If you long for time in solitude and quietness Mazury is a must after the high season; in September and October less people visit this region and those who come, come here to sail, pick up mushroom, wander and hunt. There are also those who just come to spend some time in remote place, far away from crowds and polluted cities. Many people bought and restored old, desolated Mazurian households and cottages and now treat them as their summer houses where they can spend holidays, weekends and days off work. Mazury is the perfect place for those who love horse riding, all water sports and close contact with unspoiled nature. Plenty of forests, uncontaminated lakes and rivers, wild animals and abundance of forest fruit makes Mazury a paradise for nature lovers.
People who come to Mazury for sailing may easily rent a yacht; Ruciane - Nida, Mikołajki, Węgorzewo and Giżycko offer well equipped tourist base, with all possible water equipment for rent. Some Mazurian lakes are within so called "quiet zone" which means it is forbidden to use motorboats there and only rowing boats, yachts and windsurfings are allowed to move on water surface. While sailing we might spend the night on water in our boat or stay on land in one of various tourist accommodation facilities.
The prices in Mazury are quite reasonable; single bed with breakfast after high season may cost around 25- 35 PLN. We may also put up a tent, but it is allowed only on specially designed areas, on camping places, camping in forests or on fields is forbidden. When hungry we might try some of Mazurian quisine specialities: potato cake (baba ziemniaczana) which is originally Belorussian, delicious mushroom soup or a stew, game and of course plenty of fish dishes; fishing is one of the most popular activities to be done in Mazury; lakes are nowadays managed mostly by private fishing companies which take care of their restocked reservoirs. If you want to do the fishing yourself, you have to buy a special license at the nearest post - office and then it is only a matter of choice of the most interesting spot at the lake bank. In small towns such as Ruciane- Nida, Mikołajki and Pisz we can easily come across any specialist shop offering fishing and water equipment so there is no need of taking everything with us from Warsaw, as it used to be in the past. Mazury are also interesting for those keen on history and architecture. Here one may find the remnants of Prussian history, old red bricked constructions of churches and households, old graveyards, unfortunately plenty of them devastated, monasteries (in Ukta e.g.) and old water constructions: dams, bridges (e.g. especially imposing old train bridge in Stańczyki) and sluices.
Plenty of people visit Mazury exclusively for horse riding. There are many horse stables here, and horseback tourism is extremely popular. Bear in min however, that if you ride you must obtain a special permission from a local forestry office, especially in the areas which belong to landscape park. Many tourist farms offer packages including stay with all possible attractions organized; in summer it will be bonfires with frying sausages and horse riding and in winter sleigh riding with torches and tasting "bigos". Do not forget that Mazury is a region famous among hunters; plenty of them come from Western Europe, tempted by rich and unspoiled forests and game they are looking for.
