Małopolska UNESCO Route

A royal city, salt mines, a Holocaust memorial and wooden churches in mountain villages – in Małopolska (Lesser Poland) they all share one thing: a place on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Małopolska UNESCO Route is a driving route of more than 300 km linking all of them: from Kraków's Old Town and the salt mines to wooden churches and Orthodox churches in the Beskid mountains. The region's official tourism portal counts 14 sites on the route.

What the route includes

• The Historic Centre of Kraków – inscribed in 1978, in the very first round of the list; it covers the Old Town, Wawel, Stradom and Kazimierz.
• The Royal Salt Mines in Wieliczka and Bochnia – Wieliczka was also listed in 1978, and in 2013 the entry was extended to the Bochnia mine and the Saltworks Castle in Wieliczka. Salt has been mined here since the 13th century.
• Auschwitz-Birkenau – the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, inscribed in 1979. About 1.5 million people were murdered here, most of them Jews.
• Kalwaria Zebrzydowska – a Mannerist architectural and park landscape complex and pilgrimage park, inscribed in 1999 as an example of a cultural landscape.
• Wooden Churches of Southern Małopolska (inscribed 2003): Dębno Podhalańskie, Binarowa, Sękowa and Lipnica Murowana.
• Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine (inscribed 2013): Brunary Wyżne, Kwiatoń, Owczary and Powroźnik – tserkvas being the wooden churches of the Eastern rite.

Why go

The route shows how varied one region's heritage can be: a royal city, industrial underground workings, a memorial to the Holocaust, a Baroque pilgrimage landscape and the wooden sacred architecture of two Christian rites. The wooden churches and tserkvas stand far from the big cities, in small villages of Podhale, the Carpathian Foothills and the Low Beskids, so visiting them is also a way to discover a lesser-known side of Małopolska.

Good to know

The World Heritage List was created under a UNESCO convention of 1972. Since 1992 cultural landscapes have also been recognised – and that is how Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is classified. Kraków's tradition of making nativity scenes (szopki) has been added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list.

Tripto tip

The route cannot sensibly be done in one day. It works best split into three parts: Kraków with Wieliczka and Bochnia; Kalwaria Zebrzydowska with Oświęcim; and a loop around the wooden churches of Podhale, the Foothills and the Low Beskids. Each site has its own opening hours and visiting rules – the wooden churches, for instance, may open only in season or around services. Check each site's website before you set off.