The Bieszczady Mountains are the perfect place for a mountain biking adventure. Here you will find many kilometers of paved roads, dirt roads and marked bike paths and trails.
A real phenomenon are the so-called slopes – paved roads prepared by foresters, winding along the slopes of the mountains at the same altitude, with practically no ascents or descents. You can ride considerable distances on them!
Along the route you can expect a lot of views, which will be complemented by worthwhile natural, historical and cultural attractions (roadside shrines, wooden architecture, Orthodox and Catholic churches, cemeteries and many others).
Bike route: Rajskie – Sękowiec – Smolnik nad Sanem
Length: 30 kilometers
Riding time: 2-3 hours
Difficulty level: easy
The route runs along the wildest (and for many the most beautiful) section of the San River valley. It is 30 kilometers of paved road with no major hills, with insane views of the wide river and the forested mountainsides descending to it. You will cover the entire route in 2-3 hours.
We start the route in the village of Rajskie, on the shores of the largest artificial water reservoir in Poland – Lake Solina. We will now ride up along the San River.
After a while, the buildings end, and we ride along a narrow paved road in this section. We continue until we reach a bridge. There will be a fork in the road here. We turn onto the bridge and cross it. Before we do so, of course, we can take a break – if only for a cool bath!
We continue riding, slightly uphill. If the sun is scorching you should watch out for lizards basking on the road. In summer you can meet them here quite often!
A moment more and we enter the nature reserve “Krywe”. We will recognize it from the information board, and from the observation deck. The view from it stays in the memory for a long time, although we will not see there either high mountains or too vast a space. Instead, we will see wilderness, and above all their incredible peace and quiet.
We continue riding until we reach a quarry, which, although closed today, was still working at full steam not long ago. After a while of riding, we should reach another nature reserve “Hulskie”. This is a sanctuary of wildcat, lynx, bear and Aesculapian snake. We ride on and in a moment we will find ourselves in Sękowiec, where we enter an asphalt road.
13 kilometers further we reach Smolnik on the San River. At the finish line, an additional attraction awaits us – a visit to a unique wooden Orthodox church of the Boyko type, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
EXPLORE THE REGION – BIESZCZADY
