Poland Geography & Climate

Poland covers about 313,000 square kilometres in the middle of the North European Plain, which is why it has been crossed by so many armies — its borders have almost no natural defences and have moved repeatedly.

The plain

Most of the country is lowland, averaging under two hundred metres, glacial in origin. Its longest rivers are the Vistula, running through Kraków and Warsaw to Gdańsk, the Oder along the western border, the Warta and the Bug. The soil is good and the country is heavily farmed. The lowest point in Poland is at Marzęcino on the Vistula Fens, 2.2 metres below sea level.

The north

A Baltic coastline of five hundred kilometres with sand beaches, dunes and the Hel peninsula. Behind it, the glacial lake districts: Poland has one of the highest densities of lakes in the world, around ten thousand of them, mostly concentrated in Masuria in the north-east, where some two thousand are linked into a navigable system and the Elbląg Canal moves boats overland on rail cradles.

The south

The mountainous belt in the far south divides into two ranges — the Sudetes in the west and the Carpathians in the east. The highest part of the Carpathian massif is the Tatras, along the Slovak border: genuinely alpine, with corrie lakes, scree and a short season. Poland's highest point is the north-western summit of Rysy, at 2,500 metres, in the Tatras; the highest summit of the Sudetes is Śnieżka at 1,603 metres, shared with the Czech Republic.

Woodland and wild bison

Nearly a third of Poland is wooded. Białowieża, on the Belarusian border, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the best-preserved remnant of the primeval lowland forest that once covered the whole region — parts of it have never been logged.

Underground

The salt at Wieliczka has been mined since the thirteenth century, leaving chapels, chambers and carvings hundreds of metres down. Silesian coal built the industrial south and is now being wound down.

Poland sits between maritime and continental influences, which makes its weather variable and its seasons clearly marked. The further east you go, the more continental it becomes: the warmest and sunniest part of the country is Lower Silesia in the south-west, and the coldest is the north-eastern corner around Suwałki and Olecko, where cold fronts arrive off Scandinavia and Siberia.

Winter

December to February averages around freezing, colder in the east and the mountains, with snow cover for several weeks most years and longer in the south-east. Cold snaps below −15°C occur. Days are short — dark by four in December.

Summer

June to August is warm, generally 20 to 27°C, with heatwaves above 30°C increasingly common. It is also the wettest part of the year: precipitation is more frequent in the summer months, and it arrives as thunderstorms rather than drizzle.

Spring and autumn

Both are short. Spring arrives late and fast in April; autumn is often the more settled of the two, with a spell of warm, clear weather in September known here as the golden Polish autumn.

The mountains

The Tatras have an alpine climate: snow from November into May at altitude, a short summer season, and weather that changes within an hour. Lightning strikes are particularly common here, along with sudden storms and avalanches, and conditions can be severe even in summer. The halny, a warm dry föhn wind falling off the Tatras, can raise temperatures sharply, bring gales and is blamed locally for headaches.

The coast

The Baltic moderates the north, keeping winters milder and summers cooler than inland. The sea rarely exceeds 20°C, which does not deter anybody in August.

Smog

Winter air quality in Kraków, Silesia and smaller towns burning coal for heating has been among the worst in Europe. It has improved with regulation but remains a genuine consideration on still, cold days.