Do people in Poland live "better" than here in the UK?

No - there's an amazing variety there. No deserts and not many palm trees, but truly amazing countryside and a thousand small islands round the coast.

Its all about the perspectives.

With regard to scenery I'll take the mountains of the Alps any day, but if you're a water person the UK coastal areas are fairly unique in their diversity. That said we have sea, mountains and sun within one vision if you look a little further South and still within Europe. Sardinia springs to mind.... Italy has a lot to offer for such a small country.

You'd be surprised:


buzzfeed.com/hilarywardle/12-places-youd-never-believe-were-in-the-uk-aplm

you could say this about most of countries with access to the sea.

I don't think so. Few are so varied, 'guest poster'.

I fully agree that there is a lot of variety in the UK which many probably do not appreciate (with Cornwall/Devon and the Scottish Isles being my favourite), but to say that there's more than say in Spain, Italy, or France would be a a bit optimistic for most. Although, if you happen to be British, then it's perfectly understandable... ;-)

It's amazing what's there really. The three tourist boards don't promote a lot of it. That does mean that so much is unspoilt, but also that foreigners never hear about the best bits.

Mostly boring desert.

France and Italy are much more beautiful, but really comparing countries is impossible but the UK certainly has its fair share of beautiful landscape, outside of the southeast where most immigrants live...

I beg to differ. If you only took Catalonia - you've got snowy mountains, beautiful beaches, sun and Mediterranean warmth... very tough to beat indeed.

We have all those except the Mediterranean warmth (though the palm-treed south coast does well in summer and Catalonia is cold in winter). There's also wild moorland, fens and broads, wolds, rolling hills and beautiful valleys (The Winster Valley, Elan Valley and Swaledale come to mind) beautiful forests, rugged Snowdonia, the North West Highlands (the least densely populated region in Europe), the historical industrial landscapes of the lower Pennines, the thousand islands that ring the coast, the Cotswolds etc, etc, etc.

Agreed - although that one exception makes a HUGE difference, does is not?
One thing which I really do enjoy in PL are proper forests (and lakes) scattered all over the country hence easily accessible from any major city, which is not the case in the UK. Also looking just at forests as % of land area, PL, I, ES, G, and F have all got around 30% v UK's 10%.

The UK has forests too - even quite large ones. But in terms of sheer variety of scenery types (which is what we're talking about) the UK beats the places you mention hands down.

English forest:



Polish forest:



I know it's basically a question of different ecosystems and what you're used to, but I find English forests kinda bland and pretty much devoid of wildlife. The pollarded beeches looks freaky as heck, which is a bonus, on the other hand, there is almost no undergrowth in beech forests, which makes for a sterile looking environment, OK for the first couple of walks, but boring if you keep coming back. I haven't had the opportunity to see any other type of forest in England. I doubt there are any truly "wild" or primeval forest environments left, as AFAIK trees have been pollarded and harvested for wood since at least the early Middle Ages all over Britain.

They're totally different.in the UK they're mostly deciduous for one, however there's a lot more wildlife than you think. One interesting thing, not forests is the English hedgerow. Some of them are a thousand years old and preservation is a bit of a political issue. Having said that, Polish forests are beautiful.

I still maintain that the UK's scenery is much more varied than in PL, but then again, I'm a Yorkshireman and in Yorkshire we have a bit of everything ;-)

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I would be glad to see any, or even signs of any. I have spent many a pleasant spring and summer day in the depths of Epping forest, but even the birds were few and far between. No animal spoor to be seen, no droppings of any kind, no burrows, I don't think I even saw an anthill. Maybe I was just unlucky. Admittedly, there was a LOT of mosquitoes ;-)


I agree, those quite fascinate me. Another thing is Roman roads. I love how they still pop up here and there in the countryside after all those centuries, and still have names :-)


That's probably part of it. I agree that central Poland is pretty much as flat and interesting as a pancake, but all the edges are really worth visiting :-)

Definitely! Although some of the interior is mice too - I've spent many a happy weekend in the Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska and a bit further west past Pinczow and the Dolina Nidy.

That's not part of "central Poland" on my map ;-) I'd probably say the flattest and least appealing countryside is encompassed by Radom - Kalisz - Płock - Ostrołęka - Siedlce - Radom. It's not actually the centre, more of a central - eastern thing, with Warsaw bang in the middle, sadly. I'm not commenting on the cities themselves, some are nice (Kalisz, Płock), others not so much (Radom, Ostrołęka, Siedlce).

Wildlife I spotted in the English woodlands:
- pigeons (a lot of pigeons) , some magpies, rooks and robins (well...not exactly wildlife)

four legged creatures are represented by
- rabbits, foxes and moles

And that's ALL

From my point of view - English forest is quite dead. There are no wolves, wild-boars, bears.
No roe deers, or even beavers.

My twopenny about food: Poland is good if you are into pork, and pork alone.

Looks like you haven't seen much of the countryside then. Mind you, I doubt it all lines up just because a foreign visitor's gone out for the day.

bbc.co.uk/nature/places/United_Kingdom

To be fair, it's not that easy to get to see "much" of the countryside in the UK (or at least southern and eastern England, where I did my excursions). There are signs all over the place warning you to keep away from private property, hedges, fences, gates... I know some of the paths are public, but if you are not from the area it is easy to get lost and wander off and get into trouble. The worst thing is that forests are also often fenced off in parts. I remember trying to go to Epping Forest the first time - I took the bus to a place called Epping (I think, or it could have been Theydon Bois?) because from looking at the map, it seemed a good place to start a long, winding walk back in the direction of East London. Imagine my disappointment when it turned out there was literally NO access from there to the forest. You could see the forest all around, but there were fences everywhere - many of them high, industrial looking ones. After going back to London and doing quite a lot of research on the net, I found out it was best to take the tube to Loughton (I think), and walk to the forest from there. But once I found access, I really ranged far and wide, and often - without ever getting to see actual wildlife, even of the lesser sort, like rabbits; there might have been some grey squirrels about, but definitely not in the numbers you get to see in London parks.

On the other hand, where I live now (on the coast) there is considerably more wildlife, but there are no forests, it's a marine environment, so not really comparable.


The thing is, in Poland, even if a foreign visitor goes out for a single day trip in the forest, they will inevitably come across anthills, animal droppings, mounds and burrows, lots of birds, lots of insects, animal tracks, smaller animals like frogs, lizards, and squirrels, and if they keep quiet and have a bit of luck, they might even get to see a roe deer or other larger animal. And that mostly holds true even for half-domesticated stretches of forest like Puszcza Kampinoska.

I suppose it's all about where you're living. Near the place I'm from you can wander in the hills and walk pretty well where you like - there's the right to roam on moorland which was earned after quite a fight over many years. But that's a long way from the south east of England. East London and the Essex hinterland aren't the best place to look for countryside - try the North.

You can also see all those natural things you mention and more besides. When I go out from Warsaw it's all private arable fields fenced off and with incongruous billboards (why do they allow that?) despoiling the view. and you have to quite a long way into the forest if you want to get past the fly tipping, empty vodka bottles and used condoms.

If you live in Warsaw, go to Bemowo / Boernerowo and enter Kampinos from there, it's worth it. No rubbish, as it's looked after like a park, basically, but as you go farther in gets more and more "foresty" ;-)

I haven't been there for several years, but both my father and my best friend live in Bemowo and they often go on day trips to Kampinos, and I have not heard any complaints from them.

Puszcza Kampinoska

You also have Las Kabacki on the other side of the city, but I have had no experience with that one.


I'm very eager to try the North, and hopefully I'll get the opportunity at some point.

It's OK as a town forest for joggers and dog walkers, but Kampinos is much better - especially if you go in from Izabelin or Truskaw. I sometimes go to Wyszkow for the mushrooms - the forest there is really nice. The saddest one I've seen is near Rembertow, but there's a lot of housing nearby.


You'd like it. Not very foresty - a Polish friend I went to the North York Moors with was amazed to see all the hills without trees (too exposed for much to grow) but some nice scenery. The Forest of Bowland is nice - rolling hills and easy to wander about in without seeing anyone. A very well known lady with a sparkly hat allegedly has a private holiday cottage there.

No offense, but hope it stays like this. Not the sort of beasts one would like to come face to face with.

I can safely say that I'm having a lot more fun in the UK. I'm also making much more money for the same type of work.

I think 'Spirytus' was probably gently trolling. Nonetheless, he's started an interesting discussion.

I think that (like everywhere) quite much depends on monies. If you are wealthier you can afford better food, better holidays, live in better area.So from this perspective it is better life for someone who runs profitable business, has good job in Poland than if he was to start from the beginning in UK.

I was thinking ( after 11 years in England) what I would miss....I like clothes here, choice of biscuits !!!!:-), I like English weather as mild ,green - Cambridge is beautiful in spring.But too much rain and dump in winter can be sometimes annoying. There are times that I miss proper ,deep snow- especially in the mountains.

Food- Yes it is goods choice here and as long as you can cook it is great but if not- ready processed meals, eating out is not so cheap if you want good food.( with some exceptions). I don't want to offend anyone but food in pubs is hardly edible. Processed crap delivered form outside. I didn't realized that most pubs have no kitchens! .

Holidays ?- if I was to choose I would prefer to go to France better food, better weather ....
And all this fascination with caravan holidays- it is like sitting in some communal pigeonholes.

Anglo food is terrible and I don't count Turk kebab or Pakistan Indian curry or as positive.

Polish food is much better.

It is not terrible if you can cook- choice is fine.

But another difference .. in Poland ( and in general on continent) you have bakeries with fresh tasty bread, cakes on every bigger street ...in UK majority to 'cotton-wool' - as I call this bread.The same with freshly made ice-creams.