Kampinos National Park. The second largest national park in Poland, the kingdom of forests and elk.
Kampinos National Park is famous for its forests and moose. It is a real kingdom of nature, although its borders are adjacent to the buildings of Warsaw. It is the only facility of this type in the entire Mazowieckie Voivodeship. It was founded in 1959 and has been inscribed on the UNESCO World List of Biosphere Reserves since 2000. Since 2004, it has been a "Natura 2000" nature protection area. It is the second largest among Polish national parks. Its total area is slightly over 38,500 ha, and the strict protection area covers 12% of the Park's area. The proximity of the capital obliges, every year the Park is visited bynearly 1.5 million tourists!
Attractions of Kampinos National Park
Kampinos National Park has its Museum next to the Directorate building in Izabelin (currently under renovation) and an interesting open-air museum in Granica. The length of the hiking trails is impressive - 360 km of hiking trails and 200 km of cycling trails. Wandering through the charms of the Kampinos Forest, it is easy to forget that it is only a dozen or so kilometers from the borders of metropolitan Warsaw. Steep, pine-covered dunes are adjacent to inaccessible swamps. Lost in the forest, insurgent graves look at crane refuges and beaver feeding grounds. A very well connected area through numerous paths is the perfect solution for a weekend, active rest. Not only for residents of Warsaw and the surrounding area. Check out the best tourist attractions of Kampinos National Park!
Open-air museum of forest construction in Granica
Small, but interesting, available for a fee. In addition, the guide talks about it in a very interesting way. It shows 2 farms: a rich and a middle-class peasant. The buildings have been moved here from the surrounding villages and are intended to bring the former life in these areas closer. Life is unhurried, certainly difficult, but above all in harmony with nature. She breaks through the fences. Here we found traces of a moose that had been feeding on the beds the night before. Scarecrows may work on sparrows, but not on moose.
Address: Didactic and Museum Centre, Granica
https://www.kampinoski-pn.gov.pl/edukacja/odm-w-granicy
Path Through the Edge of the Forest in the Borderland
The farms are part of a path that, creating a 2-kilometer loop, also hides afootbridge, an observation tower over the surrounding swamps and reed beds of the Olszowiecki Canal and the Kampinos Cottage. The cottage itself is from 1911, but it was built from the building material of an earlier, century-old house. Apparently, parents with eight children lived in this cottage.
Path to Karczmisko in Truskavets
It starts at the free car park in Truskavets. On weekends, it is crowded, and there is a small playground on site. The path route leads through the forest, it is picturesque and at the beginning it is welcomed by climatic footbridges.
We met scouts in this forest. I remembered the old days when I went to the Świętokrzyskie Rallies and camps as a scout myself.
Path around Palmyra and the Museum of the Palmyra Memorial Site
It leads to a poignant and significant place. In Palmiry there is an unusual museum with a cemetery. It was here, during World War II, that mass murders took place, which lasted about 2 years. Scouts, political and social activists, as well as the intelligentsia, were killed. The local forests are witnessing many tragedies. Grądy witnessed numerous military actions, not only related to World War II, although it was particularly distinguished here. It is estimated that nearly 10,000 Polish soldiers are buried throughout the forest. In Palmyra alone, the Nazis executed about 1,700 men and women.
A modern and moving museum reminds us of them. On the way back, the so-called Palm Liaison passes by the Death Glade, where many of these unfortunates were shot.
Address: Palmirska Road 1, Czosnów
https://palmiry.muzeumwarszawy.pl/
Path to the Botanical Garden in Izabelin
It offers a pleasant and peaceful walk near the National Park Directorate. There is a free car park and one of a dozen or so recreational glades in the Forest. You can sit on benches, under the shelter, there is even a ring for a bonfire.
Mother Elizabeth's Centre in Laski
The same forest led us to the Center for the Blind in Laski, which was founded by Róża Czacka. She is considered a pioneer of tyflology in Poland, i.e. the science of the blind. She was a countess herself, coming from a wealthy and deserving family. After falling off her horse, she changed her life as she began to lose her sight. She dedicated them to God and helping the blind as Mother Elizabeth. She was recently beatified, on September 12, 2021, together with Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, whom she knew personally.
Address: 75 Brzozowa Street, Laski
Forest cemetery in Laski
In the immediate vicinity of the resort there is a very interesting cemetery in the forest, which we recommend visiting. The modest monastic graves capture and create a harmonious view. Among them, you will find the grave of Mother Elisabeth, as well as Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who rested here in the family grave in 2013.
Address: 75 Brzozowa Street, Laski
Education Centre of the Kampinos National Park in Izabelin
The institution conducts educational activities in the field of ecology. You can take part in thematic classes, workshops and trainings here. On the premises of the Centre there is a permanent exhibition "Nature and history of the Kampinos Forest", a tourist information point and a library with a reading room. The space is currently unavailable due to renovation.
Address: Kazimierz Tetmajer 38
Kampinos Church
The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is quite large, although wooden. This is an example of Polish Baroque. It dates back to the end of the 18th century. It was from the town of Kampinos that the name of the Kampinos National Park came. The name first appeared in the 15th century. It most likely comes from the Latin "campus noster" meaning "our fields". Or from the definition of a clump among the swamps, called by the local population "kampy".
Address: 22 Chopina Street, Kampinos
Church and chapel in Leoncin
At the cemetery stands the magnificent church of St. Margaret the Virgin and Martyr. Construction began in 1881, on a hill, to avoid flooding. It is a beautiful, oriented basilica, designed with panache in the style of the brick Vistula Neo-Gothic. It suffered greatly during the First World War, after which it was rebuilt, but with lower towers. The period of World War II passed without major damage.
It is surrounded by a cemetery, and among the graves it is also worth finding a wooden cemetery chapel from the 17th century.
Address: 5 Roman Kobendza Square, Leoncin
Julinek Park
The beginnings of the place are associated with a stud farm of thoroughbred horses. Later, a circus base was created here and lions, elephants, seals and bears appeared in the stables next to the horses. Today, it is an interesting center of family entertainment, but circus performers still appear in the former arenas.
Address: Julinek 1, Leszno
Suggestion for a cycling route around the Kampinos National Park
We visited the central part of the Park on bicycles. We started in Julinek, where we rented bicycles and headed north. We drove 40 km. The route is very diverse. There are forest areas with roots and sand, but also with comfortable asphalt. We drove through cities and through meadows. However, we started with a moderately difficult sandy forest. These are the remains of glaciation and the Great Vistula. The wide tires did the trick. We also came across quite steep, albeit short, climbs. However, the surrounding nature is definitely worth the initial difficulties.
On the red trail there is a former defensive stronghold, or rather its remains. This place is called Zamczysko. In the 13th century, the Duchy of Mazovia was often invaded by nearby Baltic peoples. Therefore, an inaccessible hamlet was built, which was surrounded by two rings of embankments.
To the north of the Castle you can find an unusual natural monument - the Insurgents' Pine. In the nearby town of Górki, in 1863, there was a clash between the survivors of the January Uprising and Russian soldiers. Surviving Poles, mainly young people, were hanged from this tree. It and itself died in 1984, but it still appears as a witness to tragic historical events.
From now on, the road for the next 13 kilometers is very comfortable, because it runs almost flat on asphalt. Initially through the forest, and later through peaceful villages.
Halfway, at the northernmost point, there is Leoncin. Here we found the first shop on the route and had a small picnic. In Leoncin, in addition to the church, it is worth seeing the cemetery chapel. This one dates back to the 17th century and was created as a thanksgiving votive for Stefan Czarniecki's victory over the Swedes. Behind the town, yellow signs lead through a beautiful forest, we returned south to Julinka, from where we started. Along the way, we had a longer rest - a picnic and a hay baling session. It is a pity not to take advantage of such an opportunity!
Experiences in the buffer zone of the Park
Viewpoint on the Vistula River in Śladów
From the north, the Vistula River limits the Kampinos National Park, and in the past the entire area of the Park was the great valley of the great Vistula River. It was even 15 kilometers wide at the time. Formerly, these areas were flooded by the Vistula, but now they are protected by a flood embankment that retains the river's waters. Across the river, you can see the towers of the church in Czerwinsk on the Vistula River. It was in this area that King Jagiełło crossed the river when he marched on the Teutonic Knights, in 1410.
Church in Brochów
A brick, defensive building that resembles a castle more than a temple. She is known mainly for the fact that the tiny Fryderyk Chopin was baptized here. In addition, his parents got married here. The building dates back to the fourteenth century and witnessed many tragic historical events, such as the Swedish Deluge, insurrection, or the fights between the Russians and the Prussians at the turn of 1914 and 1915.
Address: Brochów 70
Manor and Park in Żelazowa Wola
This place is not only beautiful, but also significant. This is where Fryderyk Chopin was born in March 1810. The manor house standing here today is actually the left annex of the former Skarbek manor house, where Fryderyk's father, Mikołaj, was a governor for children.
The proper manor house burned down during the Napoleonic wars in 1812, and the outbuilding in which Frederick was born happily survived. At that time, it was more modest, surrounded by a wonderful park, a five-leaf sparkling red in autumn. The entrance to both the museum and the park is paid, but it is definitely worth visiting here.
Address: Żelazowa Wola 15, Sochaczew
Narrow-gauge railway in Sochaczew
Sochaczewska ciuchcia runs with tourists around the Kampinos Forest at a speed of about 10 km/h. It's a lot of fun not only for children. The star of the expedition is a locomotive, with which everyone is happy to take pictures. It is one of the exhibits of the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Sochaczew. Every ride in the season ends with a bonfire.
Address: ul. Licealna 18, Sochaczew
Nature of Kampinos National Park
These areas occupy the primeval Vistula valley. Once, the entire Vistula valley was even 15 kilometers wide. Today it is only 1 kilometer. After the retreat of the glacier, the waters of the Vistula River initially flowed through it, and today two strips of wetlands and dune areas remain. Here you will find the oxbow lakes of the queen of Polish rivers, over which, with a bit of luck, you will meet an otter. The Kampinos Forest is one of the largest areas of inland dunes in Europe. Parallelly, there are dunes and swamps here. Most of them are covered with forest.
Flora of the Park
There are over 1,400 species of vascular plants in the Park. Most of the area is covered with pine and pine-oak stands. Old pine trees are up to 30 meters high. Other trees found here are birch, ash, alder or poplar. At the foot of the dunes, there are pines, which look best in spring, when the undergrowth plants bloom. When the leaves of the trees have not yet developed, grove anemones, plazas and yellow grove bloom. Where swamps have dried up a bit as a result of human activity, rare delicious carnations and Siberian irises grow in the meadows.
Fauna of the Park
Fauna found in the Forest include: moose, beaver, lynx, wolf, European otter, marten, fox, eastern hedgehog, Asian raccoon, roe deer, deer, wild boar, bat or European badger. Kampinos wetlands are a valuable refuge for birds. More than 220 species were counted here. Among the distinguished birds, there is a marsh owl, a small flycatcher, a black stork, a crane, a kingfisher, a owl, as well as lesser spotted eagles and white-tailed eagles. A funnel lives on the open moors - a rare nocturnal bird.
Park symbol
The symbol of the Park is the elk, i.e. the largest ungulates of the deer family in Poland. It was chosen because quite a lot of individuals of this species live here. About 350 pieces walk among the forests of the Kampinos Forest, which gives one moose per less than one square kilometer. Interestingly, the moose were exterminated here in the first half of the 19th century, but in 1951 the restoration of the population began. It succeeded with considerable success.
Walk through selected parks
The "Walker", which you can download here, will certainly help you plan your visit to KPN. Here you will find many interesting ideas for excursions. The stroller also talks about other parks in Poland, such as Biebrzański, Słowiński, Wigierski or Świętokrzyski National Park.
The article was written in cooperation with PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna, which supports KPN.
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Practical information
From dawn to dusk
You can only move along designated trails and paths
Admission to the Park is free
Parking is free
Kampinos National Park
Directorate, ul. Tetmajera 38, Izabelin
tel. 22/ 722-60-01, 722-60-21
www.kampinoski-pn.gov.pl
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What's worth seeing in the area?
If you have already visited this attraction, it is also worth visiting several other interesting ones places nearby. Within a radius of 100 kilometers you will find many interesting places places that can diversify your stay in this part of Poland.
- Warsaw, distance: 14.1 km
- Royal Łazienki in Warsaw, distance: 17.3 km
- Palace in Wilanów, distance: 23.6 km
- Płock, distance: 81.4 km
