Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
National parks
Urszulin
Polesie National Park ("poh-LEH-sheh") protects Poland's share of Polesie, the vast, flat land of bogs, fens and lakes that stretches on into Belarus and Ukraine. Set in eastern Poland's Lublin region, it feels far wilder than its size sug…
National parks
Zwierzyniec
Roztocze National Park (Roztoczański Park Narodowy; say "ross-TOH-cheh") is Poland's most heavily forested national park, with woodland covering 95.5% of its area. It lies in the Lublin region of eastern Poland, right next to the small tow…
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,…
Hidden gemChurches & 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 gemLandscape parks
Szczebrzeszyn
By a spring on the edge of Szczebrzeszyn stands the world's first monument to a beetle, unveiled in 2002 as a nod to Jan Brzechwa's famous Polish tongue-twister about a beetle buzzing in the reeds of Szczebrzeszyn. Around the town stretche…
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…
Hidden gemCastles
Kazimierz Dolny
Kazimierz Dolny Castle is a 14th-century royal stronghold in ruins on a hill above the Vistula, together with an even older round watchtower that once guarded a river crossing. Climbing up from the Market Square takes only a short walk, an…
Fortifications
Kazimierz Dolny
The tower in Kazimierz Dolny is a round stone keep standing alone on the crest of Castle Hill – the oldest fortification in town and one of the best viewpoints over the Vistula River. It was built around 1300, before King Casimir the Great…
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…
Nature
Kazimierz Dolny
Kazimierz Dolny built its wealth on the Vistula, and the riverside boulevard is the best place to understand how. From the promenade on the flood embankment you can see the parish church, the castle ruins and the tower on the hills, while…
Other
Lublin
The Centre for the Meeting of Cultures (Centrum Spotkania Kultur, CSK) is Lublin's largest arts venue and one of the most striking modern buildings in eastern Poland. Visitors come mainly for its free rooftop viewing terraces, a green roof…
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…
Historic sites
Kazimierz Dolny
On a wooded ravine slope on Czerniawy Street, about 950 m south-east of the Market Square, lies the new Jewish cemetery of Kazimierz Dolny. Its best-known feature is the lapidarium – a wall made of several hundred fragments of matzevot, sp…
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…
Viewpoints
Kazimierz Dolny
Three Crosses Hill in Kazimierz Dolny (Góra Trzech Krzyży, roughly "GOO-rah TSHEH-h KSHI-zhih") rises about 50 m above the Market Square and offers the town's most famous view: red roofs, the parish church, the castle ruins and the broad V…
Viewpoints
Parchatka
There are two Hills of Three Crosses on the Vistula near Puławy. The one in Kazimierz Dolny rises right above the market square in the middle of town; the one in Parchatka offers only a wooded climb up a loess gully and a view over the eas…
Lakes
Lubartów
Firlej is an oval lake with no inflowing rivers, circled by a lit footpath and cycle track, with a sandy beach and a dozen or so holiday centres. It lies 12 km north-west of Lubartów, next to national road 19, and has long been one of the…
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…