Żywiec Landscape Park

On the summit of Pilsko (1,557 m) dwarf mountain pine grows, and some scientists see traces of ancient glaciers here. Around it lies Żywiec Landscape Park, which its managers describe as the oldest landscape park in the Polish Carpathians. It protects the highest parts of the Żywiec Beskids along the Slovak border: mountain meadows with views, old fir forests and refuges of the brown bear, wolf and lynx.

The park in numbers

The park was created on 13 March 1986 by resolution of the then Bielsko-Biała provincial council, and since 1998 it has been part of the Silesian Voivodeship's landscape parks authority. It covers 358.7 km², with a buffer zone of another 217.9 km². It includes the whole of Ujsoły municipality and parts of Jeleśnia, Milówka, Radziechowy-Wieprz, Rajcza, Świnna and Węgierska Górka. To the east it reaches Jeleśnia in the Koszarawa valley, and to the west the forest edge above the Soła valley.

Three mountain groups

• The Pilsko massif (1,557 m) – a dome with ridges radiating out from it and terrain with high-mountain features. The origin of its hollows and ridges is still debated; some researchers consider them glacial.
• The Lipowska and Romanka group – steep, forested ranges with meadows (hale) on the ridges, including Lipowska (1,324 m), Rysianka (1,322 m) and Boraczy Wierch (1,244 m). These meadows are among the best viewpoints in the Beskids.
• Worek Raczański – the western group, with many peaks over 1,000 m and its highest point on Wielka Racza (1,236 m).

Nature: from beech forest to mountain pine

The park spans four vegetation zones and has more than 1,000 species of vascular plants, including the martagon lily, the stemless carline thistle and the mountain snowbell. Brown bears, wolves and lynx live here, and the 106 breeding bird species include capercaillie, black grouse and eagle owl. At Sopotnia Wielka there is a 10-metre waterfall, considered the largest in the Beskids, as well as the park's longest cave at 101 m.

There are ten nature reserves in the park. Three are worth knowing: Romanka, with the best-preserved old-growth upper montane forest outside Babia Góra and Pilsko, about 250 years old; Lipowska, with peat bogs and a network of small ponds; and Pilsko, which adjoins a Slovak reserve of the same name.

Tripto tip

The park is free to enter. A section of the Main Beskid Trail crosses it, and PTTK mountain hostels in Zwardoń, on Wielka Racza, on Przegibek and on Hala Miziowa below Pilsko make good bases. In winter skiers head for Korbielów and Pilsko. Allow at least half a day for a hike to one of the meadows. Many trails follow the border: on the Slovak side lie the Kysuce and Horná Orava protected landscape areas, where the stricter zones forbid leaving marked trails, camping, lighting fires and letting dogs off the lead, among other things.