Immediately North West of Warsaw, Kampinos is the most accessible of Poland’s national parks. Interspersed with dunes and marshland, the forest is home to 81 endangered species, and criss-crossed with hiking and horse-riding trails. The past decades have witnessed successful attempts to reintroduce beaver, elk and lynxes back to the wild. Equally famous for its association with the battle for Polish independence, Kampinos’ proximity to the capital has made it a favourite camp for partisans throughout the course of history; today mass graves dating from national uprisings in 1863 and 1944 can be visited.

Most of the Kampinos forest is currently covered by Kampinos National Park (Kampinoski Park Narodowy). Among the distinctive features of the area is a combination of sandy dunes and marshes, with dense pine and spruce forest.

Kampinos National Park (Polish: Kampinoski Park Narodowy) is a National Park in east-central Poland, in Masovian Voivodeship, on the north-west outskirts of Warsaw. It has a sister park agreement with Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana, United States.

The idea of creating a park here appeared for the first time in the 1920s. In the 1930s the first forest reserves were opened: Granica, Sieraków and Zamczysko. Today, these reserves are much larger and are strictly protected.

The park was created in 1959, covering a total area of 407 square kilometres (157 sq mi). It covers the ancient Kampinos Forest (Puszcza Kampinoska), and in January 2000 the area was added to UNESCO’s list of biosphere reserves. The Park is now slightly smaller than originally, covering 385.44 square kilometres (148.82 sq mi), of which 46.38 km² is strictly protected. The protective zone around the Park covers 377.56 km². Forests account for around 70% of the park’s area, and most the common tree is the pine. The Park’s symbol is the moose.

Kampinoski National Park is located at the biggest river junction in Poland - here valleys of Vistula, Bug, Narew, Wkra and Bzura meet together. There are no lakes, the biggest river of the Park is the Łasica, a tributary to the Bzura, which acts as a water canal.

A peculiar, natural feature of this area is sand dunes, either isolated or in groups, covered by forests , spreading over a vast Park area. They form one of the largest midland dune complexes in Europe, at some places reaching 28 m in height. Some of them have fossil character. The typical contrast in the Park landscape is the direct neighborhood of sand dunes and extensive peat-bogs. Different vegetation on these grounds makes this contrast appear even more sharp. The dunes are covered by primeval pine forest, some parts of which are more than two hundred years old, while the peat-bogs are covered by deciduous forests, containing mainly alder carrs, and marshy meadows. Most of the peat-bogs are occupied by meadows and sedges. There are also some areas of wet-ground forest, which add more variety to the forest flora. This morphological, and resulting floral variety in the Park is a feature, which differentiates it from the surrounding landscape.

Park’s flora is rich with around 1245 species of plants, of which 69 are protected. Park’s landscape is a mix of sand dunes and swamp lands with pine trees growing on sand and meadows on swamps. The abundance of plant life is due to the Park's location at a conglomeration of river valleys, as well as to the morphological variety of its soil and variable water conditions. The flora of the Kampinos Forest includes species typical of many geographic environments including glacial, Atlantic or mountainous. Even some halophytes and Pontian xerophytes live in the Park. Among the 66 rare and protected species, the most interesting are Chamaedaphne calyculata, sour cherry (Cerasus acida) and river birch (Betula obscura). The forest is embellished by Martagon lily (Lilium martagon), mezereon (Daphne mezereum), Corydalis colida and Corydalis cava, a few species of pasque-flower (Pulsatilla), a mass of lily of the valley (Convallaria maialis) and other beautiful plants. There are altogether 1,100 species of vascular plants including 27 species of trees and 40 species of shrubs growing in Poland. Some of the trees are of immense size, especially oak (Quercus robur) and small-leaved linden (Tilia cordata). In the protection zone, some imposing cottonwood (Populus alba) and black poplar (Populus nigra) trees may be found. Yew (Taxus baccata) has been reintroduced into the Park.

The Kampinos fauna consists of an amazing number of rare species. Unlike other big European cities, only Warsaw can boast so many species of animals living in the wilderness, close to such a huge human agglomeration. The emblem of the Kampinoski National Park is the elk (Alces alces, North American - moose), which lives here again after 150 years of its absence from the Park. The European beaver (Castor fiber) was reintroduced in 1980, after several hundred years of absence, while the lynx (Lynx lynx) returned to the park in 1992. Also the red deer (Cervus elaphus), the roe-deer (Capreolus capreolus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), badger (Meles meles) and the fox (Vulpes vulpes) inhabit the forest.

A great number of birds live in the Park , since it is located on a bird migration route. Crane (Grus grus), black stork (Ciconia nigra), white stork (Ciconia ciconia), common heron (Ardea cinerea), and raven (Corvus corax), inhabit the area. Nearly twenty bird of prey species nest in the Kampinos Forest, including the lesser spotted eagle (Aquila pomarina), the honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus), as well as great numbers of buzzards (Buteo buteo), and goshawks (Acipiter gontilis). The European golden eagle (Aquila chrysateos), the white-tailed eagle (Haliaetus albicilla), and the osprey (Pandion haliaetus), were observed many times. With the inclusion of amphibians, reptiles and insects, over 4,000 species of fauna live in the Kampinoski National Park.

The park’s area has rich history, here many important events connected with Polish history took place. Reminders of past are numerous and include tombs of insurrectionists from 1863 anti-Russian uprising, war cemeteries from Polish-German war of 1939 and tombs of members of anti-German resistance (1944–45). At the Palmiry cemetery lay many inhabitants of Warsaw, secretly killed here by the Germans in the years 1939-1945. At Żelazowa Wola on the outskits of the Park there is a manor house where famous composer Frédéric Chopin was born.

Some area of the Park is owned by farmers, who live in the villages within the park boundaries (together they make ca. 3,000 inhabitants). This creates a problem and poses a threat to the protected environment. The Park's plan to buy villages out is hampered by the lack of financial means.

The territory of the Kampinoski National Park has close ties with history. The park was the site of many battles, including those fought in September 1939, i.e. the first month of the Second World War. The Park and its surroundings contain many graves of Polish insurgents of 1831, 1863, soldiers and partisans of WW II, killed in the Kampinos Forest. There are cemeteries of Nazi victims like the one at the Palmiry village, where a number of Poles and Jews were shot and then buried in mass graves.

In the Park's protection zone there are some historic and architectural monuments of great value. Thousands of tourists visit the museum located in the small mansion at Zelazowa Wola, where Frederic Chopin was born in 1810. He was baptized at the nearby Brochow defensive church, built in the 16th century of red brick.

Tourists are welcome on Park’s walking, cycling and skiing trails. One can also rent a horse and ride on trails whose total length is around 360 kilometers. Cycling enthusiasts may take advantage of the 200 km Kampinos Cycling Trail.