Cycle Trail of the Eagle’s Nests

The Polish Jurassic Highland (Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska) is one of the most stunning regions in Poland. It is obvious that one of the bicycle’s trails runs through this upland located between Częstochowa and Kraków. It is a land of rocky hills, wooded hills, caves, limestone outcrops and ravines, unique in terms of sightseeing, nature and history. It is 160 kilometres long and its width varies from a few kilometres at its northern ends to nearly 40 in the southern part. The northern border with Wieluńska Upland (Wyżyna Wieluńska) is the gorge of the Warta River near Częstochowa, the southern part of Vistula River. The trail is less than 190 km long, but it leads among the ruins and castles that remember the era of the first Polish dynasty (the Piast’s era). Landscapes of this trail are breathtaking.

The Eagle’s Nests is the name of a system of medieval castles, located in the difficult to reach points of the Jurassic Highland. Those castles are among the oldest in Poland. Castles and watchtowers built on the tops of the hills to defend the then capital city – Krakow and the border areas in the early days of the Polish state. Just like the eagles built their nests in hard to reach places, the castles were situated on narrow rocks, which made them very difficult to invade. They are mostly located on the Trail of the Eagle’s Nest marked out in 1950.

The Trail of the Eagles’ Nests is marked with R1 type signs. The bicycle on a white background with a red stripe is placed mainly on plates, but also trees or fences. On the route, you can see signs with the number of kilometres to the nearest town and plates with the distance and direction of travel to nearby tourist attractions.