Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Hiking & tourist trails
Sułoszowa
The yellow-marked trail from Chrzanów to Pieskowa Skała strings together the small valleys north-west of Kraków – limestone gorges with rocks up to 100 m high. The Jurassic Valleys Trail, named after John Paul II, is about 90 km long and c…
Landmarks
Kraków
Of the roughly 12,000 manor houses that once stood within today's Poland, 2,800 survived — and according to the VisitMałopolska portal, 2,000 of those are wrecks beyond saving. The Lesser Poland Manor Houses Route (Szlak Dwory Małopolski)…
Landmarks
Chrzanów
The Renaissance Route in Lesser Poland links 21 sites that show best how 16th-century Italy reshaped the region: royal castles, a humanist's suburban villa, fortified manor houses, a town hall and chapels. The route was prepared by the Kra…
Landmarks
Zakopane
The Zakopane Style Trail is a town route linking 41 historic buildings in Zakopane, built in the style that Stanisław Witkiewicz created around 1900 as a model for a Polish national architecture. It was opened in July 2014 on the initiativ…
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
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
Wieliczka
The brine graduation tower in Wieliczka (say "vyeh-LEECH-kah") is a wooden structure shaped like a medieval fortress, standing in St. Kinga's Park right next to the Daniłowicz Shaft – the entrance to the Wieliczka Salt Mine's Tourist Route…
Hiking & tourist trails
Zalesie
Twenty-one kilometres of forest roads at 750–1,000 m above sea level circle Mogielica, the highest peak of the Beskid Wyspowy range (1,170 m). In winter this is a groomed cross-country ski trail; in summer it complements the hiking, cyclin…
Hiking & tourist trails
Krynica-Zdrój
Krynica-Zdrój has its own network of mountain bike trails: eight themed loops totalling 125 km, named after the town's mineral springs. All start from the same spot – on the promenade just below the tourist information office – and all are…
Hiking & tourist trails
Limanowa
From Limanowa, a county town in the heart of the Island Beskids (Beskid Wyspowy), ten cycling routes described by the town set off, plus three shorter rides in the Gorce Mountains. The loops range from 16 to 59 km and mostly follow paved r…
Mountains & peaks
Nowy Targ
Turbacz (say "TOOR-bach"), at 1,310 m, is the highest peak of the Gorce Mountains in southern Poland and a classic day hike above the town of Nowy Targ. Just below the summit stands a large stone mountain hut, and the meadows around it off…
Other
Kraków
Poland has been on the World Heritage List from the very start: the first list, announced in September 1978, included the Old Town of Kraków and the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Today the Polish National Commission for UNESCO counts 18 Polish site…
Amusement parks
Inwałd
On a rocky rise in Inwałd, behind a palisade of wooden logs, stands a "medieval" stronghold of about 2,500 m² – complete with towers, an armoury and a torture chamber. It is not a historic monument but a theme park opened in July 2012, now…
Museums
Kraków
A few metres below the Arcaded Courtyard lies one of the oldest stone buildings in Poland: a pre-Romanesque rotunda shaped like a four-leaf clover, dated by radiocarbon testing to around 970. Lost Wawel is an archaeological and architectur…
Nature
Jaworki
The Homole Gorge (Polish: Wąwóz Homole, say "VON-voos ho-MO-leh") is a short, spectacular limestone ravine in the village of Jaworki near Szczawnica, in the Little Pieniny Mountains of southern Poland. In about 800 meters the Kamionka stre…
Nature
Kościelisko
Kraków Gorge (Wąwóz Kraków, "VAH-voos KRAH-koof") is a narrow limestone ravine in Poland's Western Tatra Mountains, branching off the popular Kościeliska Valley near Zakopane. Its short, one-way yellow trail is a little adventure: an iron…
Other
Zakopane
Wielka Krokiew (VYEL-kah KRO-kyef, "Great Krokiew") in Zakopane is Poland's largest and most famous ski jump, and one of the top things to do in Zakopane even if you have never watched ski jumping. In January it hosts a World Cup weekend w…
Churches & monasteries
Kraków
St. Mary's Tower in Kraków (KRAH-koof), known locally as the Hejnalica (hey-nah-LEE-tsah), is the taller of the two towers of St. Mary's Basilica on the Main Market Square. At 82 m (269 ft) it dominates the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritag…
Landmarks
Kraków
The Town Hall Tower in Kraków (Polish: Wieża Ratuszowa, "VYEH-zhah rah-too-SHOH-vah") is the Gothic tower rising from the Main Market Square – the only part of the medieval town hall that survived its demolition in the 19th century. About…
Viewpoints
Ochotnica Górna
On the broad summit meadow of Magurki (1,108 m) in the Gorce Mountains stands a wooden tower from which, in clear weather, you can see not only the Tatras but also the Greater Fatra range in Slovakia. It was built in 2015, and thanks to it…
Viewpoints
Rabka-Zdrój
A wooden observation tower stands on the summit of Królewska Góra (588 m), also known as Polczakówka, on the northern edge of the spa town of Rabka-Zdrój. The hill rises only about 120 m above the Raba valley, so the walk up makes an easy…
Landmarks
Szczawnica
The Nad Zdrojami Villa, also known as the House over the Springs, stands on the eastern side of Dietl Square in the heart of spa-town Szczawnica. Since the 19th century, spa guests have been served the local carbonated waters here, right a…