Poland · PL

Jezioro Chańcza

Chańcza Reservoir — marked on Google Maps as Jezioro Chańcza — is the largest body of water in Poland's Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, a long, 340-hectare lake formed on the Czarna Staszowska river between 1974 and 1984. Ringed by pine forest in the buffer zone of the Cisów-Orłowiny Landscape Park, it has become the region's main summer playground, with guarded beaches, water-sport hire, cottages and one of the country's most respected pike-perch fisheries. Split between Staszów County in the south and Kielce County in the north, the reservoir sits just off regional roads 756 and 764, roughly 14 km from Staszów and a few kilometres south of Raków. It is an easy stop for travellers touring the Holy Cross Mountains, whether for a swim, a paddle, a quiet shore walk or a full lakeside weekend.