The Zieleniec Peatbog Nature Reserve is one of the most extraordinary places in the Polish Sudetes — a landscape that looks more like Arctic tundra or Siberian taiga than the mountains of central Europe. This raised bog, estimated to be over 7,600 years old, is believed to be a glacial relict, sheltering rare plants, endemic insects and mysterious dark-red streams.

Stepping into the reserve feels like entering another world. Vast cushions of sphagnum moss are dotted with mirror-like pools, and dwarf birch — a species with just three known sites in all of Poland — gives the landscape its distinctly Arctic feel. Peat here reaches depths of up to 8 metres in places, and the streams flowing through the reserve run a deep red colour, stained by humic acids leached from the bog — yet the water is safe to drink. In spring and summer the reserve comes alive: carnivorous sundews bloom, cottongrass creates silvery carpets, and dragonflies listed in the Polish Red Book patrol the pools. Autumn turns the bog into a tapestry of red and gold as bilberries and cranberries ripen.

• Zieleniec (car park near the ski station) — green trail leading to Polanica-Zdrój, passing through the centre of the reserve; easy, nearly flat terrain

• The reserve is under active protection — visitors must stay on the marked trail and nature path
• A nature education path with information boards runs alongside the green trail, explaining bog formation and local wildlife
• The area sits precisely on the watershed between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea catchments

This place was first protected as far back as 1919, when it became one of the very first nature reserves established in Germany — a testament to just how extraordinary it has been considered for over a century.