Mark Read

Mazovia & Podlasie

The rolling landscape of Mazovia (Mazowsze in Polish) has had an eventful history. Once a duchy, this central region is dotted with castles, cathedrals and palaces, the biggest of which reside in the riverside towns of Płock and Pułtusk. Łódź, the provincial capital, is Poland's third-largest metropolis and the region's cultural and nightlife centre. The ups and downs of the city's industrial past are reflected in its mix of gritty and restored architecture and the ever-growing list of attractions that play off its complex history.

To the east, Podlasie is rural and remote. Aside from a few urban centres, this province abutting the Lithuanian and Belarusian borders is a verdant expanse of farmland, forest and lakes. Its four national parks are splendid: Narew and Biebrza for their marshlands; Wigry for its lakes; and Białowieża for its primeval forest and wild European bison, the kings of Polish fauna.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Mazovia & Podlasie.

  • Museum

    Treblinka Memorial

    In a remote clearing, hidden in a Mazovian pine forest, stands a granite monolith; around it is a small field of 17,000 jagged, upright stones, many engraved with the name of a town or village. Beneath the grass, mingled with the sand, lie the ashes of some 800,000 people. Treblinka, the site of the Nazis' second-largest extermination camp after Auschwitz-Birkenau, is an indelible part of the Holocaust. The memorial includes a small museum; the entire site is rarely crowded.

  • National Park

    Biebrza National Park

    Central Europe's largest area of natural bog or wetlands is protected by Biebrza ( byehb-zhah) National Park. It's Poland's largest park, stretching more than 100km from close to the Belarus border to the Narew River near Tykocin. It offers some vast areas of serene natural beauty. Myriad hiking trails and kayaking courses wend through one of Poland's best places to spot birds. Although you can spend days here, you can easily dip into the natural beauty near the village of Osowiec-Twierdza.

  • Cemetery

    Jewish Cemetery

    Łódź's Jewish cemetery was founded in 1892 and today is a haunting destination. The largest Jewish graveyard in Europe, it contains around 68,000 surviving memorials, including the huge, domed Poznanski family mausoleum. The area known as Ghetto Field (Polem Gettowym) is the final resting place for 43,000 victims of the wartime ghetto. From the Doły tram stop, walk due west on a small lane to cobbled ul Zmienna and the cemetery entrance. It's about a 300m walk.

  • Memorial

    Radegast Station

    Radegast station on the north side of Łódź was the main deportation centre for Jews being sent to the extermination camps at Chełmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau. The station has been preserved and now holds a memorial to those lost in the Holocaust. Displays detail life in the ghetto and delve into the lives of some of the 145,000 people sent to their deaths from this station. It's about a 1km walk northwest from either the Doly tram stop or the Jewish Cemetery.

  • Museum

    City Museum of Łódź

    Adjacent to the Manufaktura mall, this museum is housed in the impressive palace of 19th-century textile baron Izrael Kalmanowicz Poznański. The opulent apartments are a clear indication of the Poznańskis' wealth, bedecked with elaborate dark-wood wall panelling, delicate stained-glass windows and a grand ballroom. Despite taking a back seat to the building itself, the 1st-floor exhibitions are interesting, covering famous Łódź citizens such as pianist Artur Rubinstein and writer Jerzy Kosiński, while those in the basement cover the city's history.

  • National Park

    Białowieźa National Park

    Once a centre for hunting and timber-felling, Białowieża (Byah-wo-vyeh-zhah) is now Poland's oldest national park. Its significance is underlined by Unesco's unusual recognition of the reserve as both a Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site. The park can be found 20km east of Hajnówka.

  • Nature Reserve

    Suwałki Landscape Park

    The Suwałki Landscape Park is a cluster of pristine lakes and rugged hills that's worth a detour. Covering some 63 sq km, the park encompasses land that was formed in the late Ice Age. The result are dozens of startlingly clear Nordic lakes amid rolling hills and valleys. It's a perfect escape for walking or cycling. The village of Smolniki, 20km north of Suwałki, is the most convenient base for the park, which is about halfway between Suwałki and the Lithuanian border.

  • Museum

    Herbst Palace Museum

    Now a branch of the Museum of Art, this building started life in 1875 as a grand villa of the Herbst family. Although the owners fled before WWII, taking all the furnishings and art with them, the interior has been restored and furnished like the original, giving an insight into how barons of industry once lived. There's also a separate exhibition of Polish and European art from the 15th to early 20th centuries (adult/child 10/5zł).

  • Park

    Arkadia Park

    With its overgrown ruins, peeling pavilions, temples and follies, the landscaped garden at Arkadia Park is a romantic pagan enclave in a sea of Catholicism. The park was laid out by Princess Helena Radziwiłł in the 1770s as an 'idyllic land of peace and happiness', but after the death of the princess, the park fell into decay. Most of the works of art were taken to Nieborów's palace and can be seen there today, and the abandoned buildings fell gradually into ruin.