The fence on the border of Poland and Belarus divides the Białowieża Forest into two parts. On both sides, ecologists work and a developed tourism infrastructure has been created. However, there are fewer visitors due to the situation at the border, Belarusian and Polish scientists do not exchange information, and cooperation programs are suspended. We traveled to the administrative center of the Polish Białowieża Forest and learned how the reserve, divided in two, lives.
How Polish tourists get to Białowieża
Białowieża is a village on the border with Belarus, the administrative center of the Białowieża National Park. Tourists can get here by car or by intercity bus, which departs from Białystok. You can also get to Białowieża by bicycle — the village is connected by a 40-kilometer equipped route with the village of Dubicze Cerkiewne.
Previously, the village was connected to other cities by a railway. They wanted to reconstruct it back in the mid-2000s and repeatedly recalled the idea of connecting Białowieża with Warsaw by direct train. But for almost 20 years, work has not started.
There is also a narrow-gauge railway in Białowieża: a whole network for transporting timber was built in the forest by the Germans during the First World War. The road was used until 1991, but when the volume of exported timber began to decrease, the narrow-gauge railway ceased operation.
Now most of the narrow-gauge railway is in disrepair: the sleepers are overgrown with moss. Only one short route operates a tourist train in the summer. The station has turned into an amusement park with a wooden station building, animal figures, and rusty attractions. On the day of our arrival, it is closed to visitors.
Poles are scared of the border, and Belarusians don’t come at all
There are several shops, a bank branch, a kindergarten, a school, and a forestry technical school in Białowieża. On the information board — an advertisement for vacancies in the local Dino store and a handwritten announcement about a missing dog.
Locals are focused on tourists: many houses are rented out for a day. Everyone tries to stand out from their neighbors, so they decorate the announcements about renting rooms to their liking, stick pictures with bison, for example.
Prices for a night in a forest house range from 360 to 1000 zlotys (290 — 800 Belarusian rubles). But there are few tourists in winter. A group of people with suitcases comes out of one house and loads them into the car.
«It's not the season now. They don’t want to go, firstly, because there is no snow. And secondly, people are still a little afraid of the border. But it’s calm in Białowieża,» a local souvenir shop employee tells us.
According to the woman, mainly residents of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship come to Białowieża. But there are almost no tourists from Belarus. From the outskirts of the village to the border with Belarus — 1.5 kilometers. Previously, a tourist checkpoint operated here, but now it is closed.
Of the foreigners, Germans, Dutch, and Italians primarily come here during the season. In recent years, Czechs have shown increasing interest in Białowieża, we were told in the administration of the reserve.
How tourists are counted in the Polish part of the forest
In 2020, 158 thousand tourists visited the forest. Later, this figure fell from year to year. For example, already in 2024, 140 thousand visitors reached the reserve. Tourists here are counted by the number of tickets sold to paid parts of the reserve. Also, the data is recorded by special sensors installed on the forest trails, which can be accessed free of charge, we were told in the accessibility department of the Białowieża National Park. Therefore, several thousand more people can be added to the 140 thousand tourists who walked through the park but did not buy tickets.
After the introduction of a buffer zone on the border in the summer of 2024, the number of tourists decreased by 20%: the decline was especially noticeable in June and July when people began to massively cancel accommodation bookings. To return to pre-crisis figures, a large-scale advertising campaign was carried out in the media. According to employees, thanks to it, already in August 2024, it was possible to attract 10% more tourists than in the same month a year earlier.
(Not) a Belarusian cafe, kebab, and bison dumplings: where to eat for a tourist
Białowieża comes to life only after noon. Rare passers-by appear on the empty streets — mostly everyone moves on bicycles. The most popular among locals is the meat van. New customers constantly approach the counter. The aroma of centuries-old pines is interrupted by the smell of raw pork.
Most cafes and restaurants also open closer to the second half of the day. Basically, the establishments are focused on local, Podlasie cuisine. For example, here you can try pierogi — the Polish analogue of dumplings — with bison meat or drink tea from Białowieża herbs.
The kebab house — the only establishment that does not position itself as a place where Podlasie dishes are served — is closed. Therefore, we go to a restaurant with the Belarusian-Polish name «Staчок — Stoczek». Judging by the sign, the establishment has been operating since 1929. Inside — tables with table setting and sideboards filled with bison figurines. There are no visitors.
Lunch in a cafe will cost about 100 zlotys (80 rubles). A plate of soup with game meat costs 28 zlotys (22 rubles), meat sausage with a side dish — 55 zlotys (44 rubles), coffee — from 15 to 30 zlotys (12−25 rubles).
True, at the end of dinner, the waitress disappoints us. It turns out that «Staчок» has nothing to do with Belarus.
«I don’t know why we have a sign in Belarusian. We are a Polish cafe and we do not focus on Belarusians,» the waitress shrugs.
«We are told that all Belarusians are spies»
The central part of Białowieża is the entrance to the national reserve. Announcements on the fences remind us of the approach to the protected area. They report that wild animals can be found in the park — we are advised not to approach them closer than 80 meters.
True, we did not manage to meet bison. The only reminders of them were two plastic figures with peeling paint and an advertisement for Żubr beer with the promising inscription «This is the best beer for me.»
The local park is not crowded. The fair houses are closed, the cafe is also closed. Rare passers-by slowly stroll along the paths.
Several institutions operate in the park. This is the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Białowieża Nature Museum — an entrance ticket to the permanent exhibition will cost 16 zlotys (13 rubles). The park’s directorate is also located here.
Museum employee Ewa Moroz-Keczinska confirms that the number of tourists has decreased. But this is not the only problem. After the start of the migration crisis on the border, the closure of border crossings, and the construction of the fence, all ties with the Belarusian side of the forest were severed.
«As museum employees, we are not allowed to have any connections with that [Belarusian] side. The worst thing is that we can no longer find out, investigate, what condition the bison are in,» explains Ewa.
In private conversations, people who work in Białowieża admit that they are not even recommended to contact Belarusians coming here: «We are told that all Belarusians are spies. You need to keep a close eye on them and not give any unnecessary information. I understand this is absurd, but that’s how it is.»
Eva admits that she has relatives on the Belarusian side. Before the border closure, she visited them regularly. Now the woman does not maintain contact with loved ones on the other side.
How Belarusian tourists get to the primeval forest
You can get to Białowieża Forest from the Belarusian side by private car or by bus, which departs from Brest to the agro-town of Kamenyuki four times a day.
During tourist seasons, for example, during the New Year holidays, it is more difficult to get to the forest — kilometer-long queues of cars accumulate. As Brest resident Yuri Makarchuk notes on Facebook, the reason is that the roads in the forest are narrow and the traffic is one-way.
You can also get to the reserve from Brest by bicycle. True, there is no special bike path on this route, so you will have to ride on the highway, gravel, and crushed stone.
Several times more tourists from the Belarusian side
On the Belarusian side of the border, they do not complain about the lack of tourists: more than 500 thousand people visit the national park per year. The park’s management reported another record in January 2025. Therefore, in Białowieża Forest, they want to increase the number of cafes, add more transport, and also sell entrance tickets online.
Some tourists complain that due to the large number of visitors, the forest has lost its soul, and all services have been put on stream. For example, on TikTok, where a discussion on this topic flared up, one of the participants recalls how he traveled to the reserve ten years ago. Then, on the way to the forest, he was told about the ecosystem and forest dwellers.
«Now there is some kind of rush, everything is on stream, running. There is nowhere to have a normal snack, everything is occupied — and everyone comes from afar with children,» he writes.
Another participant in the discussion, Nadezhda, agrees that the park does not have conditions for families with small children. For example, there are no mother and child rooms here.
Nevertheless, half a million people is an impressive figure. Why is the number of tourists so different in the Polish and Belarusian parts of the reserve? Firstly, in Poland, this is far from the most popular national park. There are parks in the country located in the mountains or near a large city, which is a guarantee of success, they tell us in the administration of the reserve. Secondly, tourists can simply be counted differently.
«Now, due to the suspended cooperation with the Belarusian national park, we do not feel entitled to speak out on this topic. We can only assume that the residence of Santa Claus attracts many tourists during the New Year period, which gives an increase in annual statistics,» we were told in the Polish reserve.
«Sovdepiya in its worst version»
The Kamenyuki village council is located right on the Belarusian territory of the reserve. Park employees live in local villages, some of them buy out empty houses. Some of the houses are rented out to tourists. A night in an agro-estate costs from 50 to 330 rubles (61 — 402 zlotys).
Local residents are accustomed to the proximity of wild animals — sometimes wolves or bison themselves come to their homes, but for tourists this is new. It is believed that such animals are sick with something and were expelled from the pack.
Tourists can have a snack in establishments with thematic names «U Lesnoy», «Sosny» and «Lesnaya Skazka». Most cafes are closed to visitors on Mondays and Tuesdays.
But the main restaurant of the reserve — «Belovezhskaya Pushcha» — is open every day until late in the evening. Lunch in an establishment stylized as a manor house will cost about 40 rubles (within 50 zlotys). For example, mushroom picker’s soup with chanterelles costs 8 rubles (9.75 zloty), machank with potato pancakes — 23 rubles (about 28 zloty), and cranberry drink — 5 rubles (6.09 zloty).
True, not all visitors are satisfied. In the reviews, guests note that the service in the cafe leaves much to be desired. «We waited half an hour for the waiters and left hungry. We never learned the taste of stewed bison. Disgusting. Sovdepiya in its worst version,» writes Natalia.
There are several museums on the territory of the reserve for tourists: archaeological, folk life and a museum of nature. The cost of entrance tickets is from 12 to 20 rubles (15−25 zlotys).
In the winter season, the Belarusian part of Białowieża Forest comes to life — the estate of Santa Claus is located here. A costumed show is arranged for children, visitors are treated to gingerbread, and then they are given a tour of the enclosures where bison, deer and other animals live.
The zoo in Białowieża Forest is often criticized by visitors.
«There were many empty enclosures, the animals were very dirty and there were few of them,» one of them describes her impressions of the trip.
How Belarus and Poland could popularize the forest together and why nothing came of it
Cross-border partnership related to Białowieża Forest has been undertaken more than once. Moreover, it was possible to receive EU funding for these purposes. For example, from the program «Poland — Belarus — Ukraine 2014−2020».
One such mini-project — Active Bialowieza forest — worth just over 66 thousand euros, was planned to be implemented jointly by the Hajnówka poviat (Białowieża is located on its territory) and the Kamenets District Executive Committee. It involved the development of the tourist potential of the forest. For example, its authors noted that the marking of tourist routes on both sides of the border is outdated. There were not enough advertising materials in foreign languages, there were no initiatives for environmental education.
It was planned that thanks to the project it would be possible to develop quest routes, conduct bicycle expeditions and seminars, develop new guidebooks and maps. The plans included the re-equipment of the tourist center in Kamenets.
Another project was to be implemented within the framework of cross-border cooperation between the Hajnówka House of Culture and the Belarusian fund «Euroregion Belovezhskaya Pushcha». The main goal of the project was to popularize local culture and history, protect the heritage of the border region and preserve disappearing folk traditions. Almost 69 thousand euros were allocated for the project, but it was never implemented.
The Pruzhany District Executive Committee also cooperated with Hajnówka. This joint project involved the popularization of traditional rites, songs, dances and crafts, including on the territory of the forest.
They managed to do something within the framework of these projects, but since March 2022, Belarus has been excluded from cross-border cooperation programs for supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Polish side completed the projects independently. «The planned cross-border events did not take place due to the refusal of Polish partners to further cooperate with the Belarusian side, despite the signed partnership agreement,» the Pruzhany District Executive Committee reported at the time.
Now there are not even minimal contacts between the Belarusian and Polish sides under this program.