Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
Modlnica
In 1553 the nobleman Jakub Śladkowski of Zabierzów built a new wooden church in Modlnica, and in return received the annual tithes, the crops from the parish fields and – according to the parish chronicle – the right to use the parish prie…
Old towns & squares
Zakopane
Krupówki is the backbone of Zakopane: more than a kilometre of pedestrian street climbing steadily uphill from the junction with Nowotarska and Kościeliska streets to ul. Zamoyskiego and al. 3 Maja. Cars – and even bicycles – are banned. I…
Monuments & mounds
Kraków
One evening in 1916 Hugo Steinhaus was strolling through Kraków's Planty park when he suddenly overheard the words "Lebesgue integral". Intrigued, he approached two young men discussing mathematics – and so discovered Stefan Banach, the fu…
Viewpoints
Stary Sącz
Leśne Molo (say "LESH-neh MOH-loh", literally "Forest Pier") is a free treetop walkway on Miejska Góra, a wooded 421-meter hill right above the small town of Stary Sącz in southern Poland. The wooden boardwalk runs for more than 200 meters…
Viewpoints
Maków Podhalański
Fields and meadows run almost to the summit here, so from the edge of the woods on Makowska Góra you can see Babia Góra, the Little Beskids and the hills rolling towards Kraków all at once. It is a modest hill right above the small town of…
Nature
Jastrzębik
The Henryk Świdziński Mofette, on the border of Jastrzębik and Złockie near Muszyna, is the largest and most productive mofette in Poland. Gas that is 95% carbon dioxide bubbles up constantly from the bed of the Złocki stream. An area of a…
Technical monuments
Szczucin
The Road Museum in Szczucin (roughly "SHCHOO-cheen") is one of the most unusual free things to do in southern Poland: an open-air collection of steam rollers, snowplows and road-building machines, plus a walking trail that takes you throug…
Other
Wieliczka
On Wieliczka's Upper Market Square (Rynek Górny) the paving seems to crack open, revealing the depths of the salt mine with St Kinga's Chapel. The illusion is the work of Ryszard Paprocki – the 3D street painting "Solny Świat" (Salt World)…
Gardens
Muszyna
In March or April, depending on the winter, the slope of Sucha Góra in Muszyna is covered with millions of crocuses. The Sensory Gardens, also called the Gardens of the Senses, are a free spa park designed to engage sight, hearing, smell,…
Nature
Ojców
On a summer midday the surface of a white rock on the south-facing side of the Prądnik Valley can heat up to 60°C, while a few dozen metres away, in the shady forest on the north-facing slope, the thermometer reads 22°C. That contrast is t…
Gardens
Szczawnica
Park Górny – the Upper Park – is Szczawnica's oldest spa garden, laid out from 1824, when Jan Kutscher began creating it. It occupies a rise on the east side of ul. Zdrojowa and Dietl Square, and among its trees stand a Gothic Revival spa…
Nature
Tylicz
Tylicz sits on deposits of naturally carbonated mineral water, and you can taste several springs for free, straight from the pipe. The best known is Bradowiec, called the Spring of Love – a wooden gazebo by a stream on the road to Powroźni…
Gardens
Kraków
Planty Park in Kraków (Polish: Planty, "PLAHN-ti") is the historic green ring, roughly 4 km (2.5 miles) long, that wraps around the city's Old Town. It was laid out where the medieval walls and moat once stood, and today it is the most ple…
Viewpoints
Stary Sącz
The spiral viewing platform on top of Dzielnica hill (539 m) in Wola Krogulecka has a shape that gave it its popular name — the "Snail" (Ślimak). The walkway curves upward above the slope, and from the top you look down on the Poprad valle…
Cities & towns
Kraków
Podgórze (say "pod-GOO-zheh") and its Market Square are the heart of a former independent town on the south bank of the Vistula, now one of Kraków's most rewarding districts to explore on foot. Here you'll find a triangular square crowned…
Other
Szczawnica
Roughly 1,800 metres of promenade follow the Grajcarek stream from the lower station of the Palenica chairlift towards the Dunajec valley, and the town council calls it one of the longest promenades in Poland. It is the easiest way to get…
Nature
Jaworki
The Biała Woda valley in Jaworki looks today like a wild, meadow-filled corner of the Little Pieniny mountains, yet until 1947 a Rusyn village stood here. After its people were deported in Operation Vistula – the forced resettlement of Ukr…
Nature
Rabsztyn
On 28 June 1947, despite an early and warm spring, the speleologist Kazimierz Kowalski found plenty of ice at the bottom of a rock shaft in Cisowa Skała – that is how Omszała Studnia (Mossy Well), one of the larger caves of today's Pazurek…
Nature
Ciężkowice
Local legend says a town once stood in the forest above the Biała river, and its inhabitants were turned to stone for their wicked ways. Instead of houses there are now sandstone rocks shaped like mushrooms, towers and pulpits, up to 14 me…
Gardens
Zakopane
Rówień Krupowa is a large, flat meadow in the very centre of Zakopane, right next to the lower end of Krupówki street. From its lawns you can see Giewont and Gubałówka, and through the year it hosts the town's biggest outdoor events, from…
Viewpoints
Klucze
The Wind Rose (Róża Wiatrów) is a wooden viewing platform in Klucze whose arms run straight down onto the sand of the Błędów Desert. From the deck you look over open stretches of the largest area of drifting sand in Poland, and a few steps…
Old towns & squares
Kraków
Kraków's Main Market Square (Rynek Główny, say: RIH-nek GWOO-vnih) is the heart of the Old Town and one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe – roughly 200 by 200 meters, about 10 acres, laid out when Kraków received its town char…
Old towns & squares
Wieliczka
On Wieliczka's Upper Market Square the paving suddenly seems to open up and miners climb out of the crevice. This is "Salt World", a three-dimensional painting covering 350 m² and regarded as the largest work of its kind in Poland. The squ…
Old towns & squares
Ciężkowice
Ciężkowice is one of the few small towns in Lesser Poland where wooden houses with arcades have survived around the market square – which is why it features on the Lesser Poland Wooden Architecture Route. In the middle stands a Neoclassica…