Hiking in Podlaskie: the Białowieża Forest and Wigry National Park
Podlaskie is the region of wide-open wild spaces: the Białowieża Forest with its ancient oaks, the Biebrza marshes and the lakes of Wigry and Suwałki. The trails are flat and easy, but long and far from villages. Here you'll find the routes with their tracks, elevation profiles, GPX and practical information.
The numbers mark where each trail starts.
How to read the grades
Trails in Poland have no official difficulty scale: the PTTK waymarks, a red, blue, green, yellow or black stripe between two white ones, identify the route, not its difficulty (red usually marks the main trail). To compare them with our Italian guides, we have estimated the difficulty of each trail on the scale of the Club Alpino Italiano (Italian Alpine Club). Grades assume dry ground: rain, snow or strong heat make a route harder.
- T Tourist 2 in this guide
- Roads, mule tracks or wide, easy paths with no route-finding problems.
- E Hiking
- Waymarked trails over varied terrain: you need hiking boots and a basic level of fitness.
- EE Expert hikers
- Exposed, steep or rocky sections, sometimes with chains: you need a sure foot and a head for heights.
- EEA Expert hikers with equipment
- Via ferratas or equipped routes: you need a harness, via ferrata set and helmet.
Before you set off
Strict reserve
You can enter the strict reserve of Białowieża National Park only with a licensed guide; the trails outside the reserve are open to all.
Mosquitoes and ticks
From May to August there are swarms of mosquitoes, and ticks are common: repellent is essential.
Bison and elk
If you meet a bison or an elk, stop and move away slowly: do not approach to take photos.
Emergencies
Single emergency number: 112.
Water sports in Podlaskie →← Guide to Podlaskie
Routes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via Waymarked Trails and BRouter; elevations from a digital terrain model. Times and elevation gains are indicative: waymarks on the ground and closure orders always take precedence.