Suddenly the Polish sky was filled with cranes
One of the most incredible bird scenes in Europe took place while hiking through the Bielawa Nature Reserve in northern Poland, about 40 miles north of Gdansk. I had left the village of SÅ‚awoszyno along a dirt road and was heading towards KÅ‚anino, the countryside and fields disappearing from my view as the hedges grew taller on either side of me. As I walked forward, a gap appeared in the hedge and before my eyes a flock of nearly 100 cranes, which had been silent, took off across the field, honking with their heads and faces tinged red and their wing feathers flapping. . I could almost touch them. The 19,000 hectare (47,000 acre) park is a mix of forest, wetlands and coast.
Rita
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Advice from Guardian Travel readers
Every week we ask our readers for travel recommendations. A selection of tips will be presented online and may appear in print. To enter the latest competition, visit advice to readers home page
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True wilderness in Georgia
Tusheti National Park in Georgia transports you to a lost era. A breathtaking journey through the twists and turns of the Albano Pass, culminating at 2,830 meters, takes you into a wild and beautiful landscape with the Caucasus Mountains as a backdrop. Stay in off-grid guesthouses with showers heated by wood-burning stoves; homemade cheese for breakfast hosted by brave people shaped by their rugged landscape. Hiking trails wind along deserted valleys and over mountains. In the absence of roads, horses carry baggage and walkers have only the crisp, clean air and roaring rivers for company. It’s a beautiful, remote world.
Penny
Wolves and waterfalls in Croatia
Imagine 16 interconnected lakes, surrounded by pristine forest teeming with wildlife and leading to impressive waterfalls. I spent a day wandering around this magical place. Plitvice Lakes is the oldest and largest national park in Croatia (with over 30,000 hectares) and a Unesco World Heritage. You can explore marked trails ranging from two to eight hours. The park is open during the day. At night, the park finds lynxes, wolves, bears, snakes, bats and owls living there.
Suzanne C
Hike to the high altitude lake of Corsica
THE Corsica regional natural park has stunning landscapes. The best way to explore it is on hiking at Lake Nino, among the highest lakes in Corsica at 1,743 meters. You begin by climbing through a Corsican pine forest, where you may be lucky enough to spot the endemic Corsican nuthatch, before breaking through the tree line and being surrounded by granite peaks. After a scree scramble, you reach the lake, where mouflons (a wild subspecies of domestic sheep) graze on the marsh grasses. Guest rooms The Auberge des Deux Sorru (doubles from €75) is an ideal base for exploring.
Rob Dalziel
A bird paradise on the Greek coast
With a free day in Mesolongi, western Greece, and realizing we were in the natural coastal paradise of Ethniko Parko limnothalasson Mesolongiou-Aitolikouwe booked a bird expert, Spyros Skareas, from Bird Tours in Greece, to help us get the most out of a day trip. Spyros arrived at 8 a.m. in a battered car that turned out to be a mobile bird hideout. Every time we stopped with the windows wide open, the birds wouldn't move until we opened the car doors. More than 70 birds, including two griffon vultures, endangered Dalmatian pelicans (one of the largest freshwater birds in the world), flamingos, avocets and more were delighted. A breathtaking day. At 6:30 p.m., we left exhausted but delighted.
Sarah Acroyd
In Slovakia we were surrounded by ground squirrels
We came across the Muranska planina National Park in central Slovakia by accident while stopping at a bakery to buy some soft buns. We turned off the main road near the village of Murá, parked, then walked through a rolling grassy meadow that is home to a colony of about 1,000 ground squirrels that dart in and out of their burrows in hopes of feeding. The park is huge, spanning over 21,000 acres with 200 miles of hiking trails and is mostly forested karst landscapes. The squirrels were adorable (although we didn't share our buns).
Vik
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A walk in the Black Forest, Germany
THE Black Forest has much more to offer than cake. We spent a wonderful two-week Easter holiday in the peaceful medieval village of Gengenbach, 40km south-east of Strasbourg. Our Airbnb overlooked spring flowering lawns and had a balcony where we could enjoy the view and the birdsong. We spent our days hiking in the forests observing wild boars and woodpeckers. We cycled through flower fields and came back to refuel in the evening at beautiful restaurants. A guest card available to all tourists who pay the tourist tax allowed us to travel free by train through more than 2,000 square miles of forested hills. We used it for day trips to Strasbourg and the spa town of Baden-Baden. A perfect trip.
Nathalie
A dive into the geology and history of Iceland
THE Thingvellir National Park30 miles east of Reykjavík, was my favorite stop along the Golden Circle Itinerary. This Unesco World Heritage was the chosen location for one of the world's oldest “democratic” parliaments – the Althing. Local clans found a perfect natural amphitheater for public speaking, including the high rock face of Lögberg (Law Rock). The park is fascinating for anyone with even a slight interest in geology: here, the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are separating at the rate of two centimeters per year, creating a rift valley. Crevasses are visible in the Almannagjá canyon. The Silfra Fissure is one of the best sites in the world for snorkelers and scuba divers. We saw the Northern Lights from here which was impressive. We stayed in Flúir (40 km away).
Mihaela
A wild corner of Andalusia, Spain
THE Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park In Andalusia is a little off the beaten track. Between Cordoba and Granada, it fits easily into a trip passing through both cities. There are no permits or fees for this 32,000 hectare park. You can wander for hours without seeing another (human) soul, but you can spot vultures, eagles and other birds of prey, and if you're lucky (as we were one early morning), wild boars. In spring, the mountains are full of wildflowers. Bronze Age and Roman forts can be seen, and we found some fossils on the hillsides. The trails, often old cattle drovers' and olive growers' paths, can be clear and flat or more difficult, so it is crucial to take directions before setting off. Will stay Casa Olea (double from €136 B&B) on the edge of the park: co-owners Tim and Claire are a wealth of local knowledge: they will prepare a packed lunch for you and you can rent mountain bikes. Come back to a delicious dinner and watch the bats and owls from the patio under the stars.
Stephanie O'Brien
Winning tip: the glacial lakes of Montenegro
Durmitor National Park can often be overlooked by tourists visiting the Bay of Kotor and the coast. We stayed at Mlinsky Potok campsite which offers views of the Dinaric Alps and is a short walk from the town of Žabljak, on the edge of the park. The drive on narrow, winding roads took us through steep landscape and to the edge of deep gorges. Exploring the area revealed excellent walks and beautiful blue-green glacial lakes, tempting to swim in but so cold!
Sarah
