedia nature museum.

The park at a glance

Established on May 10, 1974, the park covers 8,483 hectares (about 21,000 acres) of rolling hills that top out around 350 m. Roughly 1,029 ha are strictly protected in five zones, including Bukowa Góra ("Beech Mountain"). The Wieprz River flows through the park.

Upland mixed fir forest covers almost a third of the park; together with rich beech woods, these forest types make up around 45%. Scientists have recorded some 750 vascular plant species, more than 2,000 beetle species and around 190 bird species, about 130 of which nest here regularly. The park is part of the cross-border Roztocze Biosphere Reserve under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere program, a nature designation shared with Ukraine, not a World Heritage listing.

A history of protection going back to 1589

In 1589, Chancellor Jan Zamoyski, founder of the powerful Zamoyski family estate, created a fenced game park (a "zwierzyniec") here, enclosed by about 30 km of fencing and stocked with deer, lynx, wolves and tarpans, the wild horses of eastern Europe. The town of Zwierzyniec takes its name from it. The first nature reserve, Bukowa Góra, followed in the mid-1930s, and the national park in 1974. Park headquarters occupy the former Plenipotentiary's Palace in Zwierzyniec.

Top things to do in Roztocze National Park

• Start at the Education and Museum Center in Zwierzyniec. Its permanent exhibition, "In the Land of Fir, Beech and Tarpan," is a sound-and-light show with audio guides in several languages.
• Walk to the Echo Ponds (Stawy Echo): four shallow ponds totaling about 40 ha, with a wheelchair-accessible viewing platform and boardwalks.
• Look for konik horses, the park's emblem. A reserve breeding program called "Ostoja" has run here since 1982 on 180 ha of forest and meadows. The konik descends from the tarpan; the last tarpan-type horses survived near Biłgoraj until the early 20th century.
• Climb Bukowa Góra: a 2.6 km nature trail (about 2 hours) through pine, fir and beech forest to a viewpoint, with steep steps and about 80 m of ascent. It ends at Sochy, at a cemetery commemorating the German "pacification" (mass reprisal) of the village on June 1, 1943.
• Cycle to Florianka, a former forest settlement about 7 km south of Zwierzyniec, with a forestry museum (audio commentary in Polish and English).

How much time do you need?

• 2 hours: the museum plus the 1.2 km path to the Echo Ponds.
• Half a day: add the Bukowa Góra trail.
• Full day: bike the Zwierzyniec–Florianka–Górecko Stare route, part of the long-distance Green Velo cycling trail.

Dogs are not allowed on the Echo Ponds or Bukowa Góra paths.

Tickets and opening hours (as of October 2026)

• Trail fee: only the Bukowa Góra path and the Florianka bike route charge a fee: 8 PLN per day, 4 PLN reduced, one ticket for both. All other paths are free. Children under 7 go free.
• Museum: 20 PLN for all exhibitions, 10 PLN reduced. Open April 1–October 31, Tuesday–Sunday 9 am–5 pm; November 1–March 31, Monday–Friday 9 am–3 pm. Last entry one hour before closing; closed on public holidays.
• Florianka forestry museum: 6 PLN; weekends in October, 10 am–5 pm, then seasonally from May.
• Parking: 4 PLN per hour at the museum (card only at present), 5 PLN per hour at the Echo Ponds from April to October.

Tickets are sold at park information points, online, or via QR codes at trailheads. Note that the Biała Góra lookout tower is closed for renovation until further notice.

Getting there

Zwierzyniec has a train station within walking distance of the park headquarters. By car, the park estimates about 3 hours from Warsaw and 4 hours from Kraków, via Lublin and Zamość. Lublin has the nearest airport.

Winter tips and nearby sights

Around the turn of October and November, the Echo Ponds are drained and stay empty until early spring, so winter visitors see meadows rather than water. In winter 2026/27, the museum opens on weekdays only, and the Echo paths are open to cross-country skiers when there is snow. Nearby, don't miss Zwierzyniec's Baroque church on an island, the town of Szczebrzeszyn and the UNESCO-listed old town of Zamość.