Podkarpackie is a wild wilderness in the far south where the mountains are empty and the forests are deep. This region is the home of the Bieszczady mountains road trip which is a dream for those who want to leave the modern world behind. You can hike to the high meadows known as poloninas where there are no trees to block the view of the endless green peaks.
The road winds through the San valley where you can find ancient wooden churches that were built by hand without using a single nail. These small dark buildings are hidden in the woods and hold beautiful icons and old wood carvings. Nearby the Solina lake offers a Bieszczady sea where you can drive across the massive dam or take a boat to a quiet island.
Your trip takes you to the Łańcut Palace where the rooms are filled with gold and silk and the stables hold a huge collection of royal carriages. You can visit the glass works in Krosno to see masters blow red hot glass into fine art right before your eyes. This region is a land of raw nature and deep history where the wolves still howl in the night and the stars are brighter than anywhere else.
Podkarpackie highlights
- Solina Lake Dam Walk across a massive concrete wall that holds back a giant blue lake in the middle of the mountains. You can take a cable car over the water to see the green peaks from high above.
- Łańcut Palace Stables Tour a grand home with rooms full of gold and a stable that has the biggest collection of royal carriages. The park around the palace is full of rare trees and flower beds.
- Bieszczady High Meadows Hike to the top of the mountains where there are no trees and the grass waves in the wind. The view of the empty green hills is the wildest sight in the whole country.
- Sanok Skansen Explore the largest park of wooden buildings in the land with churches and homes from many different tribes. You can see how people lived in the deep woods of the south long ago.
- Krosno Glass Works Watch master artists blow red hot glass into beautiful vases and birds in a hot workshop. You can even try to blow your own glass piece to take home with you.
- Przemysl Forts Visit a ring of massive stone forts built to guard the city during the time of the great wars. You can walk through the dark tunnels and see the giant walls made of stone and earth.
- Krasiczyn Castle See a white palace with four different towers that each represent a different way of life. The court inside is covered in white art that looks like lace carved into the stone.
- Ulanów Rafting Museum Learn about the men who took giant rafts of wood down the river all the way to the sea. The town is quiet and sits where two rivers meet in a deep green valley.
- Haczów Wooden Church Visit the biggest and oldest wooden Gothic church in the world which is made of dark logs. The inside is covered in colorful paintings that are hundreds of years old.
- Bieszczady Forest Train Ride a small train through the deep woods and over high bridges in the middle of the wild mountains. It is a slow and fun way to see the heart of the wilderness.
The local Four
History of Podkarpackie
Podkarpackie is a land of wild peaks and lost villages where the forest has grown over the homes of the past. For centuries, mountain tribes lived here in harmony with nature until the 1940s, when entire villages were moved away during the war. This rugged history is the spirit of the Bieszczady mountains road trip where you drive through a land that was once empty of people.
The people of the mountains were master wood workers who built dark log churches, like the one in Haczów, which dates back to the 14th century. It is the largest wooden Gothic church in the world, built using massive logs and no metal nails. You can still find these silent wooden giants tucked away in the woods where the only sound is the wind in the trees.
The region also became a center of light and fire when the first oil wells in the world were dug in Bóbrka in 1854. Ignacy Łukasiewicz invented the kerosene lamp here, changing the way the world saw the night forever. Between the empty high meadows and the glowing fire of the glass works in Krosno, this region is the last wild corner of the north.