Uzhansky National Nature Park is one of the most pristine and untouched corners of the entire Eastern Carpathians — a true wilderness tucked into the mountains of the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine. As part of the world's first trilateral Ukrainian-Polish-Slovak UNESCO Biosphere Reserve 'Eastern Carpathians', this park carries international significance that matches its breathtaking natural beauty. If you are after ancient forests, thundering silence and landscapes barely touched by human hands, this is the place to be.
The park's landscape shifts beautifully between dense beech-fir-sycamore primeval forests, open subalpine meadows known as polonyny, and crystal-clear mountain streams. Spring brings wildflowers carpeting forest clearings, summer offers cool shade beneath cathedral-like beech canopies, and autumn transforms the entire park into a spectacular tapestry of gold and red. The terrain rises above 1200 m with the upper treeline preserved here in one of the best examples found anywhere in the Ukrainian Carpathians. Covering over 39,000 hectares, the park is home to 863 species of vascular plants and 231 animal species, many of them protected.
How to get thereNear the village of Kniahynia lies the site where Europe's largest meteorite fell in 1866 — a stone rain that scattered fragments across the landscape, with the largest piece weighing 279 kg. The ecological trail 'Chorni Mlaky' leads you right to this extraordinary spot, making it a memorable finale to any hike in the park.