Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
Koronowo
At 72 metres long, the brick basilica above the Brda river has shaped Koronowo's skyline for more than seven centuries. It was raised by Cistercian monks who moved their abbey here from nearby Byszewo at the end of the 13th century, and it…
Churches & monasteries
Stara Wieś
Right next to Brzozów stands a late-baroque basilica with twin towers that looks as if it had been moved from a big city. Built by the Pauline Fathers and run by the Jesuits since the 19th century, it is one of the most important Marian sh…
Churches & monasteries
Leżajsk
The Basilica of the Annunciation in Leżajsk (say "LEH-zhysk") is the church of a fortified Bernardine (Franciscan) monastery in southeastern Poland and one of the region's most important Marian shrines. Built in the early 17th century on t…
Palaces
Warszawa
The name comes from the Italian "belvedere", a beautiful view: the palace stands on the highest stretch of the Warsaw escarpment, above Łazienki Park. Grand Duke Konstantin lived at Belweder, insurgents stormed it on the November Night of…
Mountains & peaks
Klimkówka
The name "Beskid Gorlicki" was coined by pre-war hikers, for whom the town of Gorlice was the main gateway to the mountains between Krynica and Dukla. Geographers no longer use it, but the landscape hasn't changed: this is the western part…
Nature
Olsztyn
From a distance, this treeless rocky ridge topped by a cross looks like a miniature of Giewont, the famous peak in the Tatra Mountains, and that's exactly what hikers call it: Little Giewont. Biakło, near Olsztyn just outside Częstochowa,…
Nature
Goniądz
Goniądz stands on a high escarpment, and below it lies the Biebrza valley – one of the largest wetlands in Central Europe. Walk down from the market square to the river and onto the bridge, and you see meanders, reed beds and meadows stret…
Landscape parks
Kraków
Bielany-Tyniec Landscape Park (Bielańsko-Tyniecki Park Krajobrazowy, roughly "byeh-LAHN-skoh ti-NYETS-kee PAHRK krah-yo-brah-ZOH-vee") is a green belt along the Vistula in western Kraków, combining the Benedictine abbey in Tyniec, the Cama…
Amusement parks
Kasina Wielka
On the slopes of Śnieżnica (1,006 m) in the Island Beskids, an hour's drive from Kraków, bikes ride up on a six-seater chairlift and come down four trails ranging from smooth flow to black downhill. Bike Park Kasina is the summer side of t…
Museums
Biskupin
The Archaeological Museum in Biskupin (say "bis-KOO-peen") is Poland's most famous archaeological open-air museum: a life-size reconstruction of a fortified lakeside settlement built around 2,700 years ago, alongside an early medieval vill…
Museums
Bóbrka
The Ignacy Łukasiewicz Museum of the Oil and Gas Industry in Bóbrka (pronounced roughly "BOOB-rka") sits on the grounds of an oil field founded in 1854 – the oldest oil mine in the world that is still in operation. In a forest near Krosno…
Old towns & squares
Kraków
The Kraków Christmas Market 2026 opens on the Main Market Square on 27 November 2026 and runs until 6 January 2027. Wooden stalls go up between the Cloth Hall, St Mary's Basilica and the Mickiewicz Monument, and Galician mulled wine is pou…
Nature
Zabierzów
The Bolechowice Gate is a pair of limestone rocks 25–30 m high that form a natural entrance to the Bolechowicka Valley, about 15 km from Kraków. On the east side rises the Abazy Pillar (Filar Abazego), on the west the Penitents' Pillar (Fi…
Landmarks
Kraków
St. Florian's Gate in Kraków (Polish: Brama Floriańska, "BRAH-mah flo-RYAN-skah") is the medieval city gate and tower that marks the northern entrance to the Old Town at the top of Floriańska Street. Together with a surviving stretch of th…
Landmarks
Lublin
The Grodzka Gate in Lublin, also known as the Jewish Gate, once linked the Christian Old Town with the Jewish quarter at the foot of the castle. Today it houses the Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre Centre, one of Poland's most respected memory in…
Landmarks
Lublin
The Kraków Gate (Brama Krakowska) is the landmark everyone associates with Lublin: a 14th-century Gothic city gate topped with a Baroque dome, standing where the main street, Krakowskie Przedmieście, meets the Old Town. Inside is the Museu…
Landmarks
Szydłów
The Kraków Gate in Szydłów ("SHID-woof") is the only one of the town's three medieval gates still standing, and the emblem of a small town often called the "Polish Carcassonne." This 14th-century stone gate tower, crowned by a Renaissance…
Fortifications
Wieluń
The tower that now serves as Wieluń's town-hall tower began life as a medieval town gate guarding the road to Kraków. The Kraków Gate (Brama Krakowska) is the only surviving gate of Wieluń's old walls, and since 1842 it has been part of a…
Landmarks
Malbork
Of the entire ring of Malbork's medieval town walls, only two gates survive: St Mary's Gate and the Potters' Gate. Both are Gothic towers from the second half of the 14th century that came through sieges, fires, the French and the fighting…
Fortifications
Byczyna
The German Gate, Byczyna's western gate tower, is the first thing you see when you enter the old town from national road 11. The lower part of the tower is built of rubble stone, the upper part of brick, and its name comes from the fact th…
Fortifications
Niemodlin
In the forest near Niemodlin two brick piers with arched openings stand on their own, as if someone forgot the rest of the building. This is the Niemodlin Gate, also called the Black Gate – one of five gates of the former deer park of the…
Fortifications
Ziębice
A tall, pale tower with a pointed brick cone rising above its battlements like a sharp cap – after the basilica, this is the most recognisable sight in Ziębice. The Paczków Gate dates from 1491 and is the only surviving gate of the medieva…
Fortifications
Byczyna
According to local historians, it was beneath this gate in 1588 that Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg – a claimant to the Polish throne defeated by Hetman Jan Zamoyski – surrendered. Byczyna's eastern gate tower, known as the Polish Gate, s…
Landmarks
Szczecin
The Harbour Gate (Brama Portowa) is a Baroque fortress gate that now stands alone in the middle of one of Szczecin's busiest squares. The city's official tourism portal calls it the most impressive Baroque fortress gate in West Pomerania.…