Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Historic sites
Oświęcim
Auschwitz I in Oświęcim (pronounced osh-VYEN-cheem), southern Poland, is the original camp of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and today the main site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Its brick…
Historic sites
Brzezinka
Auschwitz II-Birkenau in Brzezinka (pronounced bzheh-ZHEEN-kah), near Oświęcim in southern Poland, is the largest part of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and the place where most of its victims were…
Mountains & peaks
Zakopane
You can hardly miss it from the centre of Zakopane: the limestone massif of Giewont rises above the town in an almost vertical 600-metre wall, and for generations its outline has been compared to a sleeping knight. On Wielki Giewont (1,895…
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…
Mountains & peaks
Brzegi
Rysy (pronounced RIH-sih) is the highest mountain in Poland: its northwest summit, on the Polish–Slovak border in the High Tatras, rises to about 2,499 meters (8,199 ft). The classic hike from Palenica Białczańska past the famous Morskie O…
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…
National parks
Zakopane
Tatra National Park (Tatrzański Park Narodowy) protects the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains, the highest range in the Carpathians and the only truly alpine landscape in Poland. Granite and limestone peaks, glacial lakes, deep valleys an…
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…
Mountains & peaks
Zawoja
It has long been called the Mother of Bad Weather – and for good reason: on the dome of Diablak, sunshine can give way to fog and gale within an hour. Babia Góra is the highest peak of the Western Beskids and, outside the Tatras, the highe…
Museums
Czerna
Until 1805, ordinary worshippers were not allowed into this monastery: Czerna was a hermitage of the Discalced Carmelites, hidden in the forest and enclosed by a wall more than four kilometres long. Today the complex in the Eliaszówka Vall…
Cities & towns
Kraków
In 1949 work began on fields outside Kraków on a city built from scratch – for the people who would work in a gigantic steelworks. Nowa Huta ("New Steelworks") was meant to be a model socialist town without a church and with a central squa…
National parks
Zawoja
Babia Góra National Park (Babiogórski Park Narodowy; say "BAH-bya GOO-rah") protects a single, mighty mountain on the Polish–Slovak border: Babia Góra, the "Queen of the Beskids." Its summit, Diablak (1,725 m / 5,659 ft), is the highest po…
National parks
Ochotnica Górna
Gorce National Park (Gorczański Park Narodowy, roughly gor-CHAN-skee) protects the heart of the Gorce Mountains, a forested range of the Western Beskids in southern Poland. Its 7,030 hectares (about 17,400 acres) mix old beech, fir and spr…
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…
National parks
Sromowce Niżne
Pieniny National Park (say "pyeh-NEE-nee") is Poland's oldest national park, founded on June 1, 1932, and one of the most beautiful corners of the Polish Carpathians. On just 23.5 km² it packs dramatic limestone peaks, the Three Crowns (Tr…
Monuments & mounds
Kraków
Between 1934 and 1937 archaeologists dug right down to the base of Krakus Mound, looking for the grave of the legendary founder of Kraków. They found no grave. What they did find was just as intriguing: the mound has a carefully planned st…
Landmarks
Kraków
The Kraków Barbican (Polish: Barbakan, "BAR-bah-kahn") is a Gothic brick fortress with seven slender turrets, standing in Planty Park just outside St. Florian's Gate. Built at the end of the 15th century as the northernmost outpost of the…
Churches & monasteries
Kraków
The lower part of the façade of St Andrew's Church has no windows — only narrow arrow slits. They are not decoration: according to the chronicler Jan Długosz, in 1241, during the Mongol invasion, the people of Okół, the settlement below Wa…
Hiking & tourist trails
Zakopane
Orla Perć ("Eagle's Path," roughly "OR-lah PERCH") is the most famous and widely considered the hardest marked hiking trail in the Polish Tatra Mountains: a red-marked ridge route between the Zawrat and Krzyżne passes, crossing Kozi Wierch…
Landmarks
Kraków
The Sigismund Bell (in Polish Dzwon Zygmunta, roughly "dzvon zig-MOON-tah") hangs in the tower of Wawel Cathedral in Kraków and is Poland's most famous bell. Cast more than 500 years ago, it rings only on the most important religious and n…