Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Lakes
gmina Węgorzewo
Mamry is the second-largest lake in Poland: the whole complex of six connected lakes covers about 100 km² and holds 33 islands. They were once separate lakes linked by streams – only in the 16th and 17th centuries did the water rise by sev…
Lakes
gmina Ełk
Selmęt Wielki is one of the largest lakes in the Ełk Lake District in Masuria, north-eastern Poland: it covers about 1,269 ha and is 11.6 km long and up to 3.5 km wide. The Lega river flows through it, so kayakers cross the lake from north…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Olsztyn
In the winter of 1807 the French locked about 1,500 prisoners of war inside St James's Church in Olsztyn, and to survive the frost they burned almost everything made of wood. That is why the interior of today's co-cathedral is plainer than…
Hidden gemLandscape parks
Krutyń
The Masurian Landscape Park (Mazurski Park Krajobrazowy) protects more than 560 km² (215 square miles) of forest, glacial lakes and old villages in the heart of Poland's Masurian Lake District, between the resort towns of Mikołajki, Mrągow…
Hidden gemLandscape parks
Iława
Lake Jeziorak stretches for 27.5 kilometres, making it the longest lake in Poland — and in 1993 the Iława Lake District Landscape Park was created around it. The lake has 17 islands, and cormorants, herons and white-tailed eagles nest in t…
Hidden gemCastles
Olsztyn
Warmian Chapter Castle in Olsztyn (pronounced roughly "OL-shtin") is a 14th-century Gothic brick fortress and the top sight in the capital of Poland's Warmia and Masuria lake region. Nicolaus Copernicus ran the surrounding estates from her…
Nature
Elbląg
Bażantarnia in Elbląg (roughly "ba-zhan-TAR-nya," meaning "pheasantry") is a historic forest park of 369 hectares (about 910 acres) inside the city limits, on the edge of the Elbląg Upland. Deep ravines, streams and beech-covered hills ear…
Landmarks
Elbląg
The Market Gate in Elbląg (Brama Targowa, sometimes listed as the Market Tower) is the only surviving gate of the city's medieval walls and its best-loved symbol. The 26-meter Gothic brick tower with its clock closes the northern end of th…
Other
Elbląg
From the riverside quay below Elbląg's Old Town you can sail in two directions: south onto the Elbląg Canal, where boats overcome almost 100 m of height difference by riding on rail carriages over dry land, or north across the Vistula Lago…
Nature
Kadyny
The Bażyński Oak in Kadyny is one of the oldest and thickest trees in Poland – a pedunculate oak whose age dendrochronological research puts at around 716 years. It grows right by the road from Elbląg to Frombork, in a former imperial vill…
Other
Giżycko
Five minutes' walk from Giżycko station is the town's largest yacht and passenger harbour. Ekomarina sits on the northern shore of Lake Niegocin, which covers more than 2,600 ha and is almost 40 metres deep, and has berths for 238 vessels.…
Lakes
Mikołajki
Lake Mikołajskie is a narrow glacial trough lake that links three of the big Masurian lakes: Tałty, Bełdany and Śniardwy. Water from the central and southern parts of the Great Masurian Lakes flows through it, and so do sailors and passeng…
Lakes
Giżycko
Niegocin is the lake on which Giżycko stands: from the town beach and concrete pier to the marinas at Wilkasy, more than 26 km² of water stretch out, crossed by the main sailing route of the Great Masurian Lakes. From here boats head north…
Lakes
Olsztynek
Lake Pluszne, officially Pluszne Wielkie, is 52 m deep – only slightly less than neighbouring Lake Łańskie (53.8 m) and Lake Wulpińskie (54.6 m). It lies among the Łańskie Forests on the Olsztynek Plain, and the whole lake is a quiet zone,…
Lakes
Mikołajki
Lake Śniardwy (say "SHNYAR-dvih") is the largest lake in Poland and the centerpiece of the Masurian Lake District, a glacial lake region in the country's northeast. Sailors call it the "Masurian sea": on a windy day you can barely see the…
Lakes
Olsztyn
Lake Ukiel (pronounced "OO-kyel"), known locally as Krzywe ("the crooked lake"), is the largest lake inside the city of Olsztyn and its favorite summer playground. Covering more than 400 hectares (about 1,000 acres) and reaching 43 meters…
Churches & monasteries
Elbląg
St. Nicholas Cathedral in Elbląg (say "EL-blonk") is a Gothic brick church whose 97-meter tower is the tallest church spire east of the Vistula River and the landmark you will see first as you approach this northern Polish city. Standing a…
Churches & monasteries
Prostki
In 1656, Tatar troops returning with their plunder from the battle of Prostki burned Ostrykół to the ground, together with its church and library, and carried off 1,326 people from the parish into captivity. The village was rebuilt, and a…
Nature
Olsztyn
From the High Gate in Olsztyn, a red-marked trail leads straight into a forest where it is easy to forget you are still in a city. Olsztyn City Forest covers 1,415.87 ha, entirely within the city limits, and Olsztyn describes it as the lar…
Monuments & mounds
Ełk
On one of the benches in Ełk's Copernicus Park sits someone who, as the Polish saying goes, "stopped the Sun and moved the Earth". The figure of Nicolaus Copernicus waits for you to sit down beside him, while stone spheres – the Sun and th…
Technical monuments
Giżycko
The swing bridge in Giżycko (say "gee-ZHITS-ko") is a working piece of 19th-century engineering in the center of this lakeside town in north-eastern Poland. Built in 1898 over the Łuczański Canal, its roughly 100-ton steel span still turns…
Landscape parks
Elbląg
The Elbląg Upland Landscape Park (Park Krajobrazowy Wysoczyzny Elbląskiej) protects more than 130 km² of beech forest, deep ravines and streams between the city of Elbląg and the Vistula Lagoon in northern Poland. The upland rises steeply…
Gardens
Elbląg
This park was once home to the grandest villa in Elbląg – the residence of Carl Ziese, son-in-law of the industrialist Ferdinand Schichau, where an organ played in the music room, the King of Saxony came to visit and dinner was served for…
Monuments & mounds
Frombork
Copernicus with a sprig of lily of the valley in his hand, six metres tall and distinctly unconventional: Mieczysław Welter's monument, unveiled in 1973, divided opinion from the start. Critics compared it to a block topped with a small he…