Rail travel has magic and atmosphere, at least it has always been for us. You can get on and get carried away on a journey, you can read, sleep, walk from car to car, eat, get to know individuals. If you are taking the train in the direction of Bory Tucholskie and Kociewie, it is worth getting off at the Tleń station and staying there for a longer time. Yes, at the train station that has been used by travelers since 1906, but now in a slightly different form. Instead of sleeping on a bench like backpackers, there will be a sunny attic with comfortable beds, bathing in a bathtub at sunset, long evenings with a goat and the smell of wood - oak inside and pine in the forests. Nobody leaves the tollbooths by hand anymore, but one thing is constant - trains run like this when they traveled. 5 pairs of trains (railbuses) pass daily, i.e. 5 arrivals and 5 departures. This is the charm of living at the station.
Mikole (railway enthusiasts) will be delighted, misophones (hypersensitive to sounds) can pack earplugs. In Tleń, seekers of fresh fish and craft beer will satisfy their taste buds, canoeists will have almost 200 km of trails, and mushroom pickers, anglers and birders will have their hands full. Get on any train, just to get off at Dworzec Tleń.
If you ever sleep at the station while waiting for the next train, let us change your ideas. We invite you to the second floor of Dworzec Tleń, which has been serving travelers since 1906. From the beginning of the 20th century as a shelter from the weather, as a place to buy tickets, and now as a cozy apartment with sunsets straight from the bathtub.
Probably no manager of Dworzec Tleń has experienced such luxuries here - a kitchenette, comfortable beds, a goat, a large bathroom with a bathtub. A lot has changed since the times of rail traffic, but one thing is constant - trains run like that. 5 pairs of trains (railbuses) pass daily, i.e. 5 arrivals and 5 departures. Such is the charm of living at the station.
As history and wood enthusiasts, we renovated the Railway Station respecting its past. Lamps that will shine you are made of old structural elements of the station, we found finned radiators at auctions, we dealt with wood personally, or rather Adam and his team did it.
On the ground floor of the station you will find even more souvenirs from the times of the bustling life of the station, Tleń and the surrounding area. We will be happy to show you around our historical exhibition and tell you a bit about the long history of Tleń.
The apartment is equipped with a kitchenette, but if you want to take a break from cooking, we invite you to our second place in the Wierzchy Guesthouse, because we run a restaurant there. In summer we serve breakfasts and dinners - the restaurant is open daily from 9:00 to 17:00. After the summer season, the restaurant is open on weekends.
In Tleń, you can eat well in several places, so you have a choice. For a beer, it is worth jumping into our local brewery in Przystanek Tleń.
Start your trip around Tleń and its surroundings from the ground floor of the Railway Station. We have an exhibition full of the history of the train station, Tleń and the surrounding area. Each of our guests can count on a tour of the exhibition with a guide, i.e. the host, Adam.
Tleń is worth visiting by bike (we have bikes for you), because the beauty of the landscapes is knocking you off your feet, and on wheels it is easier and faster to admire. Plus, the area is so rich in must-see spots, making the bike a brilliant means of transportation. You can start your trip or walk from the route around the Zalew Żurski. It is 17 kilometers long, so by bike, and quite a lot on foot. During the trip you will feel and see the quintessence of Bory Tucholskie: many species of birds, even those under protection (great egret, hoopoe, kingfisher), breathe clean air, see yourself in the water, experience pine aromatherapy among tall rows of trees and enjoy the viewpoints that are not you can even find them on holiday postcards. The all-day route will take you to Lake Mukrza, the Grzybek peninsula and the phenomenal "Zatoka" viewpoint, that is the most beautiful parts of the Wdecki Landscape Park.
We direct technology enthusiasts to the Żur hydroelectric power plant, one of the most important power plants in Poland, which for years has been supplying freshly built Gdynia with energy. For the operation of the power plant, a storage reservoir with an area of 400 hectares was built, i.e. the Żurski Lagoon. The power plant can only be visited in groups - the minimum group size is 10 people.
You can go pedal boats, kayaks and rowing boats on the Zalew Żurski. You can go to the island of Madeira, you can cast a fishing rod for pike, rope, perch, zander or roach. It is necessary to purchase a fishing license.
Speaking of water. We encourage you to canoe (we have kayaks for you). For beginners or families with kids, we recommend shorter routes (2-3 hours), eg Stara Rzeka - Tleń approx. 7 km or Tleń - Żur approx. 10 km. For those skilled in combat, there are also longer routes, eg Błędno - Tleń, approx. 20 km, through the beautiful areas of Bory Tucholskie. You will have plenty of routes even for a longer vacation, because there are 198 km of them here. Wda is also called the black river because its water, although transparent, has a dark color. On the trail, it is worth stopping at the famous U Basi fried trout.
When the Zalew and Wda treat you (although it is unlikely), you can go to the Kałębie sea, that is Lake Kałębie, near Osiek. You can try your hand at windsurfing here.
In the surrounding Tleń, Tuchola Forest, there is an abundance of mushrooms in autumn (e.g. on the southern side of the lagoon), and at the turn of August, September and October, purple heather carpets.
In terms of nature and science, it is worth going to the observation tower in Trzebcina. It was created in a place where a whirlwind passed in 2012, destroying huge areas of forests. Currently, you can admire a wide panorama of the regenerating forest from here.
If you like an open-air atmosphere, be sure to go to the village of Kasparus, located in the middle of a pine forest. One narrow road leads to it, mainly wooden houses built in the Borowiacy style. Despite the fact that the village looks like an open-air museum, it is inhabited, and the oldest buildings here are up to 200 years old.
In Świecie, a town with a beautiful market square and a picturesque mouth of the Wda to the Vistula, it is worth stopping for a view of the Vistula valley from the Devil's point or for the Teutonic castle, which you can admire only from the outside due to maintenance and renovation works. The planned completion of works is November 15, 2022.
In winter, we recommend walking into the forest, warming up by the goat in the train station, and going out for a beer at the brewery in Przystanek Tleń.
We still have plenty of directions and ideas for spending time here and we will be happy to share them with you, be sure to come by.
What’s there for children?
For children, the very apartment at the station will be a real attraction. Each train (railcar) ride is an event, and daily at the train station in Tleń we have 5 arrivals and 5 departures, sometimes a freight train will also pass. You can play ticket sales at the box office, you can play the conductor, you must visit the exhibition on the ground floor of the station, and when the first emotions are over, it's time to go out into the area. Canoes, pedal boats, walks in the woods, mushrooms and fallow deer. In the village of Wierzchy, we have our holiday center, which you can reach by a short bike trip or on foot. The old paved road leads towards Zgorzałego Most, i.e. the old mill of the sawmill, and then through fields and forests. On site, we have lunch, compote and dessert for you, our farm of fallow deer, bunnies, a playground and plenty of running area.
For water lovers there is also a beach on Lake Mukrza - one wild or the other guarded with a designated bathing area. Another place to spread the blanket over the water is the beach on the Grzybek peninsula. In winter, it is worth going to the forest in search of traces of wild animals. It is in the snow that it is best to recognize whether a wolf, fox, deer, roe deer or maybe a hare has recently walked this way.
