Augustow - PKS - Buses and Buses - Transportation - Attractions

Augustow is a picturesque town in Podlasie on the Netta River surrounded by nine lakes and the vast Augustow Forest. It is inhabited by a population of about thirty thousand. Augustow is a city with a long history. Since the 13th century, the area was inhabited by the Yotvingian tribe, which was finally defeated by the Teutonic Order in 1283. The first written mention of the settlement on the Netta River dates back to 1496, although Augustow was not granted city rights until 1557 by King Sigismund Augustus.

Major Attractions of Augustow

This is an ideal place for all water enthusiasts - a perfect base for sailors, canoeists and anglers, for hiking and biking enthusiasts, as well as for those who simply want to boost their health or relax by the water in the surroundings of beautiful nature. What interesting things to see while in Augustow, known as the summer capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship?

Sigismund Augustus Market Square

Augustow's market square resembles a park, as it is lined with many trees that provide just the right amount of shade on hot days. It was laid out in 1550. A fountain can be found there, as well as monuments - to Sigismund II Augustus standing on a column and one commemorating those who died for their homeland. Most of the townhouses surrounding the market square date from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, although in one of the oldest, in 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte himself is said to have spent the night.

Augustow is a royal town and is associated with some romantic history. According to legend, the first meeting of King Sigismund Augustus and Barbara Radziwill took place there, in commemoration of which the ruler had a town named after him founded there.

Augustów Land Museum

The museum collects collections on the history of the town and its surroundings. The most valuable exhibit is a 1792 document with the signature of King Stanislaw August Poniatowski confirming the rights of Augustow's suburban residents.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The present church was built between 1906 and 1911 in Neo-Romanesque style on the site of the previously existing St. Bartholomew's Church. It was destroyed during World War II, then rebuilt in 1947. Since 2001, it has been a Minor Basilica. This temple has an imposing white facade, and towers visible from virtually anywhere in the city. Inside, note the beautiful stained glass windows and five oak altars.

Augustow Canal

The canal is part of the Batory Trail and connects the basins of the Vistula and Niemen rivers. It is 101 kilometers long, of which 82 kilometers are within Polish borders and 19 kilometers are in Belarus. Together with the surrounding infrastructure, it was included in the register of immovable monuments and declared a monument of history. It was a major achievement of 19th-century engineering intended to help bypass Prussian customs duties when transporting grain to Gdansk, and is now one of the city's top tourist attractions. The gates of the Augustow lock, built in 1825-1826, are manually operated. It is worth taking a cruise on the Canal and seeing from the perspective of the water what sluicing looks like.

City beach and Augustów boulevards

Walking along the boulevards along the Netta River from the center of Augustow, you can reach Lake Necko. There you will find a city beach with a rich infrastructure including, among others, the second longest pier in Poland, four guarded and lighted bathing beaches with changing rooms and water equipment rentals, or a small gastronomy and cafe garden.

Augustow Forest

Augustow Forest covers a large forest area of about 160,000 hectares located in Podlaskie Voivodeship, but also in Lithuania and Belarus. It includes the Wigry National Park, thirteen nature reserves and protected landscape areas. The vegetation of the forest is largely pine and spruce forests, there are also peat bogs and many animal species live there. The area abounds with many beautiful hiking trails - to be traversed on foot or by bicycle.

Studzieniczna

About 7 kilometers from the center of Augustow is a place of importance especially to believers. On an island connected to the mainland by an artificially formed causeway, there is a neo-Renaissance chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a grace-famous image of Our Lady of Studzieniczna.

Nearly, on the shore of the lake, stands a monument to Pope John Paul II, who visited Studzidniczna in June 1999. Studzieniczna is also home to a wooden sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of the Scapular from 1847.