Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Castles
Oporów
Oporów Castle (roughly "OH-po-roof") near Kutno in central Poland is one of the best-preserved Gothic fortified residences in the country: a compact red-brick castle from the 1400s standing on an artificial island ringed by a moat, inside…
Castles
Oświęcim
Oświęcim Castle (osh-VYEN-cheem) stands on a hill above the Soła River in southern Poland. Its Gothic defensive tower dates from the 13th century, and the castle, once the seat of the Dukes of Oświęcim, now houses the Castle Museum. The ex…
Castles
Pszczyna
Pszczyna Castle (say "PSHCHI-na") is a former princely residence in southern Poland that now houses one of the country's best-preserved aristocratic interiors. Around 80% of its furnishings are originals from the days of the Hochberg princ…
Castles
Rogów Opolski
Rogów Opolski Castle, near Krapkowice, is a Renaissance and Neoclassical residence set in a 19th-century landscape park. Since 1965 it has belonged to the Provincial Public Library in Opole, which keeps its most valuable collections here:…
Castles
Szydłów
Szydłów Royal Castle stands on an escarpment sloping down to the valley of the little Ciekąca river, built into the walls of the town known as the Polish Carcassonne. Its Knights' Hall from around 1400 is the best-preserved medieval reside…
Castles
Tykocin
Tykocin Castle (pronounced roughly "tih-KO-cheen") stands on the banks of the Narew River in northeastern Poland. It is a modern reconstruction, raised on the foundations of King Sigismund Augustus's 16th-century fortress, which once held…
Castles
Wisła
The Presidential Castle in Wisła ("VEES-wah") is a modernist mountain residence built in 1929–1931 as a gift from the people of Silesia to Polish President Ignacy Mościcki. Its towers deliberately echo a medieval castle, while the interior…
Palaces
Rokosowo
Corner towers with battlements, a dry moat and a coat of arms above the entrance – from a distance the residence in Rokosowo looks like a knight's stronghold. In fact it is a Romantic palace of the Mycielski family from the mid-19th centur…
Churches & monasteries
Chełmno
On the very edge of the escarpment above the Vistula valley stands a convent that has belonged in turn to Cistercian nuns, Benedictine nuns and the Sisters of Charity since the 13th century. Its brick gables and tower shape the skyline of…
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…
Churches & monasteries
Poznań
The Golden Chapel in Poznań (pronounced "POZ-nan"), also called the Chapel of the Polish Kings, is a dazzling Byzantine-style mausoleum inside Poznań Cathedral, dedicated to Mieszko I and Bolesław the Brave, the first two rulers of Poland.…
Zoos
Łódź
Sharks and rays glide over a 26-metre underwater tunnel, and a few steps away lies Kraken, a false gharial that the zoo describes as the largest of his species in Europe. Łódź Zoo was founded in 1938, and in 2022 it opened the Orientarium,…
Zoos
Wrocław
Wrocław Zoo (Zoo Wrocław; the city is pronounced VROTS-wahf) is the oldest zoo within Poland's present borders, open since 1865, and one of the most visited zoos in Europe. Around 12,000 animals of more than 1,100 species live on about 32…
Landmarks
Gdańsk
People walking inside wooden wheels about 6 metres across once lifted cargo 27 metres into the air here – the Crane on the Motława was a medieval harbour crane and a city gate at the same time. The National Maritime Museum calls it the lar…
Museums
Toruń
The Living Museum of Gingerbread (Żywe Muzeum Piernika, roughly "ZHIH-veh moo-ZEH-oom pyer-NEE-kah") in Toruń is a private, hands-on museum where you don't look at display cases, you make gingerbread yourself. In a 19th-century brick grana…