Things to do in Masovia
110 attractions in Masovia, including Copernicus Science Centre, University of Warsaw and Royal Castle in Warsaw.
All attractions (110)
Museums
Copernicus Science Centre
Warszawa
The Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw (Centrum Nauki Kopernik, roughly "TSEN-troom NAH-oo-kee koh-PEHR-neek") is Poland's largest hands-on science museum, set right on the Vistula River in the city center. Instead of reading labels behin…
180–300 min
Landmarks
University of Warsaw
Warszawa
Thousands of students walk through the neo-Baroque gate on Krakowskie Przedmieście every day, but few stop at the bronze plaque on its pillar: Fryderyk Chopin lived and studied within these walls from 1817 to 1827. The Main Campus of the U…
30–60 min Free entry
Castles
Royal Castle in Warsaw
Warszawa
The Royal Castle in Warsaw (Polish: Zamek Królewski, roughly "ZAH-mek kroo-LEV-skee") is the former seat of Poland's kings and parliament, standing on Castle Square at the entrance to the Old Town. Europe's first modern written constitutio…
90–150 min
Churches & monasteries
St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw
Warszawa
St. John's Archcathedral in Warsaw (Archikatedra św. Jana, roughly "ar-hee-kah-TED-rah svyen-TEH-go YAH-nah") is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Warsaw and one of Poland's national pantheons. It stands in the heart of the UNESCO-li…
30–60 min Free entry
Landmarks
Sigismund's Column in Warsaw
Warszawa
When a statue of a king on a tall column went up in 1644 on the square outside the Kraków Gate, the papal nuncio protested: until then, only saints, Christ and the Virgin Mary had been raised so high. Sigismund's Column (Kolumna Zygmunta I…
10–15 min Free entry
National parks
Kampinos National Park
Izabelin C
Kampinos National Park (Kampinoski Park Narodowy; say "kam-PEE-noss") protects the Kampinos Forest, a wild landscape of inland sand dunes and marshes that begins right at the edge of Warsaw. From the city limits you can reach the park head…
120–360 min Free entry
Landmarks
Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw
Warszawa
Every year on 1 and 2 November, actors, journalists and musicians stand at the gates of Old Powązki with collection tins. The fundraiser started by Jerzy Waldorff in 1975 pays for the repair of chapels, tombstones and sculptures, and in 20…
Fortifications
Modlin Fortress
Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki
Modlin Fortress (MOD-leen) in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki is one of the largest and best-preserved fortresses in Poland, set where the Vistula, Narew and Wkra rivers meet, about 30 km (19 miles) northwest of Warsaw. Ordered by Napoleon, enlarged…
Old towns & squares
Castle Square in Warsaw
Warszawa
Warsaw's most famous monument is almost 180 years older than the square it stands on. Sigismund's Column, honouring King Sigismund III Vasa, was raised in 1644 in front of the Kraków Gate, outside the city walls, while Castle Square itself…
Free entry
Castles
Ujazdów Castle in Warsaw
Warszawa
On 12 January 1578, at the wedding of Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and Krystyna Radziwiłł, the manor house at Ujazdów staged the first performance of Jan Kochanowski's "The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys" — regarded as the first tragedy written…
Gardens
Saxon Garden
Warszawa
On 27 May 1727 King Augustus II the Strong opened the garden of his Warsaw palace to the townspeople — creating Poland's first public park. Anyone could come in, as long as they were decently dressed. Today the Saxon Garden covers 15.5 hec…
Free entry
Old towns & squares
Old Town Market Square in Warsaw
Warszawa
The town houses around Warsaw's Old Town Market Square look centuries old, but most are about 70 years old. After the 1944 Warsaw Uprising the square lay in ruins, and in 1949–1953 it was rebuilt so faithfully that in 1980 the Historic Cen…
Free entry
Old towns & squares
Krakowskie Przedmieście Street in Warsaw
Warszawa
On Krakowskie Przedmieście you can walk through four centuries of Polish history in an hour: from St Anne's Church, where Pope John Paul II met young people in 1979, past the University of Warsaw and the Presidential Palace, to a pillar in…
Free entry
Landmarks
Złote Tarasy (Golden Terraces)
Warszawa
From the terrace of the Palace of Culture, Złote Tarasy looks like a glass wave spilling between Warsaw Central Station and Złota Street. Beneath its undulating steel-and-glass roof is one of Warsaw's best-known shopping centres, opened on…
Zoos
Warsaw Zoo
Warszawa
During the war, people hid in the empty cages and the director's villa at Warsaw Zoo. Jan and Antonina Żabiński saved several hundred Jews this way, were honoured as Righteous Among the Nations, and their story is told in the film "The Zoo…
Landmarks
Warsaw University Library
Warszawa
The University of Warsaw Library (BUW, pronounced "boov") in the riverside Powiśle district is one of the city's most striking modern buildings, and its rooftop garden is free, open to everyone and one of the largest roof gardens in Europe…
Free entry
Churches & monasteries
Carmelite Church (Seminary Church) in Warsaw
Warszawa
At the top of the facade on Krakowskie Przedmieście gleams a copper globe wrapped in a serpent and crowned with a gilded host — since the 18th century Varsovians have called it the "bania karmelicka", roughly "the Carmelite bulb". The Chur…
Hidden gemMuseums
Station Museum (Stacja Muzeum)
Warszawa
On the tracks of the former Warszawa Główna station on ul. Towarowa stand more than 50 historic rail vehicles — from early 20th-century steam engines to electric locomotives from the communist era. Among them are Poland's only complete arm…
Hidden gemPalaces
Palace Museum in Wilanów
Warszawa
Wilanów Palace (Polish: Pałac w Wilanowie, roughly "vee-LAH-noof") is the Baroque summer residence of King John III Sobieski in southern Warsaw, often called the "Polish Versailles." Unlike much of the capital, which was rebuilt after Worl…
Hidden gemMuseums
Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Sochaczew
Sochaczew
Every clock at the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Sochaczew shows 15:35. That is the time the last passenger train of the Sochaczew County Railway left here on 30 November 1984. That December a museum was established at the old station, an…
Hidden gemPalaces
Wessel Palace (Saxon Post Office), Warsaw
Warszawa
For nearly a hundred years this was the point from which distances from Warsaw were measured, and on 2 November 1830 Fryderyk Chopin handed in his luggage at the post office here, not knowing he was leaving Poland for good. Wessel Palace (…
Hidden gemOld towns & squares
Grzybowski Square, Warsaw
Warszawa
A monumental 19th-century church, the surviving townhouses of Próżna Street and the 160-metre Cosmopolitan tower all stand around a single square. Grzybowski Square (Plac Grzybowski) is one of the few places in Warsaw where you can clearly…
Free entry
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Basilica of the Assumption in Węgrów
Węgrów
The sacristy of the basilica in Węgrów holds a mirror that, according to legend, belonged to Master Twardowski, the Polish Faust, and in 1969 Lech Wałęsa was married at its altar. These stories alone would justify a stop on the way to Podl…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Radom Cathedral
Radom
The two 72-metre towers of Radom Cathedral deliberately echo the taller tower of St Mary's Basilica in Kraków, and Józef Pius Dziekoński's whole design is a "younger sibling" of his St Michael and St Florian Cathedral in Warsaw's Praga dis…