The tripto catalogue includes all 23 Polish national parks plus selected places within them. They are the country's most valuable natural areas: from primeval forest to shifting dunes and Tatra ridges.
Białowieża National Park is Poland's oldest national park and the last primeval lowland forest in Europe (UNESCO since 1979); you can see European bison in the Bison Show Reserve, while the strict reserve can only be entered with a licensed guide. Tatra National Park covers Morskie Oko, Rysy and Giewont. In Słowiński National Park, shifting dunes move 3–10 metres a year between Łeba and Rowy. Bieszczady National Park is the largest mountain park in Poland, with its poloniny meadows and Tarnica. Biebrza National Park is the country's largest (592 km²) – home to about 400 elk and 270 bird species. Kampinos National Park, just outside Warsaw, has about 360 km of trails and free entry.
Most parks in the catalogue are in Lesser Poland (Tatra, Babia Góra, Gorce, Pieniny, Ojców) and Podlachia (Białowieża, Biebrza, Wigry, Narew).
In practice: allow half a day to several days per park. Tickets usually cost 10–11 zł per day (reduced half price), and children under 7 enter free; some parks only charge in season, such as Słowiński from May to September. Kampinos and Wielkopolski are free. Stay on the marked trails – walking off them is prohibited.
National parks
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…
National parks
Zakopane
Tatra National Park (Tatrzański Park Narodowy) protects the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains, the highest range in the Carpathians and the only truly alpine landscape in Poland. Granite and limestone peaks, glacial lakes, deep valleys an…
National parks
Smołdzino
Słowiński National Park (say "swo-VEEN-skee") on Poland's Baltic coast is famous for something you would not expect this far north: a field of moving sand dunes that drifts across the forest between the sea and two huge coastal lakes. It l…
National parks
ustrzyki-gorne
Bieszczady National Park (Bieszczadzki Park Narodowy; say "byesh-CHAH-dee") in Poland's far southeastern corner is the country's largest mountain national park and its wildest. Here the Carpathians form rolling grassy ridges called połonin…
National parks
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…
National parks
Izabelin C
Kampinos National Park (Kampinoski Park Narodowy; say "kam-PEE-noss") protects the Kampinos Forest, a wild landscape of inland sand dunes and marshes that begins right at the edge of Warsaw. From the city limits you can reach the park head…
National parks
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…
National parks
Smołdzino
Słowiński National Park (say "swo-VEEN-skee") on Poland's Baltic coast is famous for something you would not expect this far north: a field of moving sand dunes that drifts across the forest between the sea and two huge coastal lakes. It l…
National parks
Zakopane
Tatra National Park (Tatrzański Park Narodowy) protects the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains, the highest range in the Carpathians and the only truly alpine landscape in Poland. Granite and limestone peaks, glacial lakes, deep valleys an…
National parks
ustrzyki-gorne
Bieszczady National Park (Bieszczadzki Park Narodowy; say "byesh-CHAH-dee") in Poland's far southeastern corner is the country's largest mountain national park and its wildest. Here the Carpathians form rolling grassy ridges called połonin…
National parks
miedzyzdroje
Wolin National Park (Woliński Park Narodowy; "voh-LEEN-skee") protects the central-western part of Wolin Island on Poland's Baltic coast: towering sea cliffs, beech forests on glacial hills, quiet lakes and the reed-filled delta of the Świ…
National parks
Zawoja
Babia Góra National Park (Babiogórski Park Narodowy; say "BAH-bya GOO-rah") protects a single, mighty mountain on the Polish–Slovak border: Babia Góra, the "Queen of the Beskids." Its summit, Diablak (1,725 m / 5,659 ft), is the highest po…
National parks
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…
National parks
Izabelin C
Kampinos National Park (Kampinoski Park Narodowy; say "kam-PEE-noss") protects the Kampinos Forest, a wild landscape of inland sand dunes and marshes that begins right at the edge of Warsaw. From the city limits you can reach the park head…
National parks
Urszulin
Polesie National Park ("poh-LEH-sheh") protects Poland's share of Polesie, the vast, flat land of bogs, fens and lakes that stretches on into Belarus and Ukraine. Set in eastern Poland's Lublin region, it feels far wilder than its size sug…
National parks
Ochotnica Górna
Gorce National Park (Gorczański Park Narodowy, roughly gor-CHAN-skee) protects the heart of the Gorce Mountains, a forested range of the Western Beskids in southern Poland. Its 7,030 hectares (about 17,400 acres) mix old beech, fir and spr…
National parks
Karpacz
Karkonosze National Park (kar-ko-NO-sheh) protects the highest part of the Polish Giant Mountains, from Śnieżka (SHNYESH-kah, 1,603 m), the highest peak of the Sudetes, to glacial cirques, mountain lakes, peat bogs and waterfalls above the…
National parks
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…
National parks
gmina Dobiegniew
Drawa National Park (Drawieński Park Narodowy; "drah-VYEN-skee") protects the heart of the Drawa Forest in northwestern Poland: the wild valleys of the Drawa and Płociczna rivers, around twenty lakes and old beech woods. It is one of the q…
National parks
Krempna
Magura National Park (Magurski Park Narodowy; "mah-GOOR-skee") protects a quiet corner of the Low Beskids (Beskid Niski) in southeastern Poland: gentle forested ridges, streams with small waterfalls, valleys where Lemko villages once stood…
National parks
Sromowce Niżne
Pieniny National Park (say "pyeh-NEE-nee") is Poland's oldest national park, founded on June 1, 1932, and one of the most beautiful corners of the Polish Carpathians. On just 23.5 km² it packs dramatic limestone peaks, the Three Crowns (Tr…
National parks
gmina Słońsk
Warta Mouth National Park (Park Narodowy "Ujście Warty"; roughly "OOSH-cheh VAR-tah") protects the floodplain where the Warta River joins the Oder, right on Poland's border with Germany. It is one of the most important wetland bird sanctua…
National parks
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…
National parks
Zwierzyniec
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 tow…
National parks
Karłów
Table Mountains National Park (Park Narodowy Gór Stołowych; "GOOR stoh-WOH-vikh") protects Poland's only table mountains: a flat-topped sandstone plateau on the Czech border, carved by erosion into rock mazes, deep crevices and mushroom-sh…
National parks
Ojców
Ojców National Park is Poland's smallest national park – just 21.46 km² – and one of its most varied. It lies about 16 km north of Kraków and protects the Jurassic Prądnik Valley with its limestone crags, caves, beech woods and two castles…
National parks
Ojców
The trail across Okopy Hill runs right along the edge of limestone cliffs secured with rope railings, and one of the crags opens a view over the Prądnik Valley. The wooded summit hides the ramparts of a stronghold that medieval sources lin…
National parks
Białowieża
The Strict Protection Area of Białowieża National Park is the most valuable part of the Białowieża Forest – a natural forest that nobody planted and where no forestry has been practised for over a century. More than 6,059 ha are under stri…
National parks
Charzykowy
Bory Tucholskie National Park (say "BOR-ih too-HOL-skyeh") protects the heart of the Tuchola Forest, one of the largest woodlands in Poland, in the Pomeranian region near the town of Chojnice. It is a quiet, flat landscape of pine forest,…
National parks
Święta Katarzyna
Świętokrzyski National Park (say "shvyen-toh-KSHIH-skee"; often translated as Holy Cross Mountains National Park) protects the highest ridge of Poland's oldest mountain range, near the city of Kielce. Its trademarks are the gołoborza (goh-…
Usually 10–11 zł for a one-day ticket (reduced 5–5.50 zł): Tatra and Bieszczady 11 zł, Babia Góra, Biebrza, Gorce and Wigry 10 zł. Children under 7 and Large Family Card holders enter free.
Kampinos and Wielkopolski, among others. Słowiński only charges from May to September, and Magura from May to October.
The largest is Biebrza (592 km²); the oldest is Białowieża, whose forest has been on the UNESCO list since 1979.
In the Bison Show Reserve of Białowieża National Park (25 zł, reduced 15 zł). Bison also live in the wild in the Bieszczady.
Updated: · Opening hours and prices can change — check the attraction page before you go.