Magura National Park — the empty valleys of the Low Beskids

Mountains with nothing high in them

The park was established on 1 January 1995 and covers 194.39 km². Almost all of it lies in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, with a western strip in Lesser Poland. The headquarters and the education centre are in Krempna, a village on the Wisłoka river and the practical starting point for most walks.

What is protected here is the middle section of the Low Beskids (Beskid Niski), the lowest and at the same time the broadest of the Beskid ranges. The highest point inside the park is Wątkowa at 846 m — modest by Carpathian standards, yet high enough to carry deep mountain forest. The Slovak border runs a few kilometres to the south.

The bedrock is Carpathian flysch, alternating beds of sandstone and shale. Where the harder Magura sandstone has survived, it stands out as towers and overhangs in the middle of the woods — the only places where this range looks remotely alpine.

Forest on top of villages

More than 90 per cent of the park is woodland, and much of it is younger than it looks. Before the Second World War these valleys were home to the Lemkos, a community of Wallachian and Ruthenian descent who farmed thin soils and grazed sheep. Deportations followed 1945, and Operation Vistula in 1947 removed almost everyone who remained.

The fields were left without owners and spent decades turning back into forest. Walk through the woods today and you can still read the ground: terraces of old ploughland, stone footings, feral apple trees, lines of fence posts. Of Świerzowa Ruska only the name, the cemetery and a nature trail across the former village site are left.

For wildlife this retreat was a gift. Large unbroken blocks of forest, few roads and hardly any residents add up to conditions that barely exist elsewhere in Poland. Beech woods mixed with fir hold the ridges, while damp woodland and slowly scrubbing-over meadows follow the streams.

Eagle, bear, wildcat

• Lesser spotted eagle — the Low Beskids hold the highest breeding density in Poland; the birds nest in mature stands and hunt over open meadows, so the gradual loss of those meadows to scrub works against them.
• Brown bear — the park sits inside the range of the Carpathian population; what visitors actually see are tracks and dug-up ant hills rather than the animal.
• Wolf and lynx — both hunt here, using forest that continues uninterrupted across the state border.
• European wildcat — very rare in Poland, and this is one of the few places where it is recorded regularly.
• Woodland birds — over a hundred breeding species, among them black stork, Ural owl and golden eagle.

Crags, churches and war graves

The best-known rock formation is Kornuty in the Magura Wątkowska massif — sandstone towers with overhangs and shallow rock shelters. On the edge of the park, above Folusz, stands Diabli Kamień, the Devil's Stone, protected as a natural monument. Both show what flysch leaves behind when the soft layers wash away.

The human record here is as interesting as the natural one. Kotań, Świątkowa Mała and Wielka, Bartne, Olchowiec and Krempna all have wooden Lemko churches, some from the 18th century, now used as Catholic churches or museums. Near Brzezowa archaeologists have investigated a hill fort from the 9th and 10th centuries.

Ridges and passes carry First World War cemeteries: the front crossed the Low Beskids in 1915 and the dead were buried where they fell. At the Hałbów pass a mass grave marks the murder of the region's Jewish inhabitants in 1942.

Getting there

• By car — easiest from Jasło or Nowy Żmigród towards Krempna; the roads are narrow but surfaced, with small car parks at the trailheads.
• By train and bus — rail to Jasło, Gorlice or Krosno, then a bus or minibus towards Krempna and Folusz; services are sparse, so check the return before you set out.
• By bike — the Wisłoka valley and its side valleys make good multi-day riding on quiet roads.
• On foot from further away — the Main Beskid Trail passes through this area, so the park fits into a longer traverse of the range.

Practical advice

This is not a range where you meet someone every ten minutes. Phone coverage has holes, shops are thin on the ground, and the nearest petrol station can be half an hour away. Carry water, food and a head torch, and bring a map or a downloaded track: forest roads fork constantly and paint marks fade.

During the raptor breeding season parts of the park fall inside protection zones around nests, so staying on marked paths matters here. Bears mean one simple rule — no food left out at a camp site, and no silent walking into dense young growth. High waterproof boots are worth it, because the forest tracks hold mud long after rain.

How to get there and practical info

Location

central Low Beskids, Subcarpathian Voivodeship; headquarters and education centre at Krempna

Area

194.39 km², over 90 per cent of it forest

Established

1995

Highest point

Wątkowa, 846 m, in the Magura Wątkowska massif

Time needed

nature trail — two to four hours; a ridge walk with the climb from the valley — a full day

Current opening times and tickets

the park's official website

When to go