Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
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Giżycko
Boat trips with Żegluga Mazurska (roughly "zheh-GLOO-gah mah-ZOOR-skah") are the easiest way to see Poland's Great Masurian Lakes from the water without hiring a boat yourself. The company's white passenger ships sail from Giżycko, Mikołaj…
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Kazimierz Dolny
From the deck of a boat Kazimierz Dolny looks quite different than from the market square: you see the high green slopes of the Lesser Poland Vistula Gorge, old quarries and the village of Mięćmierz right by the river. One-hour cruises lea…
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Sandomierz
Loess gorges, the Vistula and endless orchards: the Sandomierz Apple Trail turns this landscape into a route to explore, from fruit farms with their own juices and preserves, through heritage rooms and craft workshops, to vineyards and far…
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Sandomierz
"Sandomierz wine is at times better than Moravian," wrote the 16th-century botanist Marcin of Urzędów. Tax records suggest that as many as 150 hectares of vineyards may then have grown within the bounds of old Sandomierz. After centuries o…
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Duszniki-Zdrój
The hostel's name comes neither from a legend nor from a map: a stuffed mouflon head with massive curled horns hangs in the dining room. The PTTK "Pod Muflonem" ("Under the Mouflon") hostel stands at 690 m on the slopes of Ptasia Góra (745…
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Gdynia
Kościuszko Square (Skwer Kościuszki, roughly "kosh-CHOOSH-ko") is Gdynia's grand promenade, running from the main shopping street, Świętojańska, straight to the sea and the South Pier. This is where the city celebrates, strolls and takes p…
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Racibórz
Next to the oldest church in Racibórz lies a small square with a fountain and benches. It is named after Monsignor Stefan Pieczka, for many years parish priest of the church next door – a man locals remember as someone who could talk to an…
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Sromowce Wyżne
The oldest picture of a trip down the Dunajec dates from 1589 – a wall painting in the old church at Krościenko. Today raftsmen in highland costume take visitors on wooden rafts through the Pieniny Gorge of the Dunajec: about 8 km of meand…
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Częstochowa
Near Częstochowa the Warta does something unexpected: flowing along the edge of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, it suddenly turns east and cuts through Jurassic limestone, creating a gorge some 12 km long. From a kayak you see limestone out…
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Stara Wieś
Kayaking the Liswarta River (lees-VAR-tah) is one of the most popular paddling trips in Poland's Silesian region. This small, winding river in Kłobuck County, about 30 km northwest of Częstochowa, slips through forest and meadow, and its l…
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Krutyń
Kayaking the Krutynia River (say "kroo-TIN-ya") is one of the classic things to do in Masuria, Poland's lake district. The canoe trail runs for more than 100 km (60+ miles) from Sorkwity to Ruciane-Nida, linking a string of glacial lakes w…
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Bardo
Between the Kłodzko Valley and Bardo, the Nysa Kłodzka cuts through the Bardo Mountains in five great meanders, in a valley some 150 metres deep. By raft you travel the whole gorge – just under 15 km in 2.5–3.5 hours – from the palace comp…
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Ruda Sułowska
Between Milicz and Sułów the water level on a ten-kilometre stretch of the Barycz drops by no more than 30 cm. The river's average gradient of about 0.035% is among the lowest of any Polish lowland river – which is why paddling here is so…
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Tylicz
Tylicz Ski Station sits on the slopes of Bradowiec, a few kilometres from Krynica-Zdrój but away from its crowds. It has about 6 kilometres of runs, two chairlifts and separate beginner areas, and the slopes have snowmaking and floodlights…
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Warszawa
The National Stadium in Warsaw (Stadion Narodowy, known by its sponsor name PGE Narodowy) is Poland's largest stadium and one of the capital's most recognizable modern landmarks. Its red-and-silver "basket" rises from the Vistula's east ba…
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Moszna
Three years running – in 2009, 2010 and 2011 – the Velká Pardubická, Europe's biggest steeplechase, was won by the same horse: Tiumen, ridden by Josef Váňa. He was born at the stud in Moszna, which since 1948 has occupied the historic stab…
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Jeleśnia
On the market square of Jeleśnia, in the heart of the Żywiec region, stands a wooden inn where people have been eating and drinking for generations – and still do. The Stara Karczma (Old Inn) is a vanishing type of Polish village inn and o…
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Lelów
Every August Lelów, in Częstochowa County, celebrates two dishes baked all night: Polish ciulim and Jewish cholent. The Ciulim and Cholent Festival has been held since 2003 and recalls the time when Poles and Jews lived side by side in the…
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Łódź
It all started with a refusal: the committee of Łódź's Walk of Fame would not give a star to Miś Uszatek (Floppy-Eared Teddy) because – as its chairman Jan Machulski reportedly put it – it was a waste of money on "some teddy bear". Instead…
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Jędrzejów
The Cistercian Trail (Szlak Cysterski) is a cultural route linking the medieval abbeys of the Cistercian order across Poland – from Oliwa and Pelplin near Gdańsk, through Greater Poland, to Lower Silesia, Lesser Poland and the Świętokrzysk…
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Żyrowa
In Silesian dialect, "bifyj" is not a dish but a kitchen dresser – the cupboard that stood in almost every Upper Silesian kitchen, holding provisions, holiday treats and the best tableware. This piece of furniture gave its name to the culi…
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Goczałkowice-Zdrój
Roulade with dumplings and red cabbage is to Silesia what champagne is to Champagne – that is how the organiser itself puts it. The Śląskie Smaki (Silesian Flavours) culinary trail was launched by the Silesian Tourist Organisation (ŚOT) in…
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Olsztyn
Below the castle ruins in Olsztyn, a Jurassic Highland village near Częstochowa, folk artist Jan Wewiór has been carving a moving nativity scene for years, which he calls "Bethlehem under the Thatch". It has more than 800 figures carved fr…
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Katowice
Every December the high altar and side aisles of the neo-Romanesque Franciscan basilica in Katowice-Panewniki disappear behind a Bethlehem landscape measuring 18 m high, 32 m wide and 10 m deep. The Panewniki crib is regarded as Europe's l…