Section length: 62 km (+2.5 km Osłonka, Szkarpawa)
You can start kayaking in Biała Góra and finish in Osłonka. This stretch is 62 km long and can be divided into 3 days (Biała Góra – Malbork, Malbork – Jazowa – Jazowa – Osłonka). The river current is slow and the route is easy and not onerous, especially to the Michałowo lock where the river is canalised. It is suitable for kayakers with little experience. The river is also wide and embanked along almost its entire length. It flows through the Żuławy region, where it is not always sheltered, which sometimes makes kayaking difficult in windy weather. Kayaking on the Nogat is facilitated by shoreline trees, which provide many convenient places for camping or resting. You can start your kayaking trip at any point on the river and go in both directions. Usually, the trip starts at the marina in Biała Góra next to the lock at the mouth of the Liwa River at the Nogat River. Initially, the route runs along embanked banks, wooded in places. Further on, you pass the Las Mątawski Nature Reserve on the Nogat River. Then, there is a wide inter-embankment zone which will accompany you all the way to the Vistula Lagoon. Up to Malbork, there are agricultural areas to the left of the route, and forest areas to the right, and sometimes high embankments. On the route to Malbork, there is the lock in Szonowo. You enter the chamber, hold on to an eye (it’s good to have a rope) in the lock wall and slowly lower the water level. Caution: do not approach the head of the lock chamber as water outflow at this point is really strong. Once locking is complete, the gates open and you can safely go out onto the river. Alternatively, you can portage your kayak, but there is not always a convenient place at the lock to take out and launch the kayak. A few kilometres further, you reach Malbork. You are greeted by a panorama of the monumental Teutonic castle. Downstream of Malbork, there is another lock in Rakowiec. Further on, the river banks are overgrown with alders, willows and osiers. This stretch sometimes likes to become overgrown (August – September). It is worth checking this before you go kayaking. On the way, there is one last portage, the lock in Michałowo, and beyond it, the Nogat spreads wider and wider. You pass under road bridges, the first of which is on the S7 Gdańsk-Warsaw expressway. The route reaches the village of Kępki (on the left) and you can see the distinct church building. Then, there is a local lattice road bridge, followed by the entrance to the Jagiellonian Canal on the right. From here, after about 6 kilometres, you can reach Elbląg. After 2 kilometres of paddling on the Nogat, on your right you pass the Cieplicówka, a branch of the Nogat flowing to the Vistula Lagoon. The route approaches the mouth of the Nogat. On both sides of the river, buildings are becoming increasingly rare. The Nogat estuary reserve appears on your right. There are a lot of birds here. Now you reach a large backwater area – it is the connection of the Nogat and Szkarpawa rivers and the beginning of their estuary to the Vistula Lagoon. You turn left, pass the pumping station in Osłonka and after 2 km you finish your trip at the sailing and kayaking marina.