Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
Krasnobród
At the heart of the baroque shrine in Krasnobród is an image smaller than a postcard – just 9 × 14 cm. According to tradition it was found in 1649 in the mud of a site ravaged by Cossacks, and during the Second World War parishioners smugg…
Landmarks
Kazimierz Dolny
The granaries of Kazimierz Dolny (pronounced roughly “ka-ZHEE-myesh DOL-nee”) are a striking set of 16th- and 17th-century stone warehouses on the Vistula River, built when this small town was a busy grain port. The best known is the Kobia…
Landmarks
Janów Podlaski
Janów Podlaski Stud (say "YAH-noof pod-LAH-skee") is Poland's oldest state horse stud, founded in 1817, and one of the world's most famous breeders of purebred Arabian horses. Its 19th-century stables by the architect Henryk Marconi, wide…
Old towns & squares
Kazimierz Dolny
Kazimierz Dolny Old Town (say "ka-ZHEE-myesh DOL-nih") is a small Renaissance riverside town on the Vistula, tucked between wooded hills in eastern Poland, and one of the country's favorite weekend escapes. Its square with a wooden well, t…
Old towns & squares
Lublin
Lublin Old Town (pronounced "LOOB-leen") is one of Poland's most atmospheric historic centers: inside its former walls you'll find more than 100 listed monuments, a medieval street plan and Renaissance town houses with richly painted facad…
Old towns & squares
Zamość
The Old Town of Zamość (say "ZAH-moshch") is a complete Renaissance "ideal city" that has survived almost intact since it was founded in 1580 by Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and designed by the Italian architect Bernardo Morando. Inside the lin…
Lakes
Zwierzyniec
The Echo Ponds (Stawy Echo, say "STAH-vih EH-ho") in Zwierzyniec are the most visited spot in Roztocze National Park in eastern Poland: four shallow ponds framed by pine forest and sand dunes, with a wooden viewing platform, boardwalks, a…
Landmarks
Puławy
The Temple of the Sibyl in Puławy (say "poo-WAH-vih") is a circular neoclassical temple perched above an old arm of the Vistula River in the park of the Czartoryski Palace — and the birthplace of Poland's first museum. Built in 1798–1801 t…
Landmarks
Szczebrzeszyn
The pink building with a high mansard roof on ul. Sądowa was the main synagogue of Szczebrzeszyn's Jewish community. It was built in the early 17th century in the late Renaissance style, on the site of an even older synagogue. It survived…
Landmarks
Zamość
The Zamość Synagogue is one of the finest Renaissance synagogues in Poland and a powerful reminder of the Jewish community that helped shape this UNESCO-listed planned town in the Lublin region. Built in the early 17th century on the initi…
Hiking & tourist trails
Susiec
The blue-marked Szlak Szumów ("Trail of the Rapids") is the loop most often recommended in the Susiec area. Over roughly 16 km it takes in almost everything central Roztocze is known for: a waterfall on the Jeleń, fir-lined ravines, an ear…
Nature
Susiec
Along a stretch of about 400 metres, the Tanew river tumbles over 24 rock steps. The water pours over them in low, wide cascades, and you hear the rushing long before you see the river – hence the local name szumy (from the Polish word for…
Fortifications
Zamość
Zamość Fortress, and in particular its restored Bastion VII with the outwork known as the Nadszaniec (a raised cavalier), is the best place to see how this Renaissance "ideal city" in southeastern Poland was defended. A guided underground…
Nature
Kazimierz Dolny
Korzeniowy Dół (roughly "ko-zheh-NYOH-vih DOOW"), the "Root Gully", is the most famous loess ravine in Kazimierz Dolny, a small historic town on the Vistula River in eastern Poland. It is a sunken lane about 400 meters long, its walls lace…
Viewpoints
Lublin
The Trinitarian Tower in Lublin is the Neo-Gothic bell tower of the city's cathedral and the highest viewpoint in the Old Town: from its terrace, about 40 m (130 ft) up, you can see Lublin in all four directions, from the castle to the mai…
Viewpoints
Susiec
On Góra Grabowicka hill, among fields north of Susiec, stands a stone-and-timber tower with three viewing levels. It is only about 10 m tall, but the hilltop is open, so from the galleries you can see all around: the houses of Susiec, a pa…
Museums
Zwierzyniec
In a wooden granary built in 1762 lie fragments of Mars and the Moon – and next to them the only meteorite ever found in the Roztocze hills, discovered by the farm's owner himself. Guciów Farmstead in the Wieprz valley, in the Zwierzyniec…
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…
Castles
Lublin
Lublin Castle is the single best place to start exploring Lublin (say "LOO-bleen"), the largest city in eastern Poland. On one hilltop you'll find a 13th-century Romanesque tower, a Gothic royal chapel covered in Byzantine-style frescoes f…
Castles
Biała Podlaska
The Radziwiłł Palace and Park Complex in Biała Podlaska (say BYA-wah pod-LAH-skah) is a former magnate residence with star-shaped bastion fortifications in eastern Poland, today a park with a historic gate, towers, a chapel and a museum. T…