Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Kraków
The Camaldolese Hermitage at Bielany (Polish: Klasztor na Bielanach, roughly "KLAHSH-tor nah byeh-LAH-nakh") is a Baroque monastery on Silver Mountain, rising above the Vistula valley at the edge of Wolski Forest on Kraków's western outski…
Hidden gemCaves
Kraków
The Dragon's Den (Polish: Smocza Jama, roughly "SMOH-chah YAH-mah") is a limestone cave inside Wawel Hill in Kraków, the legendary lair of the Wawel Dragon. A short, atmospheric route takes you from the castle grounds down a spiral stairca…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Kraków
Mogiła Abbey (say "mo-GHEE-wah") is a Cistercian monastery in Kraków's Nowa Huta district – and the oldest landmark of a neighborhood better known for Stalin-era architecture. Monks have lived here without interruption since 1222. Its basi…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Kraków
Most visitors in St Mary's Square look up at the towers of St Mary's Basilica — and walk straight past the smaller church on the other side of the square. Yet St Barbara's holds a stone Pietà from the late 14th century, a carved Garden of…
Hidden gemAmusement parks
Zator
133 rides and shows, 20 roller coasters and a coaster that, when it opened, was the tallest and fastest hyper coaster in Europe. Energylandia in Zator, opened on 14 July 2014, is the largest amusement park in Poland and welcomed around 2 m…
Hidden gemCastles
Rabsztyn
Three Kraków councillors sat in this castle's dungeon until their city paid compensation for the killing of its lord. Rabsztyn Castle, whose name comes from the German Rabenstein, "Raven Rock", stands on a limestone hill (427.5 m above sea…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Wadowice
On the south wall of the basilica is a sundial with the motto "Czas ucieka, wieczność czeka" — "Time flies, eternity awaits". According to the parish, it can be seen from the windows of the Wojtyła family's former flat. The Basilica of the…
Hidden gemMuseums
Kraków
In Kraków's Kazimierz district, at ul. św. Wawrzyńca 15, stands a group of halls that since the late 19th century has housed horse-drawn trams, narrow-gauge electric trams and buses in turn. The museum calls it unique in Europe — an almost…
Hidden gemCastles
Stary Wiśnicz
Wiśnicz Castle (say "VEESH-neech") is a Baroque hilltop residence of the powerful Lubomirski family, ringed by star-shaped bastion fortifications, near the town of Nowy Wiśnicz about 50 km southeast of Kraków. Run by the Museum of the Wiśn…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Bochnia
The wall paintings in St Kinga's Chapel were designed by Jan Matejko, Poland's great history painter, and the rebuilding of the church after the fire of 1655 was funded by King John Casimir in this salt-mining town. The Basilica of St Nich…
Hidden gemPalaces
Kraków
Krzysztofory Palace, on the corner of the Main Market Square and ul. Szczepańska, is the headquarters of the Museum of Kraków and one of the best places to get to grips with the city's history in a single afternoon. It takes its name from…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Ludźmierz
During the coronation in 1963, the sceptre slipped from the hand of the statue of the Virgin Mary and was caught by a young bishop, Karol Wojtyła. Years later many saw this as a sign of his election as pope. Ludźmierz, the oldest parish in…
Hidden gemCastles
Dobczyce
The dam of Lake Dobczyce literally leans against the castle hill, so from the walls of this royal fortress you look at medieval stonework and at the waters of a reservoir created by damming the Raba river at the same time. This is where th…
Hidden gemMountains & peaks
Sucha Beskidzka
Sucha Beskidzka Castle is nicknamed "Little Wawel" because its arcaded courtyard resembles the royal castle in Kraków. Over four centuries this Renaissance residence at the foot of Mount Jasień passed through several noble families, and in…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Nowy Sącz
At the base of the north tower is a door on which four town trumpeters signed their names in 1617 – today the inscription is known mainly from a drawing by the painter Stanisław Wyspiański. The Basilica of St Margaret in Nowy Sącz is the t…
Hidden gemMuseums
Kraków
Jan Matejko, Poland's great painter of national history, bought this manor house in 1876 with money from the sale of his painting "Batory at Pskov" – mainly so that his often sickly children could breathe country air. In Krzesławice, now p…
Hidden gemCaves
Ojców
In 2018 archaeologists found finger bones of a Neanderthal child in Ciemna Cave ("Dark Cave") dating back about 115,000 years – the oldest known human remains in Poland. The cave on Koronna Hill in Ojców National Park has the largest chamb…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Szczyrzyc
The Cistercians of Szczyrzyc have been praying, farming and – with interruptions – brewing beer for nearly eight centuries. Szczyrzyc Abbey is the only monastery of the order on Polish soil that has operated without a break since the Middl…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Kraków
The entire nave vault springs from a single column in the middle of the church and spreads overhead like the crown of a tree. The Church of the Holy Cross, next to the Słowacki Theatre, is one of the purest Gothic buildings in Kraków, and…
Hidden gemMuseums
Chabówka
At Chabówka near Rabka, more than 100 historic railway vehicles stand on the tracks, and some of them still run. It is the largest collection of heritage rolling stock in Poland and one of the few places where you don't just look at steam…
Churches & monasteries
Olkusz
St. Andrew's Basilica in Olkusz (say "OL-koosh") is the Gothic parish church of Poland's old "Silver Town," standing at the corner of the Market Square about 40 km (25 miles) northwest of Kraków. Two treasures make it worth a detour: the l…
Museums
Wadowice
The John Paul II Family Home in Wadowice (say "vah-doh-VEE-tseh") is a biographical museum in the house where Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II, was born on May 18, 1920. At its heart is the reconstructed apartment of the Wojtyła…
Caves
Jerzmanowice
Nietoperzowa Cave (pronounced "nyeh-toh-peh-ZHOH-vah," Polish for "Bat Cave") in Jerzmanowice is one of the best-known show caves of the Polish Jura, the limestone upland just northwest of Kraków. A guided walk takes you through spacious,…
Churches & monasteries
Ojców
The wooden Chapel on the Water ("Na Wodzie"), dedicated to St Joseph the Worker, straddles the Prądnik stream on concrete supports set into both banks, beneath white limestone crags known as the Prałatki. It is one of the most photographed…