Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Ski resorts
Ustrzyki Dolne
The Gromadzyń Ski Station sits on the northern slope of Mount Gromadzyń (655 m above sea level), right above Ustrzyki Dolne – the town centre is about 1.7 km away. It is one of the town's best-known attractions and one of a handful of smal…
Ski resorts
Zakopane
Polana Szymoszkowa (poh-LAH-nah shih-mosh-KOH-vah) is a ski area on the south slope of Gubałówka hill in Zakopane, Poland's best-known mountain town, and it is famous for its views: from the slopes you look straight at the High Tatras and…
Ski resorts
Wisła
Soszów Ski Area in Wisła (say "SO-shoof" and "VEE-swah") sits in the Jawornik valley on the slopes of Soszów Wielki (886 m / 2,907 ft) in the Silesian Beskids, now branded as Wisła Soszów Ski&Bike Arena. It is one of the most popular ski h…
Ski resorts
Wierchomla Mała
Wierchomla Ski Station lies in Wierchomla Mała, in a side valley between Piwniczna-Zdrój and Muszyna, within Poprad Landscape Park. Its slopes run between 590 and 896 m above sea level, and its signature lift is a 1,600 m four-seat chairli…
Ski resorts
Witów
From the top station of the chairlift in Witów you get a full view of Giewont, the Czerwone Wierchy ridge and the whole of the Western Tatras, and the way down is a wide, gentle slope without the crowds of Zakopane. Witów-Ski is a family s…
Other
Moszna
Three years running – in 2009, 2010 and 2011 – the Velká Pardubická, Europe's biggest steeplechase, was won by the same horse: Tiumen, ridden by Josef Váňa. He was born at the stud in Moszna, which since 1948 has occupied the historic stab…
Zoos
Poznań
Poznań's zoo began as a birthday joke. In 1871 the regulars of a restaurant by the railway station, members of a skittles club, decided to celebrate their president's fiftieth birthday by giving him… animals. From a goat, a sheep, a peacoc…
Museums
gmina Niegowa
The Old Mill – Museum of Old Crafts (Stary Młyn) in Żarki ("ZHAR-kee") is a hands-on museum set in a nearly century-old electric mill in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, a limestone region of southern Poland known for its ruined castles. Ins…
Lakes
Siemianowice Śląskie
Rzęsa is the largest pond in Siemianowice Śląskie and the heart of the Bażantarnia nature and recreation area on the edge of town. Water has filled a former sand pit here, and today the pools are ringed by walking and cycling paths, a brin…
Thermal baths & water parks
Wręcza
Suntago Park of Poland in Wręcza (VREN-chah), near the town of Mszczonów, is Poland's largest indoor water park and one of the biggest in Europe, about 50–60 km (35 miles) southwest of Warsaw. Hundreds of real palm trees grow under a vast…
Other
Łódź
It all started with a refusal: the committee of Łódź's Walk of Fame would not give a star to Miś Uszatek (Floppy-Eared Teddy) because – as its chairman Jan Machulski reportedly put it – it was a waste of money on "some teddy bear". Instead…
Technical monuments
Zabrze
Queen Louise Adit (Sztolnia Królowa Luiza, roughly "SHTOL-nyah kroo-LOH-vah loo-EE-zah") in Zabrze is the underground heart of Poland's Coal Mining Museum: more than two centuries of mine workings, giant machines shown in motion and, best…
Technical monuments
Złoty Stok
In the Ochre Adit (Sztolnia Ochrowa) the walls are the colour of rust, mustard and orange. This is natural ochre – a pigment formed from iron compounds, the same one used for centuries in paints and cosmetics. The passage is about 130 metr…
Technical monuments
Kowary
Sztolnie Kowary (SHTOL-nyeh ko-VAH-rih, "the Kowary Adits") is an underground tour through the former Liczyrzepa uranium mine in Kowary, a small town at the foot of Poland's Giant Mountains. On a one-hour guided walk you follow tunnels whe…
Nature
Mieleszyn
In the middle of the fields at Sokolniki near Gniezno lies a boulder that, according to local legend, was meant to crush a church under construction. The Mieleszyn municipality calls it the area's greatest curiosity: Tarcza Olbrzyma – the…
Zoos
Zakopane
Below the Wielka Krokiew ski jump, at ul. Piłsudskiego 38, you can see an Alpine marmot up close without setting foot on a trail. The Tatra Educational Park is a 1.5-hectare enclosure home to 14 species of animals, from red deer and fallow…
Thermal baths & water parks
Białka Tatrzańska
Terma Bania in Białka Tatrzańska (roughly "BYAW-kah tah-TZHAN-skah") is one of the busiest thermal water parks in the Polish Tatra foothills. It sits at the foot of the Kotelnica Białczańska ski slopes and offers 15 pools, more than 300 m…
Thermal baths & water parks
Bukowina Tatrzańska
The water you swim in at Bukowina Tatrzańska fell as rain on the forested lower slopes of the Tatras around 10,000 years ago. For millennia it seeped through the rock until a borehole 2,400 m deep brought it to the surface at 67°C. Termy B…
Thermal baths & water parks
Poznań
Termy Maltańskie in Poznań (roughly TER-mih mahl-TAHN-skyeh, POZ-nahn) is one of Poland's largest swimming complexes: a water park, a sauna area and Olympic-standard sports pools on the north shore of Lake Malta. Some pools are fed with ge…
Thermal baths & water parks
Uniejów
Termy Uniejów (Uniejów Thermal Baths; say "oo-NYEH-yoof") is a year-round thermal pool complex on the Warta River in the small town of Uniejów, in central Poland. In 2012 Uniejów was granted official spa-resort status thanks to its geother…
Thermal baths & water parks
Zakopane
Termy Zakopiańskie (roughly "TER-mi zah-ko-PYAN-skyeh"), formerly known as Aqua Park Zakopane, is the thermal water park inside Zakopane itself, Poland's best-known mountain resort. It sits on Jagiellońska Street at the foot of Antałówka h…
Other
Międzybrodzie Żywieckie
The summit of Mount Żar (761 m) in the Beskid Mały range has a power-station reservoir, gliders and paragliders taking off, and, for children, the main event: an all-year toboggan run. A ride on it is the highlight of a family trip to the…
Other
Podzamcze
A ride down a twisting chute with a view of the ruins of Ogrodzieniec, one of the best-known castles of the Polish Jura – that, in short, is the toboggan run in Podzamcze. It is part of Park Ogrodzieniec, a family amusement complex at the…
Technical monuments
Nowa Ruda
Coal was mined in Nowa Ruda earlier than anywhere else in what is now Poland – the first records date from 1434. The last miners came to the surface in 1995, but the surviving Lech adit – the last part of the mine – has been open to touris…