Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Old towns & squares
Wisła
Wisła has no classic medieval market square. Its heart is Bogumił Hoff Square (plac Bogumiła Hoffa), shaped in the 1930s when this Beskid village was turning into a fashionable resort. The square is named after the man who "discovered" Wis…
Old towns & squares
Woźniki
Woźniki received market rights around 1270, making it one of the oldest towns in Upper Silesia. Its market square keeps its medieval layout, protected as a heritage site together with the houses lining it. On the square stand a town hall b…
Old towns & squares
Ząbkowice Śląskie
Ząbkowice Śląskie's market square is dominated by a neo-Gothic town hall with a 72-metre tower – already the sixth on this spot since the town was founded. Its predecessor was destroyed in the great fire of 24 April 1858, and to pay for th…
Old towns & squares
Zamość
The Great Market Square in Zamość (pronounced roughly "ZAH-moshch") is the centerpiece of a Renaissance "ideal city" in eastern Poland and one of the most harmonious public squares in Central Europe. Laid out in the late 16th century as a…
Old towns & squares
Żary
The Market Square in Żary is the centre of the largest town in Polish Lusatia, which according to Statistics Poland (2021) has 36,004 inhabitants. In the middle of the square stands a free-standing town hall whose brick origins go back to…
Old towns & squares
Zielona Góra
The Old Market Square in Zielona Góra (say "zhe-LOH-nah GOO-rah") is the historic heart of the capital of Lubusz Province in western Poland: a pedestrian square around a Gothic town hall with a slightly leaning 54 m tower, framed by colorf…
Old towns & squares
Złotoryja
Legend has it that after the plague of 1553 only seven men survived in Złotoryja, and on Christmas Eve they met in the market square to sing hymns together. Ever since, a shared town Christmas Eve on the square has been a tradition, revive…
Old towns & squares
Żywiec
Żywiec's market square was probably laid out in the first half of the 15th century, when the people of flood-prone Old Żywiec moved to the foot of Grojec hill. The regular, four-sided square has survived fires, floods and wars, and today,…
Old towns & squares
Frombork
Frombork's Market Square is laid out like a model of the Solar System: dark arcs in grey granite paving are the orbits, benches stand in for the planets, and Nicolaus Copernicus sits on the third one, Earth. The bronze figure looks towards…
Old towns & squares
Elbląg
Elbląg Old Town (say "EL-blonk") is one of the most unusual historic centers in Poland: it looks medieval at first glance, yet most of its gabled townhouses are less than forty years old. After the old Hanseatic town was flattened in 1945,…
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
Kraków
Kraków Old Town (Stare Miasto) is the medieval core of Poland's former royal capital: a compact grid of streets, churches and university colleges wrapped in a ring of parkland, centered on one of the largest market squares in Europe. Toget…
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
Sandomierz
Sandomierz Old Town (say "san-DOH-myesh") is one of Poland's loveliest historic centers: a hilltop town above the Vistula River with a sloping Market Square, a red-brick Gothic Town Hall crowned by a Renaissance parapet, a medieval city ga…
Old towns & squares
Toruń
Toruń Old Town (say "TOR-oon-y") is one of the best-preserved medieval town centers in Europe and the main reason travelers stop in this city on the Vistula River. Red-brick Gothic churches, merchants' houses, riverside walls, the great Ol…
Old towns & squares
Warszawa
Warsaw Old Town (Stare Miasto) is the historic heart of Poland's capital: a pastel-colored Market Square with the Mermaid statue, Castle Square with Sigismund's Column, the Royal Castle, a Gothic cathedral and red-brick city walls with the…
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…
Old towns & squares
Bydgoszcz
Old Fordon (Stary Fordon) is a former small town on the Vistula, part of Bydgoszcz since 1973 – with an intimate market square, churches, a historic synagogue and a view of the Fordon truss bridge. It looks nothing like big-city Bydgoszcz:…
Old towns & squares
Bydgoszcz
The Old Market Square (Stary Rynek, "STAH-rih RIN-ek") in Bydgoszcz, Poland, is the heart of the medieval town founded in 1346 – a rectangular square of about 100 × 125 m (330 × 410 ft) framed by colorful townhouses, the town hall in a for…
Old towns & squares
Poznań
Poznań's Old Market Square (Stary Rynek, say "STAH-ri RIN-ek") is the historic heart of one of Poland's oldest cities and among the most colorful squares in Central Europe. A Renaissance town hall with mechanical goats, a row of painted me…
Old towns & squares
Gdańsk
Long Street (ulica Długa) and the Long Market (Długi Targ) form the main axis of Gdańsk's Main Town and the heart of the Royal Route. The unofficial name recalls the ceremonial entries of Polish kings, a tradition begun in 1457 by Casimir…
Old towns & squares
Katowice
Mariacka Street (say "mar-YATS-ka") is the liveliest pedestrian street in central Katowice, lined with 19th-century townhouses and closed at one end by the soaring neo-Gothic spire of St. Mary's Church. By day it is a relaxed spot for coff…