Bieszczady National Park is one of the wildest corners of Central Europe — a vast protected highland in the Eastern Carpathians of south-eastern Poland where bears, wolves, lynx and European bison roam freely across ancient beech forests and open alpine meadows. It is the largest national park in the Polish mountains and a place that feels genuinely untamed.

The park's character shifts beautifully with the seasons. Spring brings carpets of Leucojum snowflakes along the streams, summer turns the high-altitude meadows — called 'połoniny' — into a blaze of wildflowers, autumn sets the beech forests alight with gold and copper, and winter wraps everything in deep silence. These połoniny, stretching above roughly 1150–1250 m, are a unique Eastern Carpathian feature found nowhere else in Poland. The highest summit, Tarnica (1346 m), rewards hikers with sweeping panoramas reaching into Ukraine and Slovakia. Walking through the valleys, you will also discover the quietly haunting remains of villages — stone foundations, overgrown orchards and lone roadside trees — left behind after wartime resettlements in the 1940s.

• Wołosate village — blue trail to Tarnica, approx. 2–3 hours one way, moderate difficulty
• Ustrzyki Górne — starting point for routes to Tarnica, Halicz and Połonina Caryńska, moderate to demanding
• Ustrzyki Dolne — northern gateway, home to the park's Natural History Museum; easy access by road

• Entry to the park requires a ticket — ticket points are located at all main trail entrances
• Nearly 70% of the park is under strict protection — stay on marked trails at all times
• Open year-round; main hiking season runs from May to October
• Hucul horses graze in the Wołosate valley and Tarnawa Niżna as part of a meadow conservation programme

Since the 1960s, bison reintroduced from breeding centres have thrived here — today the park shelters the largest wild mountain bison herd in the world, with around 280 individuals. That single fact says everything about how special this place is.