Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Other
Imiołki
A steel fish 36 m long and 9 m wide stands on a grassy hill above Lake Lednica. This is the Gate of the Third Millennium, built in 1997 on the initiative of the Dominican Father Jan Góra – and walking beneath it is the climax of every Ledn…
Other
Stary Sącz
Next to the wall of the Poor Clares' convent in Stary Sącz stands a carved wooden gateway you would hardly expect in a small town in southern Poland. It is a Székely gate – the traditional gate of the Székelys (Szeklers), a Hungarian-speak…
Landmarks
Elbląg
The Market Gate in Elbląg (Brama Targowa, sometimes listed as the Market Tower) is the only surviving gate of the city's medieval walls and its best-loved symbol. The 26-meter Gothic brick tower with its clock closes the northern end of th…
Nature
Siedlec
A few dozen metres from a forest road near Złoty Potok stands a limestone outcrop pierced by an oval opening about 5 m wide and 4 m high. Twardowski's Gate (Brama Twardowskiego) is a natural rock arch in the Parkowe nature reserve, named b…
Fortifications
Opatów
Above the archway of the Warsaw Gate in Opatów a dragon holds a shield bearing the Odrowąż coat of arms – the emblem of the Szydłowiecki family, under whom Opatów flourished as a merchant town at a crossroads of trade routes. The gate is t…
Fortifications
Grodków
Grodków once had four town gates with towers. Two survive, and the Ziębice Gate, on the western side of the former ring of walls, is the one you can still walk through under a Gothic arch. The tower mixes two styles: the lower part is medi…
Technical monuments
Racibórz
In the north wing of the Piast Castle in Racibórz, beer has been brewed for more than 160 years – and the tradition of a ducal brewery at the castle goes back to the 16th century. The Castle Brewery (Browar Zamkowy) is one of the oldest wo…
Historic sites
Warszawa
On the night of 19–20 August 1944 insurgents captured this building with the help of a fire pump: they forced thousands of litres of a crude oil and petrol mixture inside and set it alight. The PAST building at Zielna 39 is one of Europe's…
Other
Toruń
Philadelphia Boulevard (Bulwar Filadelfijski) is roughly 2 km of Vistula riverfront at the foot of Toruń's Old Town: Gothic walls, gates and granaries on one side, the broad river on the other. This is the best place to take in the panoram…
Coast
Gdynia
The Seaside Boulevard (Bulwar Nadmorski) in Gdynia is a promenade of about 1.5 km (1 mile) along the Bay of Gdańsk, running from the city-center beach to the beach at Redłowo beneath the wooded slopes of Kamienna Góra hill. It is one of th…
Nature
Kazimierz Dolny
Kazimierz Dolny built its wealth on the Vistula, and the riverside boulevard is the best place to understand how. From the promenade on the flood embankment you can see the parish church, the castle ruins and the tower on the hills, while…
Cities & towns
Szczecin
Before 1945 it was the main riverside street of the Old Town, where cargo was unloaded from ships. Today Piastowski Boulevard (Bulwar Piastowski), also known as the Sailors' Avenue (Aleja Żeglarzy), is the lower level of Szczecin's Oder wa…
Other
Elbląg
From the riverside quay below Elbląg's Old Town you can sail in two directions: south onto the Elbląg Canal, where boats overcome almost 100 m of height difference by riding on rail carriages over dry land, or north across the Vistula Lago…
Other
Bydgoszcz
The Brda River Boulevards (Bulwary nad Brdą) in Bydgoszcz are a riverside promenade of about 5 km (3 miles) running through the heart of the city. Along the way you pass half-timbered granaries, Mill Island, the Opera Nova and the famous s…
Other
Kraków
The Vistula Boulevards (Bulwary Wiślane, roughly "bool-VAH-ri veesh-LAH-neh") are Kraków's historic riverside embankments, now the city's favorite place to stroll, cycle and picnic with Wawel Castle as the backdrop. They line both banks of…
Cities & towns
Warszawa
The Vistula Boulevards in Warsaw (Bulwary Wiślane, roughly "bool-VAH-rih vish-LAH-neh") are a riverside promenade stretching several kilometers along the left bank of the Vistula in central Warsaw, from below the Old Town past the Powiśle…
Fortifications
Ustka
The Blücher Bunkers in Ustka are a surviving German coastal and anti-aircraft battery from the late 1930s, hidden among pine trees on a dune just west of the harbor in this Polish Baltic resort. Today the underground shelters house a moder…
Museums
Busko-Zdrój
The green wooden villa at the entrance to Busko's old town looks like a typical spa guest house from a century ago. Few spa visitors know that during the German occupation it housed a Nazi Special Court, and in the cellar a jail where up t…
Other
Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz looks its best from the Brda river, and the easiest way to see it from there is aboard Słonecznik, the electric boat of the Bydgoszcz Water Tram. Cruises leave from Rybi Rynek (Fish Market Square) in the Old Town and take about a…
Amusement parks
Człuchów
Canpol Wonderland near Człuchów (say: CHWOO-hoof) is a family amusement park in the village of Sieroczyn in Poland's Pomerania region, part of a roadside complex that also includes a free zoo, a go-kart track, a restaurant and a hotel. Kid…
Historic sites
Łambinowice
On a former military training ground near Łambinowice – Lamsdorf in German – one camp followed another for more than seventy years: for French prisoners in 1870, for Entente soldiers in the First World War, and in the Second World War one…
Ski resorts
Szczyrk
The COS Skrzyczne ski area in Szczyrk (say "shchirk") is run by Poland's Central Sports Center on the slopes of Skrzyczne (1,257 m / 4,124 ft), the highest peak of the Silesian Beskids. In winter it offers some of the steepest runs in the…
Museums
Kalisz
The Dorotka Tower is the only surviving tower of Kalisz's medieval walls – out of eighteen that once reinforced them. Since 8 December 2018 it has housed the Centre of Kalisz Fairy Tales, Legends and the Town's Founding: a multimedia exhib…
Museums
Szczecin
The Dialogue Centre Przełomy (roughly "psheh-WOH-mih", meaning "Breakthroughs") is an underground branch of the National Museum in Szczecin, hidden beneath Solidarity Square. It tells the story of postwar Szczecin – from the moment German…