Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Nature
Sokoły
Between Waniewo and Śliwno the Narew does not flow in a single channel – it splits into a maze of branches, oxbows and reed beds. A wooden boardwalk cuts straight across this marshy valley, and you cross the open water yourself on floating…
Landmarks
Narew
Three villages in the Narew valley – Trześcianka, Soce and Puchły – lie just a few kilometres apart and together form the Land of Open Shutters (Kraina Otwartych Okiennic), a cultural trail of wooden architecture with carved window frames,…
Monuments & mounds
Łomża
On the Old Market Square in Łomża sits a bronze Hanka Bielicka – wearing, of course, a hat with an enormous brim, her trademark throughout her career. Her signature is on the backrest and the seat beside her is free, so you can sit down ne…
Historic sites
Jedwabne
On the edge of Jedwabne, on ul. Krasickiego, stone blocks mark out a rectangle on the grass. It is the outline of the barn where the town's Jewish residents and Jews from nearby were burned alive on 10 July 1941. The 2001 memorial and the…
Historic sites
Wizna
The Defense of Wizna at Góra Strękowa (VEEZ-na; goo-RA stren-KO-va) is an open-air war memorial where, on September 7-10, 1939, Polish soldiers under Captain Władysław Raginis held the Narew River line against General Heinz Guderian's XIX…
Gardens
Białystok
The parks of Białystok (pronounced roughly "bya-WIS-tok") are the easiest way to understand why this northeastern Polish city calls itself one of the greenest in the country. Right in the center, a few minutes' walk from the main square, a…
Nature
Tykocin
It all started with a hurricane. In 1991 a storm snapped the trees around the old Pentowo estate on the edge of Tykocin, and white storks quickly moved onto the jagged trunks. Today more than 30 pairs nest here, on poles, roofs, trees and…
Lakes
Augustów
Augustów's town beach lies on the southern shore of Lake Necko, in the Zarzecze area, close to where the Netta flows out of the lake – the river that continues as the Augustów Canal. A sandy shore, a wooden pier with lamp posts and the gua…
Nature
Augustów
The Augustów Primeval Forest is one of the largest continuous forests in Poland: more than 114,000 hectares on the Polish side of the border and about 160,000 including the parts in Lithuania and Belarus. Lakes, peat bogs and rivers lie hi…
Historic sites
Suwałki
In a forest on the north-eastern edge of Suwałki lie stone burial mounds almost two thousand years old. The Yotvingian Cemetery Reserve protects a burial ground used from the 2nd to the 5th century AD, one of the best-known archaeological…
Old towns & squares
Białystok
Kościuszko Market Square (Rynek Kościuszki) is the main square of Białystok (say "BYAH-wis-tok"), the capital of the Podlasie region in northeastern Poland, about 200 km (125 miles) northeast of Warsaw. This long, car-free promenade center…
Historic sites
Białystok
The Jewish Heritage Trail in Białystok (pronounced "bee-AH-wih-stok") is a marked walking route through the places that tell the story of Jewish life in this northeastern Polish city: synagogues, industrialists' villas, old neighborhoods,…
Monuments & mounds
gmina Dubeninki
A few hundred metres from the houses of Bolcie, in the Wiżajny district, stands a granite pillar where three countries end: Poland, Lithuania and Russia (the Kaliningrad Oblast). The point is called “Wisztyniec” and it is the northernmost…
Landmarks
Krynki
Drivers arriving in Krynki for the first time often circle Plac Jagielloński a few times before finding the right exit. From the roundabout in the centre of this small town near the Belarusian border, no fewer than 12 streets radiate outwa…
Lakes
Czarna Białostocka
The Czapielówka reservoir lies in a forest clearing right next to Czarna Białostocka, and it was created almost entirely by community effort: for nearly 10 years local residents, foresters and soldiers worked on it together. Today it serve…
Lakes
Siemianówka
A railway embankment with two tracks – one standard-gauge and one broad-gauge – runs straight across the reservoir and ends at the Belarusian border. Siemianówka Reservoir (Jezioro Siemianowskie) is a dammed lake on the upper Narew River,…
Lakes
Siemiatycze
Siemiatycze does not have one reservoir but three: unnamed lakes on the Kamionka river that the town simply numbered 1, 2 and 3. The first opened in 1975, and today the water is ringed by a lifeguarded bathing area, a beach, sports pitches…