BABIA GÓRA NATIONAL PARK

Babia Góra National Park was established in 1954 and currently covers an area of 3,392 ha in Sucha and Nowy Targ Counties, of which 1,062 ha are under strict protection. Within the borders of the BGNP, the highest part of the ‘Queen of the Beskids’ is well-protected and presents model layers of alpine and sub-alpine flora habitats changing with altitude: highlands (up to 700 m above sea level), the lower forest belt (700 to 1,150 m above sea level), the upper forest belt (1,150 – 1,350 m), the dwarf pine belt (1,350 – 1,650 m) and the alpine belt (up to 1,725 meters), which, apart from the Babia Góra massif, appears only in the Tatra mountains and Karkonosze mountains in Poland. About 700 species of vascular plants, about 300 species of mosses and liverworts, more than 250 species of lichens and over 800 species of fungi have been found in the small area of the park. The Babia Góra National Park is covered by a dense network of hiking trails (a total of approximately 57 km); it is also worth visiting the BGNP Permanent Exhibition and the Babia Góra Plants Garden in the park’s headquarters in Zawoja Barańcowa.