Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Selected city: opole
Hidden gemZoos
Opole
Opole Zoo has opened three times: before the war, after the war, when the menagerie had to be rebuilt from scratch, and after the great flood of 1997, which nearly sealed its fate. Today more than 1,000 animals of over 200 species live on…
Museums
Opole
The Museum of the Opole Countryside (Muzeum Wsi Opolskiej) is an open-air museum in Opole's Bierkowice district, about 5 km from the city center. Around 50 wooden buildings brought from villages across the region – farmhouses, granaries, a…
Hidden gemCastles
Opole
Opole once had two castles, and of the second, "upper" one, a single Gothic tower survives, now embedded in school buildings. It was built at the end of the 14th century by Duke Władysław II of Opole – a prince who served as Palatine of Hu…
Museums
Opole
The Museum of Polish Song in Opole tells the story of Polish popular music from the 1920s to the present – inside the Millennium Amphitheatre, the stage of the National Festival of Polish Song. Instead of display cases you get headphones,…
Landmarks
Opole
The Piast Tower in Opole is a Gothic brick castle tower on Ostrówek island – one of the oldest monuments of defensive architecture in Poland and a symbol of the city, whose outline appears in TV broadcasts of the song festival from the nea…
Churches & monasteries
Opole
Opole Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, is the main church of the Opole region and the tallest building in the city: its two neo-Gothic spires rise to about 73 meters. The red-brick Gothic hall church…
Churches & monasteries
Opole
The Franciscan Church in Opole, officially the Church of the Holy Trinity, is the burial place of the medieval Piast dukes of Opole and one of the most precious historic buildings in the city. Its St. Anne's Chapel, known as the Piast Chap…
Landmarks
Opole
A green, openwork footbridge over the Młynówka is one of the best-known sights in Opole. Locals call it the Green Bridge or the Lovers' Bridge, but its official name – Most Groszowy, the Penny Bridge – recalls the days when crossing it cos…
Museums
Opole
The Museum of Opole Silesia (Muzeum Śląska Opolskiego) is the main museum of the Opole region and one of the oldest in Silesia, founded in 1900. It occupies a handsome Baroque former Jesuit college on Mały Rynek (the "Small Market Square")…
Cities & towns
Opole
Opole Venice (Opolska Wenecja, roughly "oh-POL-skah veh-NETS-yah") is the most photographed spot in Opole, southwestern Poland: a row of colorful townhouses rising straight out of the Młynówka channel and reflected in its still water. It i…
Old towns & squares
Opole
Opole Market Square (Rynek, pronounced "RIH-nek") with its Town Hall is the historic heart of Opole, the capital of the Opole region in southern Poland, and the natural place to start any visit. The square keeps its medieval rectangular pl…
Nature
Opole
North of Opole, in the forests along the Stobrawa and Oder rivers, lie dunes you would hardly expect here: sandy hills up to 20 metres high, covered in pine forest. They are one of the most striking landscapes of the Stobrawa Landscape Par…
Gardens
Opole
As late as the 1930s, Bolko Island could only be reached by boat. Today bridges lead onto it, and the island, surrounded by the Oder and the Flood Relief Canal, is Opole's green lung: a town park with ponds, old oaks and a zoo. Locals come…
Landmarks
Opole
University Hill, known to locals as the Górka ("the little hill"), is the highest point of Opole's old town – 165 m above sea level, a few steps from the market square. In the Middle Ages lime was burned here; for five centuries it was hom…