Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
Chrzanów
At 5 Mickiewicza Street in Chrzanów stands the parish church of St Nicholas – a church whose Gothic chancel dates back to the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, while the rest of the building is the result of a rebuilding in 1912–1914. I…
Churches & monasteries
Wadowice
On the floor of St Peter the Apostle Church in Wadowice, red tiles trace the outline of St Peter's Square in Rome – including the spot where John Paul II was shot on 13 May 1981. The church is a votive offering of thanks for Karol Wojtyła'…
Churches & monasteries
Tylicz
Tylicz's wooden church is as old as the town's present name. In 1612 Bishop Piotr Tylicki of Kraków granted the settlement town rights again, named it after himself and funded this church. Inside are Rococo altars, a Baroque organ and wall…
Churches & monasteries
Wieliczka
St. Sebastian's Church in Wieliczka (say "vyeh-LEECH-kah") is a 16th-century larchwood church hidden among old trees on Babina hill, on the southeastern edge of the town famous for its salt mine. Plain on the outside, it surprises inside w…
Churches & monasteries
Łapsze Niżne
Below the parapet of the church tower in Frydman, wooden beams stick out of the wall – all that is left of a watch gallery that burned down in the 18th century. The church dates from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries and is considere…
Churches & monasteries
Modlnica
In 1553 the nobleman Jakub Śladkowski of Zabierzów built a new wooden church in Modlnica, and in return received the annual tithes, the crops from the parish fields and – according to the parish chronicle – the right to use the parish prie…
Churches & monasteries
Wolbrom
On the corner of Mariacka and Kościuszki streets in Wolbrom stands a small larch-wood church that for centuries served the poor and sick of an almshouse on the edge of town. It was built in 1638 under the will of a priest who had died the…
Churches & monasteries
Skała
St Nicholas Church in Skała (pronounced "SKAH-wah") is the historic parish church of a small town about 25 km north of Kraków, on the doorstep of Ojców National Park. Behind its Baroque appearance stand 14th-century Gothic walls, and besid…
Churches & monasteries
Nowy Wiśnicz
The twin-towered façade of the Church of the Assumption dominates the eastern side of the market square in Nowy Wiśnicz, even though the church itself is set back as much as 100 m from the building line. Built around 1620, it is the parish…
Churches & monasteries
Oświęcim
The oldest church in Oświęcim stands just north of the market square, and its tall clock tower defines the Old Town skyline – it is clearly visible, for example, as you approach the bridge from the west. The Church of the Assumption is whe…
Churches & monasteries
Babice
In the centre of Babice, less than a kilometre from Lipowiec Castle, stands a pale church with a tall front tower. Its parish was founded as early as 1337, and the present building hides layers from several periods: a medieval chancel, a B…
Churches & monasteries
Limanowa
In the tower of the wooden church in Łososina Górna hangs the bell "Andrzej", cast in 1520, the same age as the famous Zygmunt bell in Kraków's Wawel Cathedral. It survived both world wars, as neither the Austrians nor the Germans took it…
Mountains & peaks
Tylmanowa
The summit of Koziarz is wooded, and the trail even bypasses it – yet it is one of the best viewpoints in the Beskid Sądecki. Since 2015 an over 20-metre wooden tower with an enclosed staircase has stood on the top (943 m), so even people…
Other
Kraków
In 1898 Antoni Mateczny was digging a well for his new house at the end of Kalwaryjska Street. Late in the day water with a strong, sulphurous smell gushed out – the workers were alarmed, but Mateczny, a regular visitor to Karlsbad, immedi…
Old towns & squares
Zakopane
Krupówki is the backbone of Zakopane: more than a kilometre of pedestrian street climbing steadily uphill from the junction with Nowotarska and Kościeliska streets to ul. Zamoyskiego and al. 3 Maja. Cars – and even bicycles – are banned. I…
Other
Zakopane
Horse-drawn sleighs, flaming torches in the dark and, at the end of the route, a bonfire, grilled sausages and highland music. The kulig is one of Poland's oldest winter pastimes, and in and around Zakopane plenty of local operators run th…
Monuments & mounds
Kraków
One evening in 1916 Hugo Steinhaus was strolling through Kraków's Planty park when he suddenly overheard the words "Lebesgue integral". Intrigued, he approached two young men discussing mathematics – and so discovered Stefan Banach, the fu…
Viewpoints
Stary Sącz
Leśne Molo (say "LESH-neh MOH-loh", literally "Forest Pier") is a free treetop walkway on Miejska Góra, a wooded 421-meter hill right above the small town of Stary Sącz in southern Poland. The wooden boardwalk runs for more than 200 meters…
Mountains & peaks
Wiśniowa
Lubomir (904 m, precisely 903.6 m) is the highest peak of the Lubomir and Łysina range and one of the Crown of Polish Mountains. The forested summit offers no panorama, but it has something rare in the Beskids: an astronomical observatory.…
Mountains & peaks
Rabka-Zdrój
Maciejowa (837 m) is one of the first summits on the red Main Beskid Trail as you walk from the spa town of Rabka-Zdrój into the Gorce Mountains, just after Tatarów. From the open meadow on the ridge you can see Babia Góra, the Polica rang…
Viewpoints
Maków Podhalański
Fields and meadows run almost to the summit here, so from the edge of the woods on Makowska Góra you can see Babia Góra, the Little Beskids and the hills rolling towards Kraków all at once. It is a modest hill right above the small town of…
Landmarks
Kraków
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…
Other
Czchów
The Lesser Poland Wine Route links vineyards scattered across the region and shows that wine from Małopolska is no longer a curiosity. According to the organiser, the route now brings together 65 vineyards, while the region as a whole has…
Museums
Nowy Sącz
The Galician Town in Nowy Sącz (Miasteczko Galicyjskie; say NOH-vee SONCH) is an open-air museum that recreates a small market town of Austrian-ruled Galicia around 1900, complete with a cobbled square, a town hall, timber houses and craft…