Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Lakes
Zakopane
Morskie Oko ("MOR-skyeh OH-koh," meaning "Eye of the Sea") is the largest lake on the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains and the most visited spot in Tatra National Park. Sitting at 1,395 m (4,577 ft) beneath sheer granite walls, close to…
Technical monuments
Wieliczka
The Wieliczka Salt Mine (pronounced roughly "vyeh-LEECH-kah") is an underground world of chapels, lakes and carved chambers just outside Kraków, and one of the very first sites ever placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. For more than 7…
Churches & monasteries
Kraków
Polish kings were crowned and buried in this cathedral – from Władysław the Elbow-high, crowned in 1320, to Stanisław Leszczyński. It holds the remains of 17 monarchs (including Queen Jadwiga and Anna Jagiellon), as well as national poets…
Churches & monasteries
Kraków
Every hour a trumpeter plays the hejnał, a short bugle call, from the taller tower of the basilica – and breaks it off mid-phrase. A few dozen metres below, in the chancel, stands the greatest work of Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz in Polish): a l…
Technical monuments
Bochnia
The Bochnia Salt Mine (pronounced roughly "BOH-hnyah") is Poland's oldest salt mine, worked from the mid-13th century — even earlier than its famous neighbor, Wieliczka. Since 2013 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Royal…
Landmarks
Kraków
Wawel Hill in Kraków is the limestone rise above the Vistula River where Polish kings lived, were crowned and were buried for more than five centuries. Crowned by the Royal Castle and Wawel Cathedral, it is Poland's most symbolic historic…
Castles
Kraków
Wawel Royal Castle (pronounced "VAH-vel") in Kraków is the former seat of Polish kings and the single most important historic site in southern Poland. Its Renaissance palace, wrapped around an arcaded courtyard, crowns a limestone hill abo…
Landmarks
Kraków
The Cloth Hall in Kraków (Sukiennice, say "soo-kyeh-NEE-tseh") is the long Renaissance market hall standing in the middle of the Main Market Square – one of Europe's largest medieval town squares and the centerpiece of Kraków's UNESCO-list…
Zoos
Kraków
Kraków Zoo is not in a city park but on Pustelnik Hill in the middle of Wolski Forest, about 8 km from the Main Market Square. Its 20 hectares are home to around 1,500 animals from more than 270 species, over a hundred of them classed as e…
Hidden gemCaves
Kraków
The Dragon's Den (Polish: Smocza Jama, roughly "SMOH-chah YAH-mah") is a limestone cave inside Wawel Hill in Kraków, the legendary lair of the Wawel Dragon. A short, atmospheric route takes you from the castle grounds down a spiral stairca…
Hidden gemMonuments & mounds
Kraków
The dragon was originally meant to lie in the Vistula, partly submerged in the current. The idea was dropped when it became clear that rubbish carried by the river would pile up on the sculpture. So Bronisław Chromy's bronze Wawel Dragon w…
Hidden gemAmusement parks
Zator
133 rides and shows, 20 roller coasters and a coaster that, when it opened, was the tallest and fastest hyper coaster in Europe. Energylandia in Zator, opened on 14 July 2014, is the largest amusement park in Poland and welcomed around 2 m…
Hidden gemLandmarks
Ojców
The Kraków Gate (Brama Krakowska) in Ojców (say "OY-tsoof") is a pair of towering limestone pillars that guard the mouth of a side gorge in the Prądnik Valley, the heart of Ojców National Park. Just 25 km north of Kraków, it is one of the…
Hidden gemMuseums
Kraków
Jan Matejko, Poland's great painter of national history, bought this manor house in 1876 with money from the sale of his painting "Batory at Pskov" – mainly so that his often sickly children could breathe country air. In Krzesławice, now p…
Hidden gemCaves
Ojców
In 2018 archaeologists found finger bones of a Neanderthal child in Ciemna Cave ("Dark Cave") dating back about 115,000 years – the oldest known human remains in Poland. The cave on Koronna Hill in Ojców National Park has the largest chamb…
Hidden gemOld towns & squares
Kraków
The Little Market Square (Mały Rynek, say "MAH-wih RIH-nek") in Kraków is a long, cobbled square tucked directly behind St. Mary's Basilica – a calmer sidekick to the vast Main Market Square and one of the oldest trading spots in the city.…
Hidden gemMuseums
Chabówka
At Chabówka near Rabka, more than 100 historic railway vehicles stand on the tracks, and some of them still run. It is the largest collection of heritage rolling stock in Poland and one of the few places where you don't just look at steam…
Museums
Wadowice
The John Paul II Family Home in Wadowice (say "vah-doh-VEE-tseh") is a biographical museum in the house where Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II, was born on May 18, 1920. At its heart is the reconstructed apartment of the Wojtyła…
Caves
Jerzmanowice
Nietoperzowa Cave (pronounced "nyeh-toh-peh-ZHOH-vah," Polish for "Bat Cave") in Jerzmanowice is one of the best-known show caves of the Polish Jura, the limestone upland just northwest of Kraków. A guided walk takes you through spacious,…
Technical monuments
Zakopane
The Kasprowy Wierch cable car is Poland's most famous mountain lift: in about 20 minutes it carries you from Kuźnice, on the edge of Zakopane, to 1,959 m (6,427 ft), just below the summit of Kasprowy Wierch in the Tatra Mountains. Running…
Amusement parks
Inwałd
"Świat Marzeń" Miniature Park in Inwałd is a family park with models of 65 famous buildings from Poland and around the world, set between Andrychów and Wadowice. In a single day you can stand beneath the Eiffel Tower, St Peter's Basilica a…
Mountains & peaks
Jastrzębik
Bacówka nad Wierchomlą is a small PTTK mountain hut in the Sądecki Beskids, set in a broad clearing at 887 m above sea level on the trail between Runek and Pusta Wielka. From the clearing you can see the Radziejowa range and, on clear days…
Thermal baths & water parks
Chochołów
Chochołowskie Termy (roughly "ho-ho-WOV-skyeh TER-mi") in the village of Chochołów is the largest thermal pool complex in Poland's Podhale region, the highland area at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. It offers about 4,500 m² (48,000 sq ft…
Nature
Aleksandrowice
The Aleksandrowice Valley is a roughly 3-km Jurassic valley in Aleksandrowice (Zabierzów municipality), just beyond Kraków's western boundary. It lies on the Tenczyn Ridge within Tenczyn Landscape Park. For a short walk you get a pond with…