Masuria and Podlasie

The first day is pure driving and there is no point pretending otherwise. The sensible thing is to stop for the night somewhere in Greater Poland or near Toruń and leave the rest of the route for the morning. Toruń is easy to walk in the evening and its Gothic old town is exactly the leg-stretch you need after a whole day behind the wheel.

In the morning you carry on north to the Elbląg Canal, an engineering monument where boats do not overcome the difference in level inside locks but ride overland on carriages pulled along rails. You can watch the Buczyniec inclined plane from the bank as well, and the whole mechanism is beautifully visible while it works. The night can be spent in Elbląg, an easy starting point for the next day's cruise.

Alongside the full-day Ostróda–Elbląg route, the operator Żegluga Ostródzko-Elbląska also offers shorter options that cover precisely the stretch with the inclined planes; the timetable changes every season, so check it in advance. For this day pick one of the shorter morning departures — the full-day route, with the journey back to the vehicle, swallows the whole day and leaves no time for anything else. In the afternoon you cross into Warmia to Święta Lipka, where the pilgrimage basilica gives demonstrations of its Baroque organ with moving figures several times a day in the summer season. The evening ends on the shore of Lake Niegocin near Giżycko.

Giżycko is the traffic crossroads of the Great Masurian Lakes: it has a swing bridge over the Łuczański Canal and the massive Prussian fortress of Boyen, which children are happy to walk through. The afternoon offers a detour to Gierłoż and the ruins of the Wolf's Lair, Adolf Hitler's headquarters, blown up by the retreating Germans at the end of the war. It is only a short hop back to the lake, so there is still time for a swim in the evening.

Mikołajki is the harbour heart of Masuria and the best base for Śniardwy, the largest lake in Poland. A boat trip across the open water is worth it, but Śniardwy is unsheltered and the waves get up quickly, so go by the forecast rather than by mood. The early evening in the marina belongs to fish on the plate and to children with somewhere to run.

The river Krutynia is one of the prettiest kayaking routes in Poland and the rental places along it also offer short family sections, so you do not have to sign up for a whole day on the water. If you would rather walk, the Pisz Forest has waymarked loops through the woods and around the lakes. This is the last slow day before the route swings south-east.

From Masuria you cross into Podlasie and Biebrza National Park, the largest in Poland and at the same time the largest continuous wetland complex in Central Europe. You walk along boardwalks and out to the viewing towers, from which, with a little luck, you may spot elk. One essential warning for May and June: without repellent and mosquito screens in the windows this place is misery, because there really are a great many mosquitoes.

Europe's last lowland primeval forest is visited under discipline: the strict reserve may be entered only with a licensed guide, who has to be arranged in advance, and the group may be led along the marked trail only. Nobody can order up an encounter with a bison in the wild, which is why most visitors head for the Rezerwat Pokazowy Żubrów, where the animals are kept in enclosures and even small children get to see them. The forest borders Belarus and access to the trails changes from time to time, so check the park's current visitor notice before you leave.

The return from Podlasie is just as long as the way out, so it splits into two days with a night somewhere around Łódź or Wrocław. That leaves an easy drive home on the morning of the final day. If you have time to spare, you can shorten the first day of the return with a stop in Tykocin and its Baroque church and synagogue.