Walks across the połoniny

The walking is superb and, on the marked paths, not technically difficult. Trails climb for an hour or two through beech forest before emerging onto long grassy ridges with views stretching for kilometres in every direction. The most sought-after summit is Tarnica (1,346 m), the highest point of the Polish Bieszczady. The classic, near-direct route starts from the hamlet of Wołosate—Poland's last village to the south—where the trail through the beech and over the tree line takes a little over two hours to the top; a loop continues along the ridge past Halicz and Rozsypaniec for a seven- to eight-hour day.↗↗↗

For a gentler but equally iconic outing, the yellow trail from the Wyżna Pass reaches the broad ridge of Połonina Wetlińska in about an hour, ending at the rebuilt Chatka Puchatka mountain hut—the highest shelter in the Bieszczady—on a crest of swaying grass. If you want the full drama, traverse the entire ridge down toward Smerek and Wetlina, a longer and more demanding day that many rate as one of the most beautiful walks in Poland. A parallel favourite is the Połonina Caryńska crossing, walking from the vanished village of Brzegi (Berehy) Górne to Ustrzyki Górne with wide views west to Połonina Wetlińska and east into 'Tarnica's nest' and the Ukrainian side of the range.↗↗↗

Active walkers with more time can push to the quieter ridge of Bukowe Berdo, or take the border trail over Mała and Wielka Rawka toward Kremenaros, the point where the frontiers of Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine meet—on routes along the border zone, carry an identity document. The long-distance Main Beskid Trail stitches these summits together along the spine of the park. Many of the paths double as nature-and-history trails lined with interpretive boards, so the walking carries a steady commentary on the flora and the human past.↗↗↗

A landscape of memory

The emptiness of these mountains is not natural but the result of a catastrophe. Until the Second World War the valleys were densely settled by Boykos and Lemkos, Ukrainian-speaking highlanders who farmed the valley floors and grazed the połoniny. After 1944 the region became a battleground, and the entire population was removed—first toward Soviet Ukraine and then, in the 1947 Operation Vistula, scattered across Poland's new western territories. More than a hundred villages were burned or left to collapse and their wooden churches mostly destroyed, so that for years nobody lived here at all.↗

What the walker finds today in the valleys of the upper San is a hushed archaeology of absence: rows of old lime and ash trees that once marked a village street, fruit trees gone wild, the stone footings of a church, a cemetery of leaning crosses inscribed in Cyrillic, cellars dimpling the turf. Marked historical paths lead past these remains, and the trailhead village of Brzegi (Berehy) Górne takes its name from a settlement that no longer exists. Just outside the park, at Smolnik nad Sanem, you can still see one of the best-preserved Boyko-style wooden tserkovs—among the very few of its type left and a UNESCO-listed landmark—hinting at what these valleys once looked like when full of life.↗↗↗↗

Practicalities for the trailhead

The park was established in 1973 and has grown to cover some 292 square kilometres; in 1992 it became part of the East Carpathians biosphere reserve, and in 2021 its old beech forests were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage listing for the ancient and primeval beech forests of the Carpathians. It is open all year, and the mountains are reached along the single road that loops past the two main bases, the villages of Ustrzyki Górne and Wetlina, where you will find guesthouses, hostels, campsites, simple restaurants and paid trailhead parking.↗↗

Entry to the trails is by a modest ticket, sold at booths at the trailheads and, where offered, online; an information and ticket point operates at the Wołosate parking lot in season, and the park runs a Nature Museum and Ecological Education Centre in nearby Ustrzyki Dolne plus tourist information in Lutowiska. Getting here is a journey in itself—the mountains sit roughly four and a half to five hours by road from Kraków and about three from Rzeszów, the nearest airport, and buses beyond Sanok and Ustrzyki Dolne are infrequent, so a car is the practical way to travel. Plan for at least three days.↗↗↗

The finest season is autumn, from mid-September to mid-October, when the beech woods turn copper and gold beneath deep-red meadows, the stags are roaring and the crowds have thinned. Summer (June to August) is warm and flowery but brings violent thunderstorms that are dangerous on the exposed ridges, and July–August weekends can queue the path to Tarnica. However good the weather seems, these are deceptive mountains: check the forecast before you set out, keep to the marked trails, and remember there is no drinking water on the ridges.↗↗↗↗

Beyond the trails

At Wołosate the park maintains a Hucul pony conservation stud, and the breed's hardy mountain ponies offer a different way into the landscape—riding courses, guided trail rides and horse-drawn carriage trips, with a horse-riding centre at Tarnawa Niżna. Winter, from December to March, brings deep snow and severe frost to an almost-empty range, appealing to experienced ski-tourers and snowshoers, though some slopes carry an avalanche risk.↗↗↗

With a car, the surrounding region extends the trip: the scenic Large Ring-Road loops through the mountains past Lutowiska and Ustrzyki Górne, the Small Ring-Road runs along Lake Solina—Poland's largest artificial lake, behind its biggest dam—and the narrow-gauge forest railway at Majdan and the open-air folk museum at Sanok make rewarding day excursions. These are neighbouring highlights rather than features of the park itself, but they round out a visit to Poland's wild east.↗↗

A few practical touches for the trail: tickets and parking are paid; on-site amenities include marked cycling lanes and public restrooms; and the park is good for families, with shorter ridge walks such as the climb from the Wyżna Pass suiting younger legs, though the park entrance is not wheelchair accessible. There is no food or water for sale on the mountain paths, so carry everything you need and pack out all rubbish—in bear country, a clean trail is part of the deal.↗↗↗