Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Museums
Babice
At the foot of the hill with the ruins of Lipowiec Castle stands a village that nobody built in one place. Cottages, granaries, a smithy, a mill and a wooden church were brought here from villages and small towns of western Lesser Poland t…
Gardens
Szczawnica
Park Górny – the Upper Park – is Szczawnica's oldest spa garden, laid out from 1824, when Jan Kutscher began creating it. It occupies a rise on the east side of ul. Zdrojowa and Dietl Square, and among its trees stand a Gothic Revival spa…
Amusement parks
Zator
In Zator the Greek gods stand on water: figures of Zeus, Athena and Daedalus with Icarus are set on platforms in a pond, and the best way to see them is from the deck of a water tram. The Mythology Park is part of the Zatorland complex, wh…
Amusement parks
Zator
The Argentinosaurus that Zatorland bills as the world's largest moving dinosaur is 35 metres long, according to the Małopolska tourist board. It is the star of the Moving Dinosaur Park in Zator – the oldest part of the Zatorland complex, o…
Thermal baths & water parks
Kraków
The Kraków Water Park (Park Wodny, say "PARK VOD-nee") is the city's big indoor aquapark, open since 2000 in the Mistrzejowice district, about 2.5 km north of the Main Market Square. Under a striking timber roof you'll find pools, a lazy r…
Nature
Tylicz
Tylicz sits on deposits of naturally carbonated mineral water, and you can taste several springs for free, straight from the pipe. The best known is Bradowiec, called the Spring of Love – a wooden gazebo by a stream on the road to Powroźni…
Other
Krynica-Zdrój
The Main Pump Room in Krynica-Zdrój (KRIH-nee-tsah ZDROOY) is a glass-walled modernist pavilion on the spa town's promenade where visitors have been drinking mineral water straight from the taps since 1971. It is the social heart of one of…
Gardens
Kraków
Planty Park in Kraków (Polish: Planty, "PLAHN-ti") is the historic green ring, roughly 4 km (2.5 miles) long, that wraps around the city's Old Town. It was laid out where the medieval walls and moat once stood, and today it is the most ple…
Viewpoints
Stary Sącz
The spiral viewing platform on top of Dzielnica hill (539 m) in Wola Krogulecka has a shape that gave it its popular name — the "Snail" (Ślimak). The walkway curves upward above the slope, and from the top you look down on the Poprad valle…
Cities & towns
Kraków
Podgórze (say "pod-GOO-zheh") and its Market Square are the heart of a former independent town on the south bank of the Vistula, now one of Kraków's most rewarding districts to explore on foot. Here you'll find a triangular square crowned…
Museums
Kraków
The Rynek Underground (Podziemia Rynku, "pod-ZHEM-ya RIH-neh-koo") in Kraków is a museum hidden beneath the city's Main Market Square, one of the largest medieval squares in Europe. Below the cobbles around the Cloth Hall, archaeologists u…
Museums
Olkusz
A few metres below the paving of Olkusz Market Square lie the cellars of a town hall that has not stood above ground for two hundred years. Underground Olkusz (Podziemny Olkusz) is a pair of underground exhibitions – one beneath the remain…
Nature
Brzegi
Włosienica is a small clearing on the floor of the Rybi Potok Valley at around 1,315 m above sea level, right beside the Oswald Balzer Road. For hikers heading to Morskie Oko it is the last stop before the lake: only about 1.5 km of walkin…
Museums
Kraków
The Polonia Wax Museum at ul. Floriańska 32, on the route between the Main Market Square and St Florian's Gate, displays wax figures of politicians, clergy, athletes, actors and fictional characters. It has earned an unusual reputation: ma…
Other
Szczawnica
Roughly 1,800 metres of promenade follow the Grajcarek stream from the lower station of the Palenica chairlift towards the Dunajec valley, and the town council calls it one of the longest promenades in Poland. It is the easiest way to get…
Mountains & peaks
Słopnice
At 757.5 m, the road from Słopnice to Zalesie crosses a treeless saddle between Cichoń (929 m) and Zapowiednica (763 m). Słopnice Pass is open over a long stretch and has no buildings, which makes it one of the most accessible viewpoints i…
Other
Ojców
In the heart of Ojców National Park, by the Jonaszówka viewpoint, ponds holding brown trout have been in use since 1935. A few years ago they were due to be filled in – today they form a trout farm and grill garden serving trout smoked ove…
Other
Nowy Targ
Pensjonat Pstrąg in Łopuszna, on the road from Nowy Targ to Krościenko, is the place to go if you want fresh fish in the Podhale region rather than smoked sheep's cheese. The restaurant's speciality is trout from its own farm – the owners…
Churches & monasteries
Skała
The Hermitage of Blessed Salomea in Grodzisko (roughly "groh-JEES-koh") is a small Baroque hilltop sanctuary in Ojców National Park, about 25 km (15 miles) north of Kraków. On a limestone spur above the Prądnik Valley you will find a churc…
Amusement parks
Rabka-Zdrój
Rabkoland started in 1988 as the "Alibaba" funfair on a muddy two-hectare plot in the centre of Rabka-Zdrój. Today it is a family amusement park beside the Poniczanka and Raba streams, rebuilt in 2019 and divided into six themed zones for…
Other
Sromowce Niżne
Rafting and kayaking on the Dunajec River (say "doo-NYE-ets") in the Pieniny Mountains is one of the top things to do in southern Poland, about 115 km (70 miles) south of Kraków on the Slovak border. The river cuts a winding gorge between…
Nature
Jaworki
The Biała Woda valley in Jaworki looks today like a wild, meadow-filled corner of the Little Pieniny mountains, yet until 1947 a Rusyn village stood here. After its people were deported in Operation Vistula – the forced resettlement of Ukr…
Nature
Rabsztyn
On 28 June 1947, despite an early and warm spring, the speleologist Kazimierz Kowalski found plenty of ice at the bottom of a rock shaft in Cisowa Skała – that is how Omszała Studnia (Mossy Well), one of the larger caves of today's Pazurek…
Nature
Ciężkowice
Local legend says a town once stood in the forest above the Biała river, and its inhabitants were turned to stone for their wicked ways. Instead of houses there are now sandstone rocks shaped like mushrooms, towers and pulpits, up to 14 me…