Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Mountains & peaks
Kowary
People have lived on the Okraj Pass, at 1,046 m above sea level, for more than three hundred years – the first huts were put up in 1690 by exiled Habsburg officers. Today's PTTK hostel is a timber complex from 1975, right next to the road…
Mountains & peaks
Świeradów-Zdrój
The hostel on Stóg Izerski stands about 50 metres below the summit, at 1,060 m above sea level, and is the westernmost mountain hostel on the Polish side of the Sudetes. It opened on 24 October 1924 as the Heufuderbaude and stayed open wit…
Mountains & peaks
Karpacz
Samotnia mountain hut and the glacial lake Mały Staw (MAH-wee stahv, "Little Pond") form one of the most photogenic spots in Poland's Karkonosze, the Polish half of the Giant Mountains. The hut sits right on the shore of the lake, beneath…
Mountains & peaks
Ogrodzieniec
The iron cross on top of Skała Rzędowa is visible from afar, because this limestone outcrop rises alone from the fields on the eastern edge of Bzów, a district of Zawiercie. According to the town, it is one of the highest points in the are…
Mountains & peaks
gmina Niegowa
Between the ruin of Mirów Castle and the rebuilt fortress of Bobolice runs a rocky ridge where the Trail of the Eagles' Nests leads quite literally over the tops of the limestone outcrops. In one of the caves here, the unassuming Stajnia (…
Mountains & peaks
Włodowice
Above the fields east of Rzędkowice runs a wall of white limestone outcrops more than a kilometre long, visible from afar because it stands in open country rather than forest. The Rzędkowice Rocks are one of the most popular climbing areas…
Mountains & peaks
Janowice Wielkie
Skopiec (say "SKOH-pyets") is a forested summit in the Kaczawskie Mountains of Lower Silesia, southwest Poland, rising above the village of Komarno near Wojcieszów. It is one of the easiest peaks on the Crown of Polish Mountains, a popular…
Mountains & peaks
Sobótka
Ślęża ("SHLEN-zha", 718 m) is a lone forested mountain rising straight out of the Silesian plain about 30 km southwest of Wrocław. Known as the Silesian Olympus, it was a pagan sacred site long before Poland's baptism, and its slopes still…
Mountains & peaks
Krościenko nad Dunajcem
At the edge of Sokolica's rocky ridge (747 m) grows a pine that has become one of the icons of the Pieniny, and its neighbours are among the oldest pines in Poland — a study of three trees in 1995–1996 found them to be about 550 years old…
Mountains & peaks
Karpniki
Sokolik and Krzyżna Góra (roughly "SOH-koh-leek" and "KSHIZH-nah GOO-rah") are the two granite summits of the Falcon Mountains (Góry Sokole), a small range above the village of Karpniki in Lower Silesia, southwestern Poland. A short loop f…
Mountains & peaks
Zwardoń
Zwardoń sits high on a pass by the Slovak border, and snow lasts longer here than in the valleys. The biggest ski area in the village is Zwardoń Ski on the western slope of Mały Rachowiec – with the first chairlift in the area and a run yo…
Mountains & peaks
Chabówka
A road from Kraków to Hungary once crossed the glade at Stare Wierchy, with a toll point and an inn frequented by highwaymen. Today a PTTK mountain hut stands here, and the wide glade offers a panorama of the Tatras and Babia Góra. Stare W…
Mountains & peaks
Brenna
Sheep grazed the meadows of Stary Groń for more than three hundred years – a man named Gawlas set up the first shepherd's hut here as early as the first half of the 17th century, making this ridge the oldest pastoral centre in Brenna. Toda…
Mountains & peaks
Istebna
At 760 m above sea level, the broad Stecówka clearing slopes down towards the Olza valley, and the red Main Beskid Trail runs right across it. Several chapters of Istebna's highland history fit into one view here: a wooden church built in…
Mountains & peaks
Świeradów-Zdrój
On the southern slopes of Stóg, many small streams come together to form the Jizera (Izera), one of the largest rivers in the Czech Republic. The summit (1,105 m) at the western end of the High Ridge of the Jizera Mountains is one of the h…
Mountains & peaks
Wisła
Seen from the north, Stożek Wielki (978 m) has an almost perfect cone shape, which gave it its name — "stożek" means "cone" in Polish. The Polish-Czech border and the red Main Beskid Trail run over its summit, and just below the top stands…
Mountains & peaks
Wiśniowa
In spring the broad saddle of the Sucha Pass turns purple with crocuses, and all year round trails from Dobczyce, Myślenice and Kudłacze meet here. Yet Sucha Polana in the Lubomir and Łysina range is more than a place for a campfire: durin…
Mountains & peaks
Zakopane
Suche Czuby – properly Suche Czuby Kondrackie – are three granite crags on the main ridge of the Western Tatras, between Goryczkowa Czuba and Suchy Wierch Kondracki. The Polish–Slovak border runs along them, and the red trail from Kasprowy…
Mountains & peaks
Szklarska Poręba
Szrenica (pronounced shreh-NEE-tsa, 1,362 m) is the rounded granite summit that towers over the resort town of Szklarska Poręba in Poland's Karkonosze, or Giant Mountains. It is one of the easiest high viewpoints in the range to reach: a t…
Mountains & peaks
Goleszów
Tuł (621 m) looks like an ordinary wooded hump between Goleszów and Leszna Górna, but it has two remarkable stories. At the end of the Bronze Age it carried one of the largest and highest-lying Lusatian culture settlements in the Polish Ca…
Mountains & peaks
Nowy Targ
Turbacz (say "TOOR-bach"), at 1,310 m, is the highest peak of the Gorce Mountains in southern Poland and a classic day hike above the town of Nowy Targ. Just below the summit stands a large stone mountain hut, and the meadows around it off…
Mountains & peaks
Rycerka Górna
Wielka Racza (1,236 m) is the highest summit of the Wielka Racza group in the Żywiec-Kysuce Beskids and one of the best viewpoints on the Polish–Slovak border. The forest ends abruptly and gives way to a grassy summit meadow with a viewing…
Mountains & peaks
Ustrzyki Górne
From the top of Wielka Rawka you can see Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine at once – and on a very clear day even peaks more than 140 km away. This 1,307-metre summit is the highest point of the border ridge in the Western Bieszczady and offers…
Mountains & peaks
Jaworki
Wysoka, also known as Wysokie Skałki (1050 m, precisely 1049.9 m), is the highest peak of the Pieniny Mountains and of the whole Pieniny Klippen Belt, and the Polish–Slovak border runs right over its summit. The forest ends just below the…