Lake Wigry and Its National Park

Wigry is one of the deepest and most complicated shaped lakes in Poland, a body of water with long arms, islands and bays cut into forest that has never been fully cleared. The park around it also protects dozens of small, dark forest lakes and the Czarna Hancza, one of the country's best known kayaking rivers, which flows out of Wigry and away to the north east. On a peninsula above the main basin stands the former Camaldolese hermitage, a white walled complex of church, tower and individual hermit houses that is visible from most of the lake and is the image everyone takes away.

The landscape

• The Camaldolese hermitage - a walled monastery complex with separate hermit cottages, standing on a rise above the water.
• The lake arms - narrow forested bays that make the shoreline far longer than the lake's size suggests.
• The Czarna Hancza - a clear, fast river leaving the lake, the standard multi day kayak route in this part of Poland.
• Beavers and forest lakes - small acidic pools in the woods with dams and lodges along their edges.

When to go

June to August for swimming and kayaking, when the water is warm enough to be pleasant and the kayak operators are running. May and September are cooler but far quieter and better for wildlife. Winter is cold and genuinely deserted, and the region regularly records some of the lowest temperatures in Poland, so plan accordingly.

Practical notes

Public transport barely exists here and a car is close to essential. Part of the monastery complex operates as accommodation, so not every building is open to walk into. Mosquitoes near the shore are heavy in early summer, the water stays cold well into June, and the kayak sections nearest the lake fill with organised groups in July and August.

Nearby

Suwalki and the glacial hills of the Suwalki Landscape Park are north, and the Augustow forest and canal system are south.