Krakow Travel Guide

Bieszczady Mountains

While most tourists to Poland stick to the cities, and content themselves on the wonderful cultural sights that can be experienced in the Old Town areas of Warsaw and Krakow, a trip into the Polish countryside - and particularly, the southern Bieszczady Mountains - is a very worthwhile exercise. A land of snow-capped peaks, tall pine trees, vast green meadows and a rich array of native flora and fauna, the Bieszczady area is not only gorgeous, but offers plenty of well-maintained hiking trails, many of them wending their way through the UNESCO East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. Yet, despite this natural bounty, the real reason to head to the Polish countryside is the humanity you will encounter there: the internet is awash with tourist tales of being invited to share trout barbecues with friendly local families, of stumbling across eccentric villages and towns, and of snapping photograph after photograph of rural houses that look lifted straight out of Grimm's Fairy Tales.