Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Hidden gemPalaces
Kozłówka
Kozłówka Palace (say "kozh-WOOF-kah") is a Baroque residence of the aristocratic Zamoyski family about 40 km north of Lublin in eastern Poland. Today it houses the Zamoyski Museum, whose interiors from around 1900 survive almost complete,…
Churches & monasteries
Lublin
Stand in one corner of the sacristy of Lublin Cathedral and whisper towards the wall — and someone in the opposite corner will hear every word. One story says a bishop wanted to eavesdrop on his visitors; another that it allowed priests to…
Hidden gemCastles
Janowiec
Janowiec Castle (say "yah-NOH-vyets") is a Renaissance magnate residence perched on a cliff above the Vistula River, directly across from the popular little town of Kazimierz Dolny in eastern Poland. Part ruin, part carefully rebuilt museu…
Hidden gemPalaces
Puławy
The Czartoryski Palace in Puławy (say "poo-WAH-vih") is the centerpiece of a palace and landscape park that around 1800 was one of the great cultural hubs of Poland — so much so that Puławy was nicknamed the "Polish Athens". Here Princess…
Churches & monasteries
Chełm
The white towers and green dome on top of Chełm Hill are visible from far away, and the building itself bears the marks of three Christian traditions. It was built in the 18th century as a Uniate (Greek Catholic) cathedral, turned into a R…
Churches & monasteries
Kodeń
The Basilica of St Anne in Kodeń (say KO-den-yuh) is a late Renaissance church with a Baroque facade, home for more than 300 years to the icon of Our Lady of Kodeń, called the Queen of Podlasie and the Mother of Unity. It stands on the mar…
Landmarks
Lublin
The Grodzka Gate in Lublin, also known as the Jewish Gate, once linked the Christian Old Town with the Jewish quarter at the foot of the castle. Today it houses the Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre Centre, one of Poland's most respected memory in…
Landmarks
Lublin
The Kraków Gate (Brama Krakowska) is the landmark everyone associates with Lublin: a 14th-century Gothic city gate topped with a Baroque dome, standing where the main street, Krakowskie Przedmieście, meets the Old Town. Inside is the Museu…
Churches & monasteries
Szczebrzeszyn
The white Orthodox church on ul. Sądowa looks modest, but it is the oldest sacred building owned by the Polish Orthodox Church. Its walls date from the 16th century and stand on the foundations of an even older church, and its history conn…
Landmarks
Kazimierz Dolny
The former synagogue at ul. Lubelska 4 and the neighbouring Little Market Square with its wooden market stalls are the heart of the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz Dolny, a few steps from the main Market Square. The late Baroque synagogue, bui…
Museums
Kazimierz Dolny
The Kuncewicz House in Kazimierz Dolny (say "kah-ZHEE-myesh DOL-ni") is the 1930s timber-and-stone villa where Polish novelist Maria Kuncewiczowa lived and wrote, now a literary museum with its original interiors intact. Known locally as t…
Churches & monasteries
Gołąb
In the village of Gołąb on the Vistula, between Puławy and Dęblin, stands an exact copy of one of Europe's most famous shrines: the Holy House of Loreto, where according to tradition the Holy Family lived. Built in 1634–1638, the Loreto Ho…
Museums
Kazimierz Dolny
The Celej House in Kazimierz Dolny (Kamienica Celejowska, roughly "keh-leh-YOV-skah") is a 17th-century merchant's house with one of the most lavishly carved Renaissance parapets in Poland — and, inside, a branch of the Vistula Museum devo…
Museums
Zamość
The Armenian Houses on the Great Market Square in Zamość (say "ZAH-moshch") are the most colorful row of buildings in this UNESCO-listed Renaissance town, and they are home to the Zamość Museum. Built in the 17th century for wealthy Armeni…
Churches & monasteries
Lublin
The Holy Trinity Chapel in Lublin is a Gothic royal chapel inside Lublin Castle whose walls and vaults are entirely covered with Byzantine-Ruthenian frescoes completed in 1418. A Western Gothic building painted in the style of an Orthodox…
Churches & monasteries
Zamość
Zamość Cathedral, formally the Cathedral of the Resurrection and St. Thomas the Apostle, is a Renaissance church founded by Jan Zamoyski and designed by Bernardo Morando, the Italian architect behind the whole town of Zamość (say "ZAH-mosh…
Churches & monasteries
Lublin
The Dominican Basilica in Lublin – officially the Basilica of St. Stanislaus the Bishop and Martyr – is one of the oldest churches in Lublin and one of the most rewarding stops in the city's Old Town. Behind a Renaissance stepped gable lie…
Churches & monasteries
Kazimierz Dolny
The white bulk of the parish church closes off Kazimierz Dolny's Market Square like a stage backdrop: both sides of the square were laid out so that their lines meet at the church. The Church of St John the Baptist and St Bartholomew stand…
Churches & monasteries
Lubartów
Above the main entrance of Lubartów's parish church hangs a black cartouche with a Latin inscription naming the man who paid for it – Prince Paweł Karol Sanguszko. The Baroque Basilica of St Anne was built in 1733–1738 to a design by Paweł…
Churches & monasteries
Szczebrzeszyn
Before you go in, look at the outer wall of the chancel: in a niche sits a stone slab with the Zamoyski coat of arms and the Latin act founding the church. The church was built in 1610–1620 in the style known as the Lublin Renaissance, and…
Churches & monasteries
Janowiec
For several decades of the 16th century, two denominations worshipped side by side in this church: Catholics in the old Gothic part and Calvinists in the new section added by the Firlej family. Only towards the end of the century were arch…
Churches & monasteries
Gołąb
From a distance it looks like a three-aisled basilica, but that is an illusion: the low "side aisles" are really a thickening of the walls that hides gun-ports. The church in Gołąb combines an Italian order, Netherlandish decoration and th…
Churches & monasteries
Kazimierz Dolny
The Church of the Annunciation and the Franciscan (Reformati) Monastery in Kazimierz Dolny is a hilltop religious complex above the Market Square, known for its covered oak staircase and a venerated 400-year-old painting of the Annunciatio…
Landmarks
Lublin
The Lublin Underground Route (Lubelska Trasa Podziemna) is a nearly 300-meter (1,000-foot) tourist trail through old merchants' cellars beneath the Market Square and townhouses of Lublin's Old Town. You descend up to 9–12 m (30–40 ft) belo…