Wielkopolski National Park

national park of Poland

Wielkopolski National Park is a national park in Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland. It is known for its beautiful nature and post glacial lakes making interesting landscape (see Ice Age traces). Deer, boars and other animals are highly represented in the park.

Forest trail on the Puszczykowo Mountains reserve in the summer

Understand

Map of the National Park

History

The park was considered already in interwar period. Its main supporter was Adam Wodziczko who in 1922 spoke in favor of its creation. His efforts resulted in reduction in logging activity in this area. Park was finally created during Communist Poland period in 1957.

Landscape

The park is in the vicinity of numerous lakes, encompassing western part of Rogalin Woods. It is very typical post-glacial lakeland landscape with lots of height variation, mounds and troughs. In the interior of the park, there is the well—preserved and scenic Lake Góreckie.

Flora and fauna

Climate

Get in

By train

You can easily reach Puszczykowo and Puszczykówko stations with Koleje Wielkopolskie from Poznań. First station is directly inside the park, close to Warta river while second station is inside town from which there is good access to central part of the park with lakes and educational centre. You can also try Mosina station for southern part of the park.

By car

Easily reachable from every direction. There are many paid parkings inside park, 6 zł for first two hours and 10 zł for whole day. In few cases you can pay with cash (near museum), however in most cases you need to use moBilet app.

By bike

Closest bike rentals are in Poznań. There is a scenic trail from the city to the park going close to Warta river, however it is poorly marked and in very bad shape and will require solid mountain bike to go. You can also bring your bike in train (see By train section), try to plan for hours with low traffic as there is not much space for bikes.

Fees and permits

Entrance to park is free of charge.

Get around

By foot

While it will take a bit, the park is small enough to be traversed entirely on foot. There are many marked trails if you need guidance and tourist shelters in case you need a break or want to protect from bad weather in the area.

By bike

Similar to foot travel it is safely possible to cycle whole park in one day. There are also many trails and roads where you can cycle. Park is unusually hilly considering typical landscape of voivodeship and is a boon to mountain bikers.

See

Boardwalk on Rosnowskie Duże Lake
  • 🌍 Ruins of Klaudyna Potocka palace. Scenic neogothic palace on the island built in 1825 and abandoned five years later. Damaged in 1848 by artillery fire and left as ruin. Unreachable, can only be seen from distance. (updated Aug 2024)
  • 🌍 Arthur Greiser Villa, Jeziory. 08:00-14:00 M-Fr. Villa built for Arthur Greiser, Nazi governor of Warta land during war. Now it hosts small ecological education centre and is seat of the national park authorities. (updated Sep 2024)

Do

Buy

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Szreniawa Mausoleum

Lodging

Camping

Backcountry

Stay safe

Despite being small and close to large city, the park is quite desolate. There may be trouble with getting supplied or having network connection inside. General caution against large mammals (especially boars) applies.

Go next

Close or inside of park:

  • Puszczykowo - interwar villa suburb, museum of traveler Arkady Fiedler
  • Rogalin - village with Raczyński estates and one of the oldest oaks in Poland (800 years)
  • Szreniawa - village with huge museum of agriculture

A bit further:

  • Poznań - capital of the region
  • Kórnik - town with Działyński Castle and arboretum park
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