Green Velo in the Wilderness

Your tour begins on a Saturday with your arrival in Warsaw (by flight or train), followed by a 2-hour onward journey by train to Białystok. Here you will spend your first night in a city centre hotel which will allow you to take in the magnificent Branicki Palace, beautifully renovated houses and fine cafés and restaurants that surround the triangular market place.
The whole city is covered with a network of cycle paths.

Leaving Bialystok you travel west along the Green Velo route stopping for lunch at Tykocin, a pretty town with a large synagogue which dates back to 1642 and is now a museum for Jewish culture. Continuing on to Waniewo Village where you can go for a swim in the river, walk along the marshes, go on to the wooden jetty with hand-operated ferries or investigate the river labyrinth by punting through it. Your accommodation for the night is a guest house right next to Narew National Park, also known as the “Polish Amazon”.

Your tour continues as you spend the day cycling upstream along the Narew Valley. Travelling east you pass many picturesque villages with colourfully decorated wooden houses which seem to get more delightful the further you go.

Today you will cycle through the land of the Orthodox Christians through villages with charming wooden churches and chapels until you reach the city of Hajnówka with its imposing Holy Trinity Church. Re-joining the Green Velo route once again you’ll ride into the primeval forest of eastern Poland. You’ll spend tonight in a luxury hotel with a swimming pool and a wellness area in Białowieża.

Continue your journey in Puszcza Białowieska – Europe’s last real primeval forest. Home to wolves, lynxes and the European bison, you will experience nature at its most pristine today. This short stage to your hotel in Narewka means you can take the time to explore the area further by cycling other tracks and even make a short, visa-free visit to Belarus, should you wish.

On your way to Supraśl, where you’ll be spending the night in a forest health resort, you’ll pass the large Siemianówka Reservoir, or stop for a swim! Continuing on you’ll find yourself cycling in the shadow of the virgin Knyszyn Forest, a region which overflows with picturesque river valleys. Take a detour to the Polish Orient – Kruszyniany, a village of the Tartars where you’ll find an old mosque within a unique green wooden building.

Before leaving Supraśl to head back to Bialystok, on the newly laid Green Velo cycle trail, visit the 550-year-old Eastern Orthodox monastery for men situated at the Suprasl River.

Train journey to Warsaw and departure

The “very green” option from/to Waniewo

For those who prefer to be surrounded by greenery for the entire trip our suggestion would be to book the first and last nights in Waniewo Village (instead of Białystok).

You can then take a round trip to Tykocin on Day 2  (ca. 40-45 km) and on Day 7 you cycle via Bialystok back to Waniewo (approx. 60 km).

It is most convenient if taking this option to come with your own car (you can park in Waniewo free of charge), however, it is also possible to arrive by train where additional transfers from Bialystok or from Lapy train station can be organised.