We will not be sleeping over today – we will begin taking photos at dawn so as to take advantage of the rising sun. After breakfast, we spend the rest of the day traversing the prettiest Tatras valleys and searching for marmots and chamois. In Dolina Koscieliska, we conclude our tour for the day and head home. We will have a traditional dinner with live music in the evening and then spend a relaxing evening in the sauna. 

It’s time to explore the western part of the mountain range towards Gasiennicowa Hall. After lunch in the shelter, you will descend and in the afternoon we are returning to Cracow.

Let’s visit another local animal – the beaver. For that, we jump onto a catamaran at dawn and, guided by our local guide, attempt to spot beavers at their breakfast – before they hide for the day.
After breakfast in a local restaurant, it is time to enter the bird kingdom. So why is Biebrza valley so special in springtime? Choir of toads, blooming marigolds, but most of all hundreds and thousands of birds come here when the Biebrza river turns into a wide lake.
Why? Besides being rich in food, the backwaters in the Biebrza valley offer safety to migrating birds. Cranes are among the first birds arriving each spring, followed by starlings, lapwings, common redshanks, gooss, falcons, ospreys, terns, herons, and many others you can expect to see with our local guides.
In the evening there is something special to help you feel the majesty of this animal and bird refuge – a balloon ride over the river (optional, extra fee). The last pleasure of the day is chatting over tasty meals in a cozy restaurant.

Now it’s time to change perspective and hop aboard a canoe. We will take a 3 hour river canoe excursion to see water life up close, especially birds, and to relax. And on the way back to Warsaw, we will have lunch and stop for pictures of several picturesque places where storks are now breeding in villages.

The day will be packed with emotions! At dawn after only a sip of coffee we start tracking bison at their breakfast in the wild. Our local guide and environmental expert will tell us all about bison behavior, history of its extinction and bring back to life the Bialowieza population, teach us how to differentiate male and female and much more. Once we spot the herd, you will have some time to observe the king of the forest and take pictures.

After breakfast and some rest, we continue to explore the primeval forest (outside of the national park). Parts of this area have not seen major human intervention for over 100 years. A light hike will allow you to discover the richness of the forest: from rare fungi, protected beetles (like pachnica), birds (like sóweczka owl). We will also try to spot tracks of large mammals (foxes, lynx, or wolves).

After lunch, we will stay in the forest but this time we’ll explore it in a more comprehensive manner – on bikes, we will discover the forest’s many different forms and how it coexists with nearby villages and their beautifully painted wooden architecture. Endorphins from sports are a great bonus!

In the evening, hopefully tired and happy, it is time to dine like locals do. You will try the finest local cuisine dishes like solyanka soup or Russian pelmeni. The unique wooden architecture and the charming interior of the restaurant add flavors to the evening. Before sleep, we invite you for a local beer or liqueur tasting and slideshow of pictures presenting Bialowieza forest at different seasons and stories about primeval forest history.

Time to catch a breath! The surrounding silence and majesty of the forest offers a great opportunity to relax in the sun. But you may as well want to continue bike exploration to see examples of the oldest oaks, some of them almost 500 years old and visit the semi natural animal reserve where you may see elks, lynx, wild boars and roe deer among others.
On the way back to Warsaw you will take a brief look at a few more characteristic places of the region. Northeast Poland is one of the most ecologically dense and sparsely populated regions of Poland where many natural areas are protected. Historically it has been a cultural and national mosaic and you may still feel this spirit in some places: like in the colorful Land of Open Shutters or wooden Orthodox churches we will pay a short visit.
On the way you will also see a true stork festival living here in large numbers and nesting in every village! In Podlasie, spring awakening is truly magical, with its picturesque flowery meadows and the scent of nature awakening.
Our trip will slowly come to an end with a late lunch in Tykocin, famous for its Jewish synagogue and brief look at the splendid Narew riverbank.