Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Landmarks
Płock
Cathedral Hill in Płock (Wzgórze Tumskie; say "PWOTSK") is the historic heart of one of Poland's oldest cities, perched on a high bank above the Vistula River about 120 km northwest of Warsaw. Here a Romanesque-Renaissance cathedral holdin…
Landmarks
Opole
University Hill, known to locals as the Górka ("the little hill"), is the highest point of Opole's old town – 165 m above sea level, a few steps from the market square. In the Middle Ages lime was burned here; for five centuries it was hom…
Nature
Bytom
Between the housing estates of Bytom, Chorzów and Piekary Śląskie lies a patchwork of ponds and reed beds that hosts an unusually large population of the little bittern, Poland's smallest heron. Żabie Doły ("Frog Hollows") grew out of subs…
Viewpoints
Szklarska Poręba
On regional road 358 between Szklarska Poręba and Świeradów-Zdrój, the road at 775 m above sea level doubles back almost 180 degrees over about 440 m. Death Bend has an ominous name, but today people come here mainly for the view: from bel…
Lakes
Byczyna
The Biskupice-Brzózki reservoir was not built for sunbathers but to save the groundwater — west of Byczyna its level had dropped markedly. Built in 1995–1996 on the Pratwa river, the reservoir covers 42 ha, and on an island surrounded by a…
Lakes
Czarna Białostocka
The Czapielówka reservoir lies in a forest clearing right next to Czarna Białostocka, and it was created almost entirely by community effort: for nearly 10 years local residents, foresters and soldiers worked on it together. Today it serve…
Lakes
gmina Pilica
A few steps from the market square in Pilica, right by the springs of the river of the same name, lies a small reservoir whose shore offers a view of the town's church towers. In summer it has a bathing area with marked swimming zones and…
Lakes
Poraj
Poraj Reservoir was built not for holidaymakers but for steelworkers: its job was to store industrial water for the Częstochowa steelworks. Yet the planners allowed for recreation from the start, and recreation won. According to Poraj muni…
Lakes
Rybnik
Rybnik Reservoir (Zalew Rybnicki), which locals call the "Rybnik Sea", is a dammed lake on the Ruda river in the northern part of Rybnik, built for the Rybnik power station. For half a century it was famous for its warm water, which did no…
Lakes
Siemianówka
A railway embankment with two tracks – one standard-gauge and one broad-gauge – runs straight across the reservoir and ends at the Belarusian border. Siemianówka Reservoir (Jezioro Siemianowskie) is a dammed lake on the upper Narew River,…
Lakes
Jaworzno
Where the excavators of the Szczakowa sand mine finished work in the 1960s, there is now water. Sosina Reservoir covers about 50 hectares and is surrounded by another 30 hectares of woodland and meadows. In summer it is the main beach for…
Lakes
Mstów
Tasarki is a small artificial reservoir fed by springs, tucked into the Warta valley on the edge of Mstów, a village a dozen or so kilometres from Częstochowa. With a sandy beach, a wooden jetty and pine woods around it, it is where locals…
Lakes
Susiec
Among the pine forests of central Roztocze, the Sopot river widens into a reservoir of about 16 ha. The lake at Majdan Sopocki is the main spot for summer swimming in the Susiec area: there is a bathing area with a sandy beach and a lifegu…
Lakes
Siemiatycze
Siemiatycze does not have one reservoir but three: unnamed lakes on the Kamionka river that the town simply numbered 1, 2 and 3. The first opened in 1975, and today the water is ringed by a lifeguarded bathing area, a beach, sports pitches…
Lakes
gmina Stronie Śląskie
At around 525 m above sea level, in the Morawka valley between the Śnieżnik Massif and the Bialskie Mountains, lies one of the highest artificial reservoirs in Poland. The Stara Morawa reservoir covers only 5.5 ha, but in summer it has a l…
Lakes
Kalety
In Zielona, a forest district of Kalety about 5 km from the town centre, the Mała Panew river spreads into two linked reservoirs. The older one has medieval roots: it formed where local smiths dug ore out of the riverbed. Today it means ba…
Castles
Koło
On an artificial mound in a bend of the Warta river, just outside the town of Koło, stand the brick ruins of a royal castle from the time of Casimir the Great. Since 2026 there has been a viewing terrace on top of the surviving tower, and…
Castles
Zakliczyn
Melsztyn Castle (say "MEL-shtin") is a medieval hilltop ruin above a gorge of the Dunajec River in southern Poland, about 30 km southwest of Tarnów and some 80 km by road east of Kraków. Once the seat of the powerful Leliwa family, it lay…
Castles
Stopnica
In the western part of Stopnica, in the Ponidzie region, stands a royal castle founded around 1350 by Casimir the Great. Over more than 600 years it served as a royal stopover, a Calvinist stronghold, a Baroque palace, the seat of the dist…
Castles
Wisła
The Presidential Castle in Wisła ("VEES-wah") is a modernist mountain residence built in 1929–1931 as a gift from the people of Silesia to Polish President Ignacy Mościcki. Its towers deliberately echo a medieval castle, while the interior…
Palaces
Rokosowo
Corner towers with battlements, a dry moat and a coat of arms above the entrance – from a distance the residence in Rokosowo looks like a knight's stronghold. In fact it is a Romantic palace of the Mycielski family from the mid-19th centur…
Technical monuments
Karpacz
The Łomnica tumbles down from Śnieżka so steeply that in its upper course it drops an average of 72 metres for every kilometre – and in heavy rain it turns into a destructive torrent full of boulders and trees. The granite dam in Karpacz,…
Technical monuments
Międzygórze
For most of the year there is no lake behind this dam, just a meadow and a stream. The stone wall in the lower part of Międzygórze closes a dry flood-control reservoir that fills only during major floods. When it does, it is quite a sight…
Technical monuments
Niedzica
Between Niedzica Castle and the ruins of Czorsztyn Castle, the Dunajec river is held back by a 404-metre bank of earth and gravel – the highest earth dam in Poland with a clay sealing core. You can walk along its crest, and underneath it,…