Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
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
Czerna
Eliaszówka Valley (say el-yah-SHOOF-kah) is a wooded limestone valley between the villages of Czerna and Paczółtowice, about 30 km (19 miles) west of Kraków. It combines nature and history: beech forest, a heart-shaped spring beneath a sma…
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
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…
Old towns & squares
Kraków
For centuries, kings rode along this same route to Wawel to be crowned, and funeral processions carried their coffins the same way. The Royal Route runs from Matejko Square through St Florian's Gate, the Main Market Square and Grodzka and…
Palaces
Zator
On the road from Zator to Wadowice, in a small village on the edge of the Carpathian Foothills, stands one of the oldest noble residences in western Lesser Poland. The masonry fortified manor in Graboszyce was built around 1570–1580 by Dzi…
Other
Lanckorona
Once a year, in December, Lanckorona turns into a town of angels. The winter festival Anioł w Miasteczku (Angel in the Town) is three days of events in many places at once: an Angel Christmas Market runs on the market square, while concert…
Monuments & mounds
Kraków
Eros Bendato in Kraków is the giant bronze head lying on its side in the Main Market Square (Rynek Główny, roughly "RIH-nek GWOOV-nih"), right next to the Town Hall Tower. Created by the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj, it is one of the most…
National parks
Ojców
The trail across Okopy Hill runs right along the edge of limestone cliffs secured with rope railings, and one of the crags opens a view over the Prądnik Valley. The wooded summit hides the ramparts of a stronghold that medieval sources lin…
Viewpoints
Jerzmanowice
Maps still label it "Hill 502", although newer surveys from the early 1990s give its height as about 513 m. Skała 502 in Jerzmanowice, also called Grodzisko, is the highest point of the Olkusz Upland and the second highest summit of the wh…
Historic sites
Olkusz
Less than 3 km west of Olkusz town centre lie the remains of a medieval stronghold: a deep moat, two rings of earthen ramparts and the ruins of the Gothic Church of St John the Baptist. This is where the town's story begins – before Olkusz…
Nature
Ojców
A lone, slender limestone spire rises from a meadow at the mouth of the Wrześnik ravine, and in autumn it looks like a burning torch – it is wrapped in Virginia creeper whose leaves turn an intense red. Along with Hercules' Club and the Kr…
Lakes
Rożnów
This winding, S-shaped reservoir cuts into the Rożnów Foothills with fjord-like bays and peninsulas. Lake Rożnów exists because the Dunajec river kept flooding valleys all the way down to the Vistula, and the dam at Rożnów was built to sto…
Historic sites
Sucha Beskidzka
A walk from the Renaissance castle in Sucha Beskidzka up a forest path ends at a small stone chapel with a tower topped by an onion dome. It stands at about 500 m above sea level on the south-eastern ridge of Kocurowa Góra, also called Mou…
Churches & monasteries
Stary Sącz
A few hundred metres from the Poor Clares' convent in Stary Sącz, beside a spring that legend says was found by St Kinga herself, stands a small masonry chapel from 1779. It replaced an older chapel and was built in thanksgiving for healin…
Churches & monasteries
Zawoja
By the road through Zawoja Policzne stands a small white chapel under a shingled roof that rises into an onion dome with a lantern. This is the Chapel of St John the Baptist, known locally as the brigands' chapel — tradition says it was fo…
Churches & monasteries
Dobczyce
From the outside it is a stone post-war basilica whose tower rises above the market square of Dobczyce. Inside, however, is a Gothic 15th-century Pietà linked to the workshop of Veit Stoss, a medieval crucifix and a 13th-century stoup – th…
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
Jodłownik
In the centre of Wilkowisko, the largest village in the Jodłownik district, beside the Owsianka stream, stands the wooden Church of St Catherine of Alexandria – the third church on this site. Its predecessor was destroyed by a great fire o…
Churches & monasteries
Wojnicz
A few minutes from the A4 motorway exit, on St Leonard Street in Wojnicz, stands a small wooden church with a shingled roof and a little bell turret. For centuries it was a hospital church that cared for the poor, and its altar holds paint…
Churches & monasteries
Wieliczka
St. Sebastian's Church in Wieliczka (say "vyeh-LEECH-kah") is a 16th-century larchwood church hidden among old trees on Babina hill, on the southeastern edge of the town famous for its salt mine. Plain on the outside, it surprises inside w…