Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Monuments & mounds
Sokółka
At the source of the Łosośna river, in the village of Malawicze Górne near Sokółka, lies a boulder crowned with an Islamic crescent. It was funded by Arsłan Mucha to commemorate the Tatar Mucha family, for whom – as the carved inscription…
Nature
Kamienna Góra
Rock mushrooms, clubs, towers and pulpits – and some sandstone blocks look like stacks of pancakes piled up by a giant. The Głazy Krasnoludków ("Dwarfs' Rocks") nature reserve, also known as Gorzeszowskie Skałki, protects a 1,200-metre lin…
Lakes
Mosina
Glinianki are flooded former clay pits on the slopes of Osowa Góra in Mosina, in the Pożegowo district. Where clay was hauled to the brickworks for decades, there is now a quiet, green bathing spot with a sandy beach right on the edge of W…
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…
Hiking & tourist trails
Ustroń
The Main Beskid Trail (Główny Szlak Beskidzki, or GSB) is Poland's longest mountain trail: a red-blazed route of roughly 500 km (310 miles) running from Ustroń in the Silesian Beskids to Wołosate (pronounced "vo-woh-SAH-teh") in the Bieszc…
Hiking & tourist trails
Święta Katarzyna
The red-marked trail from Gołoszyce to Kuźniaki is the backbone of hiking in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains): it crosses Łysica and Łysa Góra, the boulder fields known as gołoborza, Święty Krzyż and Święta Katarzyna, an…
Technical monuments
Gniezno
The Gniezno Narrow-Gauge Railway is one of the oldest small railways in Greater Poland – its history began in 1884. The former network linked Gniezno with Witkowo, Powidz and Anastazewo; today trains run seasonally only on a short section…
Churches & monasteries
Częstochowa
In one painting the artist himself helps Christ carry the cross; in another, Primate Wyszyński and John Paul II look on at the Passion; and the final scene is titled "Ascension to Częstochowa". The Golgotha of Jasna Góra is a cycle of 18 p…
Churches & monasteries
Licheń Stary
The Golgotha in Licheń Stary (pronounced roughly "LEE-hen STAH-ri") is an artificial hill of fieldstones and concrete inside the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Licheń, one of Poland's most visited Catholic pilgrimage sites. A winding path leads…
Nature
Nowa Słupia
The boulder field on Łysa Góra (say "WIH-sah GOO-rah"; the field is called a gołoborze, "goh-woh-BOH-zheh") is the largest expanse of bare quartzite rock in Poland's Holy Cross Mountains. This gray "sea of stones" pours down the northern s…
Mountains & peaks
Myślenice
Chełm (614 m) rises above the town of Myślenice, and since 1989 visitors have been riding up on one of Poland's longest single-seat chairlifts. The journey of just over two kilometres from Zarabie ends next to a 15-metre lookout tower, fro…
Viewpoints
Koszalin
This wooded moraine ridge on the eastern edge of Koszalin was a landmark for the whole area as early as the Middle Ages. On its highest point, Krzyżanka (136 m above sea level), stands a brick observation tower from 1888, and next to it a…
Viewpoints
Czajewszczyzna
This perfectly conical hill rising above the lakes of the Suwałki region looks like a volcano, which is why visitors nicknamed it the Fujiyama of Suwałki. Góra Cisowa is 256 metres above sea level and the symbol of Suwałki Landscape Park,…
Monuments & mounds
Cedynia
On a hill above the Oder valley, right by the village of Osinów Dolny, a 15-metre eagle spreads its wings for take-off. It commemorates the Battle of Cedynia on 24 June 972, one of the earliest victories of Poland's first historical ruler,…
Monuments & mounds
Będzin
Będzin's highest hill – St Dorothy's Hill, known locally as Dorotka (382 m) – has more nicknames than many a mountain: "Golden Hill", "Olympus of Zagłębie", "Jasna Góra of Zagłębie" (after Poland's most famous shrine). On the top stands a…
Mountains & peaks
gmina Międzyzdroje
At Gosań the cliff of Wolin National Park reaches its highest point: the top of the bluff stands 93 m above sea level, and the park describes the hill as the highest elevation on the Polish coast. From the viewing platform, reached by a sh…
Fortifications
Gdańsk
Gradowa Hill in Gdańsk (pronounced roughly "grah-DOH-vah") is a 46-meter (151 ft) hill right behind Gdańsk's main train station, and one of the best free viewpoints over the historic Main Town. Its slopes hide a 19th-century brick fortress…
Nature
Woźniki
Góra Grojec (365 m) is a solitary limestone hill that stands out clearly from the fields between Psary and Lubsza in the Woźniki district of Silesia. Its name hints at an old stronghold ("gród" in Polish), and local tales – recorded among…
Viewpoints
Pelplin
On a hill just outside Pelplin stands a 33-metre steel cross, clad in shiny metal that reflects the landscape of the Kociewie region. The height is no accident – it symbolises the years of Jesus's life. Here, on 6 June 1999, Pope John Paul…
Mountains & peaks
Kamieńsk
The highest hill in central Poland was not shaped by the Ice Age but by the communist-era economy: it was piled up by the spreaders of the Bełchatów lignite mine. Góra Kamieńska rises to 405.6 m above sea level and about 195 m above its su…
Viewpoints
Tuchomie
On a hill in Piaszno, in the Tuchomie district south-west of Bytów, stands a wooden viewing tower built not by the local authority but by a local farmer. Leman's Hill rises to 220 m above sea level and the tower is 20 m tall – from the pla…
Coast
Jastarnia
Góra Libek – officially Lubek – is a wooded dune between Kuźnica and Jastarnia on the Hel Peninsula. It rises a mere 12.5 m above sea level, yet it is the highest point on this stretch of the peninsula. Its name preserves the story of a sh…
Mountains & peaks
Chęciny
Miedzianka (pronounced roughly "myeh-JAN-kah", from the Polish word for copper) is a rocky limestone ridge, 354 m (1,161 ft) high, in the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains of south-central Poland. Its summit offers a full 360-degree vi…
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…