Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Hidden gemCastles
Zawiercie
No road led to the upper castle: you climbed a system of walkways and ladders fixed to the rock. The ruins of Bąkowiec Castle stand on a limestone crag called Tygrys ("Tiger") in Skarżyce, a district of Zawiercie, and have been linked with…
Hidden gemCastles
Babice
For more than two centuries the bishops of Kraków imprisoned clergy here: heretics, rebellious friars and priests accused of crimes. Lipowiec Castle stands on a wooded limestone hill (362 m above sea level) between Babice and Wygiełzów, an…
Hidden gemCastles
Rabsztyn
Three Kraków councillors sat in this castle's dungeon until their city paid compensation for the killing of its lord. Rabsztyn Castle, whose name comes from the German Rabenstein, "Raven Rock", stands on a limestone hill (427.5 m above sea…
Hidden gemCastles
Korzkiew
On a rocky spur wrapped by a wide bend of the Korzkiewka stream stands a castle rebuilt almost from scratch by one man. Its core is a 14th-century stone tower, and since 1997 the ruins have belonged to the architect Jerzy Donimirski, who i…
Hidden gemCastles
Otmuchów
Bishop Philipp von Sinzendorf suffered from gout, so he had a staircase rebuilt to let his servants carry him upstairs in a sedan chair — this is how the famous "horse stairs" of Otmuchów Castle came about. It is just one detail of a fortr…
Hidden gemCastles
Przemyśl
Przemyśl Castle (say "PSHEH-mishl"), also called Casimir Castle after King Casimir the Great, crowns Castle Hill above the old town of Przemyśl, a historic border town in southeastern Poland. This is where the story of one of Poland's olde…
Hidden gemCastles
Rydzyna
Rydzyna Castle (say "rih-DZIH-nah"), officially the Royal Castle in Rydzyna, is the largest Baroque castle in the Greater Poland region, set in a small town about 10 km south of Leszno in western Poland. Once home to King Stanisław Leszczy…
Hidden gemCastles
Siewierz
"Beat, steal, kill – but steer clear of Siewierz": this old Polish saying comes from the harsh court that sat in this castle. For almost 350 years the ruins on the Czarna Przemsza river were the capital of an unusual mini-state, the Duchy…
Hidden gemCastles
Strzelce Opolskie
Empty windows, ivy on the walls and a pale tower above the park — this is how the former seat of the dukes of Strzelce, and later of the Colonna and Renard counts, has looked since 21 January 1945. Strzelce Opolskie Castle burned down toge…
Hidden gemCastles
Toszek
Above the entrance to Toszek Castle you can still read the Latin inscription CASPAR COMES COLONNA 1666, the last project of a count who died that same year. The castle on a limestone hill above the town has been a wooden stronghold, a seat…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Wadowice
On the south wall of the basilica is a sundial with the motto "Czas ucieka, wieczność czeka" — "Time flies, eternity awaits". According to the parish, it can be seen from the windows of the Wojtyła family's former flat. The Basilica of the…
Hidden gemMountains & peaks
Zakopane
Beskid (2,012 m) is the easternmost peak on the main ridge of the Western Tatras and one of the easiest 2,000-metre summits to reach in Poland. A short ridge walk separates it from the top station of the Kasprowy Wierch cable car, and from…
Hidden gemNature
Witów
The Chochołowska Valley is the largest and longest valley in the Polish Tatras: about 10 km long and covering more than 35 km². In spring its meadows turn purple with crocuses, in summer sheep still graze here and you can taste fresh sheep…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Opatów
Forty-one figures weep at the news of the chancellor's death: King Sigismund the Old, a grand hetman, a bishop, courtiers, musicians — even greyhounds and falcons. This is the Opatów Lament, a Renaissance bronze relief and one of the fines…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Żywiec
According to the 18th-century chronicler Andrzej Komoniecki, the Renaissance tower of Żywiec's parish church was taller than the towers of St Mary's Basilica in Kraków. Today it stands 60 metres high, and since 2019 visitors can climb to i…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Prudnik
In 1735 Prudnik's new church was almost finished — the Blessed Sacrament was already kept there — when a fire in the town destroyed it along with the freshly painted frescoes by Felix Anton Scheffler. The builder Johann Innozenz Töpper reb…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Łódź
The domed church with four corner turrets on the corner of Plac Wolności (Liberty Square) and Piotrkowska Street was for more than half a century the church of Łódź's Lutherans — Holy Trinity Church. Since 1945 it has served Catholics as t…
Hidden gemMountains & peaks
Izby
Lackowa (997 m) is the highest peak in the Polish part of the Low Beskids and one of the summits of the Crown of Polish Mountains. From a distance it looks like a gentle wooded dome, yet from the west it is climbed by one of the steepest m…
Hidden gemMuseums
Kraków
In Kraków's Kazimierz district, at ul. św. Wawrzyńca 15, stands a group of halls that since the late 19th century has housed horse-drawn trams, narrow-gauge electric trams and buses in turn. The museum calls it unique in Europe — an almost…
Hidden gemMuseums
Gniezno
The Museum of the Origins of the Polish State in Gniezno (say "GNYEZ-no") is the best place to understand why this small city in western Poland is called the country's first capital. Archaeological finds, Romanesque art and 19th-century hi…
Hidden gemMountains & peaks
Koniaków
Rain falling on Ochodzita can end up in three different rivers: the Soła and the Vistula, the Olza and the Oder, or via the Váh in the Danube. This treeless, dome-shaped hill, 895 metres high, rises above the village of Koniaków right on t…
Hidden gemPalaces
Łódź
Three female figures stand on top of the façade at 104 Piotrkowska Street: Liberty, Industry and Commerce. This is how Juliusz Heinzel, known as the "king of wool" and owner of the largest woollen goods factory in the Kingdom of Poland, pr…
Hidden gemLandscape parks
gmina Czarna Dąbrówka
In the early 20th century engineers shortened the Słupia: a 13-kilometre canal through Lake Głębokie cuts off a 26-kilometre bend of the river and gives the power station at Gałąźnia Mała a head of 38.5 metres. The Słupia Valley Landscape…
Hidden gemLandscape parks
Iława
Lake Jeziorak stretches for 27.5 kilometres, making it the longest lake in Poland — and in 1993 the Iława Lake District Landscape Park was created around it. The lake has 17 islands, and cormorants, herons and white-tailed eagles nest in t…