Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Nature
Jerzmanowice
Będkowska Valley is 7–8 km long and one of the longest valleys of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The Będkówka stream runs along its floor beneath limestone crags, and in the middle rises Sokolica – the highest rock of the Jura, with a face…
Nature
Chrosna
Twenty years ago the rocks of this valley had almost vanished under bushes and trees. After the 1950s the Brzoskwinka Valley became overgrown and stopped attracting visitors, until the people of Chrosna cleared the limestone crags and mark…
Nature
Trzyciąż
The Dłubnia is a small river that for centuries turned the wheels of mills, forges, fulling mills and paper mills, and today runs through one of the quietest corners of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. Its valley, from the springs in Jangrot…
Nature
Wierzchowie
The Kluczwoda Valley (pronounced roughly "klooch-VO-dah"), also called the Wierzchówka Valley, is one of the eight "Kraków Valleys" – a winding wooded gorge lined with white limestone crags, the scant ruins of a medieval castle and the lon…
Nature
Zabierzów
The Kobylańska Valley is a gorge some 4 km long, lined with limestone crags, that begins at the edge of the village of Kobylany, about 20 km north-west of Kraków. In its lower part there are few trees, so the rocks are everywhere you look…
Nature
Ojców
The Sąspowska Valley (say "sonce-POV-skah") is the second-largest valley in Ojców National Park (say "OY-tsoof"), Poland's smallest national park, about 25 km (15 miles) north of Kraków. Almost undeveloped, with meadows on the valley floor…
Nature
Zakopane
The Strążyska Valley (Dolina Strążyska, stron-ZHIS-kah) is the classic easy hike from Zakopane and one of the best things to do in Zakopane if you want to step into Tatra National Park without serious mountain gear or experience. A wide fo…
Nature
Jerzmanowice
Less than 30 km from Kraków, the Szklarka stream cuts a ravine through the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, overlooked by limestone crags topped with a cross, the remains of an old nickel mine and half-wild beech woods. Dolina Szklarki is one of…
Landscape parks
Jerzmanowice
The Kraków Valleys Landscape Park (Dolinki Krakowskie, roughly "doh-LEEN-kee krah-KOV-skyeh") is a patchwork of limestone valleys, gorges and rock towers that begins right at Kraków's northwestern city limits. Established in 1981, it stret…
Other
Kraków
The horse-drawn carriages on the Main Market Square are one of Kraków's best-known sights: two-horse rigs wait at the rank and take passengers around the Old Town, most often towards Wawel. The service is run by many private operators, not…
Viewpoints
Krynica-Zdrój
Góra Parkowa (742 m) rises right above the promenade of Krynica-Zdrój, and since 1937 Poland's first funicular railway has run to its summit. Remarkably, it still uses the same original interwar cars. At the top you will find the spa park,…
Caves
Ojców
King Łokietek's Cave (Jaskinia Łokietka, roughly "yahs-KEEN-yah wo-KYET-kah") is the largest known cave in Ojców National Park, a small and beautiful protected area of limestone valleys about 25 km north of Kraków. A guided walk leads thro…
Caves
Wierzchowie
Wierzchowska Górna Cave (say "vyeh-HOV-skah GOOR-nah") in the village of Wierzchowie is Poland's longest show cave, about 15 km (9 miles) northwest of Kraków in the Kraków Valleys Landscape Park. A lit, guided route of about 700 m (2,300 f…
Churches & monasteries
Wadowice
The parish of Barwałd is one of the oldest in the Archdiocese of Kraków – first recorded in 1326, it celebrates its 700th anniversary in 2026. Its wooden Church of St Erasmus, consecrated in 1782, has an unusual layout: the tower stands on…
Churches & monasteries
Binarowa
In Binarowa it is hard to find a patch of wall without paint: the ceilings are covered in Gothic plant ornament, the walls in Baroque picture cycles, and even the confessionals are painted. This log church from around 1500 was added to the…
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…
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…
Technical monuments
Szczucin
The Road Museum in Szczucin (roughly "SHCHOO-cheen") is one of the most unusual free things to do in southern Poland: an open-air collection of steam rollers, snowplows and road-building machines, plus a walking trail that takes you throug…
Museums
Kraków
At the Garden of Experiences you learn physics not from a blackboard but on a swing, at a giant Newton's cradle or while pushing a heavy crate. Named after science-fiction writer Stanisław Lem, the park covers 6 hectares of the Polish Airm…
Ski resorts
Białka Tatrzańska
The slope at Bania in Białka Tatrzańska has its own chapter in Polish skiing history: Poland's first slope with artificial snowmaking opened here in 1994. Today the resort runs under the name Bania Ski & Fun – a short four-seater chairlift…
Mountains & peaks
Szczawnica
Palenica (say "pah-leh-NEE-tsah") is a 722-meter (2,369 ft) hill in the Little Pieniny range right above Szczawnica, a historic spa town in southern Poland. A four-seat chairlift whisks you from the town center to the top in under five min…
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…
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…