428 attractions in Lesser Poland, including Villa Atma (Karol Szymanowski Museum), Zakopane, Domański Villa (Prochownia) in Nawojowa Góra and Paczosówka…
Museums
Zakopane
Karol Szymanowski called it his "beloved highlander's cottage". The composer lived in the wooden Villa Atma on Kasprusie Street, a few minutes' walk from Krupówki, from 1930 to 1935, and finished his ballet Harnasie here. Today it houses t…
Palaces
Krzeszowice
On the spot where gunpowder was stored for the city of Kraków around 1800 – until an explosion destroyed the magazine – stands one of the most intriguing villas in the Jura uplands west of Kraków. The Domański Villa in Nawojowa Góra, forme…
Museums
Maków Podhalański
A single-storey villa with pale rusticated corners, a row of round-arched windows and a porch at the entrance looks more like an estate manager's house than a museum. Yet this is where Maków Podhalański keeps its memory, at 24 ul. 3 Maja:…
Amusement parks
Kraków
A Ghanaian village, a Peruvian hut, a Mongolian yurt and a Papuan stilt house stand a few steps apart in Kraków. Wioski Świata (Villages of the World) is a Global Education Park created by the Salesians, where homes from different parts of…
Landmarks
Zakopane
On the night of 22–23 August 1939, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz painted his last portrait in this house, and the next day he left Zakopane, never to return. Witkiewiczówka on Antałówka street is a wooden villa in the Zakopane style from 190…
Ski resorts
Koninki
Skiing in the Gorce Mountains means a handful of small, family-friendly ski areas rather than one big resort. The longest run in the range is about 1.4 km, coming down from Tobołów to Koninki, while smaller slopes operate on Maciejowa and…
Mountains & peaks
Jaworki
Wysoka, also known as Wysokie Skałki (1050 m, precisely 1049.9 m), is the highest peak of the Pieniny Mountains and of the whole Pieniny Klippen Belt, and the Polish–Slovak border runs right over its summit. The forest ends just below the…
Museums
Ropa
In 1934, 335 carts loaded with axle grease, lubricants and oils set off from a single Lemko village in the Low Beskids. For decades the people of Łosie lived from travelling trade, reaching as far as Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary and Transylv…
Castles
Czorsztyn
Czorsztyn Castle (say "chor-shtin") is a romantic medieval ruin perched on Castle Hill, about 50 meters above Czorsztyn Lake in Poland's Pieniny Mountains. For centuries this royal Polish fortress watched the Hungarian border and the Dunaj…
Castles
Krościenko nad Dunajcem
In the 13th century even Kraków's Wawel still had defences of timber and earth, yet deep in the Pieniny Mountains a stone castle built with mortar was already standing – one of the first of its kind in Poland. The ruins of Pieniny Castle,…
Castles
Grybów
Legend has it that the dragon Grynboss got his wings stuck in a tower of the stronghold in Grybów because he kept greedily stealing the castellan's herbal liqueurs. The stronghold really exists, though it is not medieval: Stara Baśń Castle…
Castles
Wielka Wieś
On a limestone crag in the Kluczwoda Valley, between Wielka Wieś and Biały Kościół, stand the modest remains of a castle that lasted only a few decades. It was built at the start of the 14th century, and by the middle of that century part…
Castles
Zakliczyn
Melsztyn Castle (say "MEL-shtin") is a medieval hilltop ruin above a gorge of the Dunajec River in southern Poland, about 30 km southwest of Tarnów and some 80 km by road east of Kraków. Once the seat of the powerful Leliwa family, it lay…
Castles
Muszyna
Muszyna Castle (MOO-shih-nah) is a partly rebuilt medieval stronghold on Baszta hill (527 m) above the Poprad River valley and the small spa town of Muszyna in southern Poland. After a reconstruction completed in 2023, the former ruin has…
Castles
Niepołomice
The Royal Castle in Niepołomice (pronounced roughly "nyeh-po-woh-MEE-tseh") is a Gothic-and-Renaissance royal residence on the edge of the Niepołomice Forest, about 25 km (15 miles) east of Kraków. Thanks to its arcaded courtyard it is oft…
Castles
Oświęcim
Oświęcim Castle (osh-VYEN-cheem) stands on a hill above the Soła River in southern Poland. Its Gothic defensive tower dates from the 13th century, and the castle, once the seat of the Dukes of Oświęcim, now houses the Castle Museum. The ex…
Technical monuments
Niedzica
Between Niedzica Castle and the ruins of Czorsztyn Castle, the Dunajec river is held back by a 404-metre bank of earth and gravel – the highest earth dam in Poland with a clay sealing core. You can walk along its crest, and underneath it,…
Lakes
Wadowice
On the Skawa river, a few kilometres from Wadowice, stands a dam that took longer to build than many people's entire careers. The first plans were drawn up in the 1950s, construction began in 1986, and the basin was only properly filled ar…
Amusement parks
Zakopane
In winter World Cup ski jumpers fly off this hill; outside the competition season, tourists ride down the plastic matting of Wielka Krokiew – without the jump, on special inflatable tubes. The operator says it is the only place of its kind…
Nature
Ojców
The heart at the bottom of the basin is not a work of nature – it was carved into the stone, and the romantic name was given to the spring by local guides. The Spring of Love (Źródło Miłości) in the Prądnik Valley is a karst spring that de…