The best traffic-free bike rides around Białowieski Park Narodowy

The Royal Oak Trail in the Stara Białowieża forest is a picturesque educational trail leading through the former settlement, where archaeological research indicates the original Białowieża was founded. A wooden footbridge winds through ancient oak trees named after Polish and Lithuanian kings, creating a unique blend of history and nature.

The open-air museum is a reproduction of a farmstead from the Białowieża Forest area from the first half of the 19th century. It was moved from the village of Dobrowoda in the Kleszczele commune. This borderland farmstead consists of a cottage, a pigsty, a barn, a well with a crane and an original plaster fence made of willow branches, once very common in these areas. The cottage from 1836 consists of an exit hall, a large room and a bedroom. Inside there is a stove, as well as the only preserved, working wooden chimney in Poland. Since the beginning of its existence, the roof has been covered with straw thatch.

Next to the bridge, you can see the remains of a concrete narrow-gauge railway bridge. The aim of this investment was to exploit the forest by providing transport of cut trees to the sawmill. The construction was started by the Germans in 1916, who occupied these areas. Forced labor was used for the construction – prisoners of war. By the end of World War I, 85 km of tracks had been built and as a result, the Białowieża Forest was devastated :-(

The most beautiful road through the Białowieża Forest with relatively little car traffic.

A long time ago, in the Białowieża Forest, forest workers, or budnicy, settled. During the day, they worked in the forest: cutting down trees, burning charcoal, and at night they slept in budy, or dugouts covered with brushwood. The name Budy refers to the first houses that were built in this beautiful, picturesque village. While in Budy, you can visit Sioło Budy and Białowieskie Sioło, which are located almost in the same place. Sioło means a farmstead in eastern dialects. There, you will visit a replica of a farmstead from the forest area, which is almost 200 years old!!! You will see an old village cottage with a thatched roof. Next to it, there is a wooden pigsty, a barn and a well with a crane, from which water was once drawn. The entire farm is surrounded by a plaster fence made of willow branches. This is a very clever solution, because when a hole appeared in the fence, all it took was to tear off a few branches of the willow to have material to patch it up. pb.edu.pl/oficyna-wydawnicza/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/08/Podroze_po_drewnianym_Podlasiu.pdf

The Palace Park was established after 1895 as an integral part of the private hunting residence of the Russian tsars, built in the years 1889-1894. The name of the park "Palace" refers to the most important building, this residence, which was the tsar's palace (it burned down in 1944 and was finally demolished in 1962). The palace was accompanied by a complex of other buildings. Some of them were intended for the needs of the court and the tsar's service: the Orthodox church, the Drivers' House, the Bath House, the Management House, the stable house, the Świcki House, the Marshal's House, the Jegierski House. The remaining buildings were of an economic and industrial nature: the Cossack stable, the arsenal, the mill, the power plant, the barn, the garages. This hunting residence was surrounded by a park of over 50 hectares. The park was designed by Walerian Kronenberg (1859-1934), one of the most outstanding and fashionable designers of garden and park layouts from the turn of the century. He also designed over 300 larger and smaller parks in Poland, Lithuania, Russia and Crimea. In Warsaw alone, Kronenberg designed, among others, the Horse Racing Grounds and Agricola. bpn.com.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32

The Palace Park located in Białowieża was established at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries around the hunting residence of the Russian tsars, built in the years 1889–1894. Its area is approx. 50 ha. The main building of this residence was the palace, which burned down in 1944. Only the so-called kitchen gate survived. The buildings that once accompanied the tsar's palace have also survived: the Management House, the Marshal's House, the Jegierski House, the Drivers' House, the Bath House. In the place where the palace once stood, today there is the Directorate, the Nature and Forest Museum and the BPN Guest Rooms. The park was designed in the English style, also called landscape style, by the famous planner - Walerian Kronenberg. Its characteristic feature is the free compositional assumptions, with the plant thread coming to the forefront. Against the background of compact trees, single trees and their small groups growing in the clearings look picturesque. Of the approximately 200 species of trees and shrubs planted here, nearly 90 have survived to this day. bpn.com.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=650&Itemid=280

The Royal Oak Trail is an educational trail located in the Stara Białowieża forest. The habit of the oaks and their clustered arrangement along the trail also indicates human intervention. The relatively short, approximately 32-meter-tall trees are nearly 10 meters shorter than the oaks that have always grown in a dense stand. This means they were planted by human hands as park trees near a manor house that once stood here. One legend says they were planted at the behest of King Sigismund the Old. A wooden footbridge leads along the trail, equipped with plaques describing the oaks, named after Polish and Lithuanian rulers who ruled the forest. Walking the trail offers the opportunity not only to experience nature but also to deepen your historical knowledge. The author and initiator of this project was Jacek Wysmułek, a forester from the Białowieża Forest District. Back in 1976, he proposed protecting the entire area and creating a historical educational trail. The footbridge is wheelchair-accessible and features additional Braille signs. A road connecting Białowieża with Narewka runs parallel to the footbridge. This road leads to the Siemianówka Reservoir. Approximately 1.5 km north of this site (in section 281 - yellow tourist trail) lie the remains of the foundations of another hunting castle, likely built by the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas. The Royal Oak Trail is leased to a separate private company responsible for maintaining the trail and maintaining the cleanliness of the grounds. The company charges an admission fee. e-puszcza.pl/pearls-forest/szlak-debow-krolewskich-perelka-puszczy