Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Palaces
Koszęcin
Koszęcin Palace (pronounced roughly "ko-SHEN-cheen") is a large late-neoclassical palace in a landscaped park in Silesia, southern Poland, and since 1953 the home of the Śląsk Song and Dance Ensemble – one of Poland's best-known folk ensem…
Palaces
Pietrowice Wielkie
Krowiarki Palace in the Pietrowice Wielkie district, north-west of Racibórz, is one of the largest residences in Upper Silesia: about 6,500 m² of floor space, 115 rooms and 30 cellars forming an underground labyrinth. The National Heritage…
Palaces
Staszów
A 14th-century knights' castle that spent four centuries turning into a Baroque and Neoclassical residence, and now has more than 80 American bison as neighbours. Kurozwęki Palace, 7 km north-west of Staszów, is one of the few places in Po…
Palaces
Lewków
Lewków Palace ("LEV-koof"), just outside Ostrów Wielkopolski in western Poland, is one of the earliest classical-style palaces in the Greater Poland region and today a well-presented museum. Its design is attributed to Jan Christian Kamset…
Palaces
Lubostroń
Lubostroń Palace (roughly "loo-BOS-tron") is a Neoclassical country house built in 1795–1800 in the Pałuki region of central Poland and modeled on Palladio's famous Villa Rotonda near Vicenza. Set in a 40-hectare English-style landscape pa…
Palaces
Racibórz
The Łubowice Palace ruins (Łubowice: woo-boh-VEE-tseh) mark the birthplace of Joseph von Eichendorff, one of the best-loved poets of German Romanticism, in the countryside of Upper Silesia in southern Poland. All that remains of the manor…
Palaces
Milicz
Maltzan Palace in Milicz (say "MEE-leech") is a late-18th-century Neoclassical residence in Lower Silesia, about an hour's drive north of Wrocław, whose domes and columned portico recall the royal palaces of Potsdam. It sits in a large Eng…
Palaces
Trzebinia
The Młoszowa Palace (roughly "mwo-SHOH-vah") is a 19th-century mock castle in southern Poland with a remarkable backstory: its owners invented a medieval past for it, complete with fake epitaphs and a fictitious grave of Swedish soldiers.…
Palaces
Mordy
In 1930 this palace saw the death of Jerzy Hutten-Czapski, father of the painter Józef Czapski and the writer Maria Czapska, and its drawing rooms welcomed the owners' relatives and friends, among them Archbishop Edward von der Ropp and Fa…
Palaces
Nawojowa
In January 1937, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands – the future queen – came to Nawojowa near Nowy Sącz with her new husband Bernhard shortly after their wedding, and Count Adam Stadnicki organised a hunt for them in the forests near Ryt…
Palaces
Nieborów
Nieborów Palace (say "nyeh-BOH-roof") is a Baroque residence of the Radziwiłł princes in central Poland, designed by the Dutch-born architect Tylman van Gameren and now a branch of the National Museum in Warsaw. Together with the romantic…
Palaces
Oleśnica Mała
Oleśnica Mała Palace (say "oh-lesh-NEE-tsah MAH-wah") is a Baroque residence in a quiet Lower Silesian village about 40 km southeast of Wrocław, built on the site of the first Knights Templar commandery in Silesia. The Knights Hospitaller…
Palaces
Karczew
The baroque palace of the Bieliński family stands on an artificial island in Lake Rokola, a short drive south-east of Warsaw. King Augustus II the Strong was a guest here, and according to tradition he met Tsar Peter I at the palace in 170…
Palaces
Patrykozy
The palace in Patrykozy stands "literally in the middle of the fields" – that is how members of a Warsaw University of Life Sciences alumni trip described it, calling it the pearl of southern Podlasie. The neo-Gothic residence with an octa…
Palaces
Pawłowice
Pawłowice Palace (roughly "pav-woh-VEE-tseh"), near the town of Leszno in western Poland, is one of the finest Neoclassical country houses in the Greater Poland region. It was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, the architect of Berlin's B…
Palaces
Pilica
Pilica Palace (Pałac w Pilicy, roughly "PEE-lee-tsah"), also known as Pilica Castle, is one of the most unusual stately homes in southern Poland. It is a late-Renaissance Italian-style villa set inside a 17th-century bastion fortress, in a…
Palaces
Rudziniec
With its clock tower, spires and dormers, this red-brick palace looks as if it had been carried over from the Netherlands to the edge of the A4 motorway. Count Franz II von Ballestrem built it in 1882–1885 for 386,000 marks, and after 1945…
Palaces
Rajcza
Prince Władysław Lubomirski's guests at Rajcza Palace included the composers Karol Szymanowski, Grzegorz Fitelberg and Ludomir Różycki. The neo-Renaissance residence on the Soła river in the Żywiec Beskids was remodelled for the prince in…
Palaces
Rogalin
Rogalin Palace (say "ro-GAH-leen") is the former country seat of the aristocratic Raczyński family on the Warta River, about 20 km south of Poznań. Now a branch of the National Museum in Poznań, it combines three highlights in one visit: p…
Palaces
Siemianowice Śląskie
In the town park in the centre of Siemianowice Śląskie stands a residence whose main block alone has a volume of more than 23,000 m³. The palace was begun in the 17th century by the Mieroszewski family, enlarged by the Henckel von Donnersm…
Palaces
Rudnik
Roofless, with saplings sprouting from its cornices, Sławików Palace still impresses with its scale: three storeys, a facade 19 windows wide, a triangular pediment with reliefs and towers at either end. It is one of three great ruined resi…
Palaces
Śmiełów
Śmiełów Palace (roughly "SHMYEH-woof") is an elegant late-18th-century country house in Greater Poland that now holds the Adam Mickiewicz Museum, a branch of the National Museum in Poznań. Mickiewicz is to Poland roughly what Byron or Push…
Palaces
Sorkwity
From a distance Sorkwity Palace looks like a Teutonic Knights' fortress: red brick, battlements, turrets and a tall octagonal tower above the water. In fact it is a mid-19th-century residence, built for the Prussian von Mirbach family in t…
Palaces
Starawieś
Below the clock on the corner tower of this white palace is the date AD MDCCCXLIII — 1843, a reminder of how the Radziwiłł family's fortified seat was turned into Prince Sergei Golitsyn's "English castle". Starawieś Palace near Węgrów, sur…