Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Museums
Kazimierz Dolny
The Celej House in Kazimierz Dolny (Kamienica Celejowska, roughly "keh-leh-YOV-skah") is a 17th-century merchant's house with one of the most lavishly carved Renaissance parapets in Poland — and, inside, a branch of the Vistula Museum devo…
Museums
Kraków
Hipolit House (Kamienica Hipolitów, pronounced roughly "kah-myeh-NEE-tsah hee-po-LEE-toof") is a small branch of the Museum of Kraków on Mariacki Square, right behind St. Mary's Basilica in the city's UNESCO-listed Old Town. Medieval cella…
Museums
Zamość
The Armenian Houses on the Great Market Square in Zamość (say "ZAH-moshch") are the most colorful row of buildings in this UNESCO-listed Renaissance town, and they are home to the Zamość Museum. Built in the 17th century for wealthy Armeni…
Churches & monasteries
Busko-Zdrój
The little neo-Gothic church on the highest point of the Spa Park in Busko-Zdrój was built practically without permission. According to local history it went up in three weeks, while a tsarist official was away, and its builder paid for it…
Churches & monasteries
Kęty
Kęty is where John Cantius was most likely born, on 24 June 1390 – professor at the Kraków Academy, saint and the town's patron. The Baroque church named after him stands near the site of his family home, and on 20 October 2024 it became a…
Churches & monasteries
Lublin
The Holy Trinity Chapel in Lublin is a Gothic royal chapel inside Lublin Castle whose walls and vaults are entirely covered with Byzantine-Ruthenian frescoes completed in 1418. A Western Gothic building painted in the style of an Orthodox…
Churches & monasteries
Zakopane
The Jaszczurówka Chapel (yash-choo-ROOF-kah), formally the Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is one of the most beautiful wooden buildings in Zakopane and a textbook example of the "Zakopane style." It was designed by Stanisław Witkiewi…
Churches & monasteries
Milówka
When the Austrian authorities requisitioned church bells for the war effort in 1916, the people of Milówka stole the large bell of St Anthony's Chapel back from the municipal office and buried it. After the war it returned to its place – a…
Churches & monasteries
Koszalin
The oak figures of the apostles in the altar of Koszalin Cathedral were carved from wood felled in the winter of 1491–1492 in forests along the Vistula near Toruń – conservators established this through tree-ring dating. For a century and…
Churches & monasteries
Opole
Opole Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, is the main church of the Opole region and the tallest building in the city: its two neo-Gothic spires rise to about 73 meters. The red-brick Gothic hall church…
Churches & monasteries
Toruń
St. John's Cathedral in Toruń, formally the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, is the largest church in the city's UNESCO-listed Old Town and the place where Nicolaus Copernicus was baptized in 1473. Bu…
Churches & monasteries
Bydgoszcz
The Cathedral of Sts. Martin and Nicholas (Katedra św. Marcina i Mikołaja) is the oldest surviving building in Bydgoszcz, Poland – a Gothic brick parish church on the Brda River, just steps from the Old Market Square. Plain on the outside,…
Churches & monasteries
Wrocław
St. Mary Magdalene's Cathedral in Wrocław is a towering Gothic brick church just off the Market Square, and the Penitents' Bridge (also called the Witches' Bridge) slung between its two towers is one of the best viewpoints in the city. Fro…
Churches & monasteries
Kalisz
St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kalisz (pronounced roughly "KAH-leesh") is the oldest church in one of Poland's oldest towns: a red-brick Gothic building founded in the 13th century and, since 1992, the cathedral of the Diocese of Kalisz. Behind…
Churches & monasteries
Białystok
Białystok Cathedral (pronounced "bee-AH-wih-stok"), formally the Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the main Catholic church of northeastern Poland and the most recognizable building in Białystok. Local…
Churches & monasteries
Bielsko-Biała
The tower of St Nicholas Cathedral is 61 m tall and has defined the skyline of Bielsko-Biała's Old Town for more than a century. The church on St Nicholas Square, just below the former ducal castle, has Gothic roots going back to 1443, yet…
Churches & monasteries
Elbląg
St. Nicholas Cathedral in Elbląg (say "EL-blonk") is a Gothic brick church whose 97-meter tower is the tallest church spire east of the Vistula River and the landmark you will see first as you approach this northern Polish city. Standing a…
Churches & monasteries
Kamień Pomorski
Kamień Pomorski Cathedral (pronounced roughly "KAH-myen po-MOR-skee"), formally the Co-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, is one of the oldest and most important churches on Poland's Baltic coast and a national Monument of History. For alm…
Churches & monasteries
Łomża
Łomża Cathedral is a textbook example of Masovian Gothic – with a few surprises. The side aisles hide crystal vaults, rare in this part of Poland; the aisles hold Renaissance tombs from the workshop of Santi Gucci; and set into the wall of…
Churches & monasteries
Łowicz
Łowicz Cathedral (say "WO-veech"), formally the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St. Nicholas, stands on the Old Market Square of a small town in central Poland and is nicknamed the "Wawel of Mazovia". It is the burial place of twe…
Churches & monasteries
Nysa
In 1619 a census of parishioners decided whether the church would stay Catholic or pass to the Protestants – the Catholics won by just three people. The Basilica of St James and St Agnes in Nysa, which locals have called the "cathedral" fo…
Churches & monasteries
Pelplin
Pelplin Cathedral (say "PEL-pleen") – the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption – is a former Cistercian abbey church and one of the largest brick Gothic churches in Poland. This small town in the Kociewie region, south of Gdańsk, hides an…
Churches & monasteries
Tarnów
Tarnów Cathedral – the Cathedral Basilica of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – is the centerpiece of Tarnów's Old Town and home to some of the finest Renaissance tomb sculpture in Central Europe. Its red-brick bulk and 72-meter tow…
Churches & monasteries
Zamość
Zamość Cathedral, formally the Cathedral of the Resurrection and St. Thomas the Apostle, is a Renaissance church founded by Jan Zamoyski and designed by Bernardo Morando, the Italian architect behind the whole town of Zamość (say "ZAH-mosh…