Photo: Silar, CC BY-SA 4.0 
Photo: Yuiren0, CC BY 3.0
Main Beskid Trail
Główny Szlak Beskidzki
Poland's longest mountain trail, following the Beskids from Ustroń in Silesia to Wołosate in the Bieszczady, close to the Ukrainian border.
At a glance
- Starts in
- Ustroń
- Ends in
- Wołosate
- Length
- 500 km
- On foot
- 21–28 days
- Countries
Poland
About the trail
The Main Beskid Trail took shape between the two world wars. Kazimierz Sosnowski marked the western half and Mieczysław Orłowicz the eastern half, and the trail now carries Sosnowski's name. Its red and white waymarks lead along the whole Polish arc of the Western and Eastern Beskids, from the spa town of Ustroń to the last village before the Bieszczady ridges.
Along the way the trail crosses very different country: the forested Silesian and Żywiec Beskids with the bulk of Babia Góra, the meadows of the Gorce, the quieter Low Beskids with their wooden Lemko churches, and finally the open grassy ridges of the Bieszczady. Post-war border changes reshaped the eastern end, and the route has been adjusted several times over the decades.
Visit Małopolska gives a length of about 500 km, and the Podkarpackie regional tourism office says a full crossing usually takes three to four weeks. Accommodation is a mix of PTTK mountain huts, agritourism farms and small towns in the valleys; PTTK also awards a badge to walkers who complete the trail.