Cycling Through Żuławy with the Kids

We had already planned a cycling trip around the Vistula Lagoon with the kids last year, but it didn't work out. This year, the weather looks good for the second-to-last weekend of May, so the three of us set off: Ewa, Bruno and me.

On Friday, May 22, we leave after I finish work, only slightly behind schedule, at around 4 p.m. We make our way through congested Warsaw and an equally congested road heading north. We spend a long time stuck in traffic and finally reach the campsite in Rybina shortly before 10 p.m. The campsite and marina turn out to be very picturesque, right on the water where the Szkarpawa and Wisła Królewiecka rivers meet.

Krynica Morska, view over the Vistula Lagoon

We leave the car at the campsite and set off at 8 on Saturday morning, heading towards Tolkmicko. For the most part, we follow EuroVelo 10. In places, Żuławy looks a lot like Mazovia: flat, lots of fields, a few trees visible in the distance, yellow rapeseed, sometimes stretching all the way to the horizon. In other places, however, the landscape is quite different because of all the water: numerous small and large drawbridges, canals and rivers. The route often follows one waterway or another — the Szkarpawa, the Nogat, or the concrete-lined Elbląg River. Along the rivers, the frogs and birds are almost deafening.

The wind is on our side. We try to stop for snacks roughly every 20 km. Around noon we reach the lagoon and take a break at a birdwatching shelter near Jagodno. From here, the shore of the lagoon is completely overgrown with reeds extending far out into the water. A few kilometres farther on, after a somewhat busy stretch of road, we turn off before Suchacz onto a gravel track running right along the shore of the lagoon all the way to Tolkmicko.

We reach the harbour shortly after 1 p.m., two hours before the ferry to Krynica Morska is due to leave. That means we've covered the planned 60 km in five hours, and nobody is particularly tired.

In Tolkmicko we have some very good fish at a fry shop recommended by Janek. Though we'd probably have ended up there anyway: Tolkmicko is tiny and not particularly touristy, and apart from this place there seems to be little more than an Asian Kebab. We visit the church and market square, then sit in the harbour eating ice cream while waiting for the ferry.

Fishing boat in Kąty Rybackie

The ferry crossing takes 40 minutes. The views are beautiful, the sun is shining, and the wind is incredibly strong. Along the way we pass sailboats of various sizes competing in the Polish Sailing Association Cup. Slowly we approach Krynica Morska, with its red lighthouse towering above the town.

Krynica has much more of a seaside-resort atmosphere. There are small crowds, souvenir stalls and all the usual stuff. Inspired by Wrocław's famous dwarf statues, Krynica has several wild boar figures dotted around town — a policeman boar, a lifeguard boar and so on. We find all five or six of them, seeing a bit of the town in the process.

Krynica is fairly large, with lots of hotels, holiday resorts and so on. What surprises us is how hilly it is. We climb the red lighthouse, which offers an excellent view of both the Vistula Lagoon and the Baltic Sea. Then we quickly buy food for dinner and breakfast and look for a campsite.

We choose one a little outside town, towards Gdańsk. There aren't many people. The site is quite steep, with level platforms for tents and camper vans. Through the pine trees above us we can glimpse the sea. We have dinner and then watch the sunset on the beach.

Beach in Kąty Rybackie

On Sunday we're up at 6. After a quick breakfast and packing the tent, we set off at 7:30 to make it to the 9 a.m. Mass in Kąty Rybackie.

For the first eight kilometres, as far as the Vistula Spit canal, neither my watch nor my phone can get a proper GPS fix — or they simply show nonsense. Only after we pass the canal do they start working normally. The same problem appears again later around Kąty Rybackie when we ride closer to the sea. As it turns out, the most likely explanation is Russian GPS jamming and spoofing from equipment located in the Kaliningrad region.

We reach Kąty with time to spare and go to Mass. Afterwards, we happen upon a fish stall with a long queue. That seems like a good enough recommendation, so we wait and buy some fish. We get smoked salmon skewers and ride across to the other side of the spit, to the Baltic coast, where we have our second breakfast on the beach.

From there we continue straight west towards Mikoszewo, sometimes right beside the sea and sometimes through the forest. A few kilometres are rather sandy, but the rest is excellent. We mostly ride through the woods, bypassing the attractions of the seaside resorts. Plenty of other cyclists are travelling in both directions.

Along the way we pass a cormorant reserve, with hundreds of birds nesting, flying around and making an incredible racket. In Mikoszewo we reach the final destination of the trip: the mouth of the Vistula. The river here is perhaps only a little wider than back home in Józefów, but its entire channel is filled with water, without the beaches and sandbanks we're used to, and the sea is already visible on the horizon.

We take a quick look, have a short rest and set off towards the campsite. The final leg is 15 km, mostly on paved roads through villages and fields. It's not particularly spectacular, but we have a strong tailwind, so we ride as if our bikes were electric.

Lighthouse in Krynica Morska

A very successful trip. No huge distances, but plenty to see along the way: the water infrastructure of Żuławy, the Vistula Lagoon, the ferry crossing, the Baltic Sea, the Vistula Spit canal and the mouth of the Vistula. The weather couldn't have been much better, and neither could our legs.