Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Bochnia
The wall paintings in St Kinga's Chapel were designed by Jan Matejko, Poland's great history painter, and the rebuilding of the church after the fire of 1655 was funded by King John Casimir in this salt-mining town. The Basilica of St Nich…
Hidden gemNature
Zakopane
Gąsienicowa Valley (roughly gon-sheh-nee-TSOH-vah) is one of the most rewarding day hikes in Poland's Tatra Mountains, rising above the resort town of Zakopane inside Tatra National Park. At its heart lies the high pasture of Hala Gąsienic…
Nature
Brzegi
The Valley of the Five Polish Ponds is a high mountain basin in the High Tatras, home to the largest and deepest lake in the Tatra Mountains. Despite the name there are actually six lakes, and above the Front Pond stands Poland's highest m…
Hidden gemPalaces
Kraków
Krzysztofory Palace, on the corner of the Main Market Square and ul. Szczepańska, is the headquarters of the Museum of Kraków and one of the best places to get to grips with the city's history in a single afternoon. It takes its name from…
Hidden gemLandscape parks
Muszyna
Poprad Landscape Park (POH-prahd) is one of the largest protected landscape areas in Poland, covering most of the Beskid Sądecki mountains near the Slovak border. It takes in the forested Radziejowa and Jaworzyna Krynicka ranges, the gorge…
Hidden gemMountains & peaks
Roztoka Ryterska
Radziejowa (rah-jeh-YOH-vah) is the highest peak of the Beskid Sądecki range in southern Poland, at 1,266 m (many maps say 1,262 m), and one of the summits of the Crown of Polish Mountains, a popular peak-bagging list. The forested dome ri…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Ludźmierz
During the coronation in 1963, the sceptre slipped from the hand of the statue of the Virgin Mary and was caught by a young bishop, Karol Wojtyła. Years later many saw this as a sign of his election as pope. Ludźmierz, the oldest parish in…
Hidden gemCastles
Wytrzyszczka
You can reach this steep headland above the Dunajec River, surrounded by water on three sides, by ferry across Lake Czchów. Tropsztyn Castle in Wytrzyszczka is almost entirely new: it has been rebuilt since the 1990s on the ruins of a stro…
Hidden gemCastles
Czchów
The round tower on the hill above the Dunajec has become the symbol of Czchów, although for centuries it was above all a customs post. The royal castle guarded the trade route to Hungary and collected duties on goods shipped along the rive…
Hidden gemCastles
Dobczyce
The dam of Lake Dobczyce literally leans against the castle hill, so from the walls of this royal fortress you look at medieval stonework and at the waters of a reservoir created by damming the Raba river at the same time. This is where th…
Hidden gemMountains & peaks
Sucha Beskidzka
Sucha Beskidzka Castle is nicknamed "Little Wawel" because its arcaded courtyard resembles the royal castle in Kraków. Over four centuries this Renaissance residence at the foot of Mount Jasień passed through several noble families, and in…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Nowy Sącz
At the base of the north tower is a door on which four town trumpeters signed their names in 1617 – today the inscription is known mainly from a drawing by the painter Stanisław Wyspiański. The Basilica of St Margaret in Nowy Sącz is the t…
Hidden gemLandmarks
Ojców
The Kraków Gate (Brama Krakowska) in Ojców (say "OY-tsoof") is a pair of towering limestone pillars that guard the mouth of a side gorge in the Prądnik Valley, the heart of Ojców National Park. Just 25 km north of Kraków, it is one of the…
Hidden gemLandmarks
Zakopane
This small cemetery on Kościeliska Street holds around 500 graves, and roughly half belong to the people who created the legend of Zakopane: writers, painters, doctors, mountain guides and TOPR rescuers. Almost every headstone is a work of…
Hidden gemLakes
Zakopane
A mausoleum for the Romantic poet Juliusz Słowacki was once planned for the small, dwarf-pine-covered island in this lake — the 1909 idea was dropped after protests by nature conservationists. Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy ("Black Pond"), lying…
Hidden gemNature
Brzegi
Some of the spruces in this valley have been growing for more than 300 years, and a few for as long as 400 – it is one of the best-preserved natural forests in the Tatra Mountains. Roztoka Valley (Dolina Roztoki) leads from the Białka vall…
Hidden gemMuseums
Kraków
Jan Matejko, Poland's great painter of national history, bought this manor house in 1876 with money from the sale of his painting "Batory at Pskov" – mainly so that his often sickly children could breathe country air. In Krzesławice, now p…
Hidden gemCaves
Ojców
In 2018 archaeologists found finger bones of a Neanderthal child in Ciemna Cave ("Dark Cave") dating back about 115,000 years – the oldest known human remains in Poland. The cave on Koronna Hill in Ojców National Park has the largest chamb…
Hidden gemMountains & peaks
Jastrzębik
The gondola from the Czarny Potok valley reaches the top of Jaworzyna Krynicka in about seven minutes, and on a clear day the viewing platform on the roof of the top station looks out to the Tatras, the Bieszczady and Polonyna Rivna in Ukr…
Hidden gemTechnical monuments
Kraków
A 145-metre steel arch, two suspended decks and bronze acrobats who seem to be balancing above the Vistula – within a few years the Father Bernatek Footbridge has become one of the symbols of modern Kraków. It links Kazimierz with Podgórze…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Szczyrzyc
The Cistercians of Szczyrzyc have been praying, farming and – with interruptions – brewing beer for nearly eight centuries. Szczyrzyc Abbey is the only monastery of the order on Polish soil that has operated without a break since the Middl…
Hidden gemChurches & monasteries
Kraków
The entire nave vault springs from a single column in the middle of the church and spreads overhead like the crown of a tree. The Church of the Holy Cross, next to the Słowacki Theatre, is one of the purest Gothic buildings in Kraków, and…
Hidden gemOld towns & squares
Kraków
The Little Market Square (Mały Rynek, say "MAH-wih RIH-nek") in Kraków is a long, cobbled square tucked directly behind St. Mary's Basilica – a calmer sidekick to the vast Main Market Square and one of the oldest trading spots in the city.…
National parks
Ojców
Ojców National Park is Poland's smallest national park – just 21.46 km² – and one of its most varied. It lies about 16 km north of Kraków and protects the Jurassic Prądnik Valley with its limestone crags, caves, beech woods and two castles…