Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Castles
Sieraków
Of the great Opaliński residence on the Warta river, only the ground floor of one wing survived, used for years as an ice house. When richly decorated family sarcophagi were brought out of the crypt of Sieraków’s former Bernardine church i…
Castles
Siedlec
The chronicles say almost nothing about the castle on Ostrężnik. The only record, in registers kept in Częstochowa, mentions "the ruin of a tower or castle", and archaeologists suspect that this early 14th-century stronghold may never have…
Castles
Krosno Odrzańskie
The Piast Castle in Krosno Odrzańskie (say "KROSS-no oh-JHAHN-skyeh") is a medieval residence of the Silesian dukes on the Oder River, where Duke Henry the Bearded died on 19 March 1238. After being burned in 1945 it was restored in stages…
Castles
Krościenko nad Dunajcem
In the 13th century even Kraków's Wawel still had defences of timber and earth, yet deep in the Pieniny Mountains a stone castle built with mortar was already standing – one of the first of its kind in Poland. The ruins of Pieniny Castle,…
Castles
Sułoszowa
Pieskowa Skała Castle (roughly "pyes-KOH-vah SKAH-wah") is a Renaissance residence perched on a limestone spur above the Prądnik valley in Ojców National Park, about 30 km (19 miles) northwest of Kraków. One of the most beautiful castles o…
Castles
Grzmiąca
On the cone-shaped, rocky summit of Rogowiec, at 870 m above sea level, lie the remains of a fortress regarded as the highest-situated castle in Poland. Not much is left – fragments of walls and a three-metre stump of a tower – but the cli…
Castles
Dobromierz
A moat, stone footbridges and a 40-metre tower make Roztoka Castle look like a medieval fortress, yet inside it hides a suite of palatial salons where Netflix filmed "The Doll" and the third season of "1670". For almost 450 years this was…
Castles
Lesko
On a wooded hill above a bend of the San river, by the road from Lesko to Sanok, stand the ruins of the Kmita family's medieval stronghold. Sobień Castle is sometimes called the historic Gateway to the Bieszczady Mountains. Since summer 20…
Castles
Grybów
Legend has it that the dragon Grynboss got his wings stuck in a tower of the stronghold in Grybów because he kept greedily stealing the castellan's herbal liqueurs. The stronghold really exists, though it is not medieval: Stara Baśń Castle…
Castles
Szydłowiec
Szydłowiec Castle (Zamek Szydłowieckich i Radziwiłłów) is a white Gothic-Renaissance residence of the Szydłowiecki and Radziwiłł families, set on an island among the channels of the Korzeniówka stream. Today it houses the Museum of Folk Mu…
Castles
Tarnobrzeg
Dzików Castle, also called the Tarnowski Castle, in Tarnobrzeg (say "tar-NOH-bzheg") is a former magnate residence set in a landscaped park in southeastern Poland. Today it houses the Historical Museum of the City of Tarnobrzeg and the Dzi…
Castles
Wrocław
Topacz Castle (Zamek Topacz, pronounced roughly "ZAH-mek TOH-pach") in the village of Ślęza, just beyond Wrocław's southern city limits, is a medieval residential tower that grew into a Renaissance manor and now operates as a hotel with re…
Castles
Reszel
On a hill above the Dajna valley, a few kilometres from Święta Lipka, stands a small brick Teutonic castle that has served as a church for more than four hundred years. Scholars regard it as the best-preserved example of the Order's most m…
Castles
Bielsko-Biała
Above Bolesław Chrobry Square, on the edge of the Old Town, stands the oldest and largest historic building in Bielsko-Biała. From a distance it looks like a 19th-century palace with a crenellated tower, but its walls hide a medieval borde…
Castles
Człuchów
Looking at the red tower above the lake, it is hard to guess that Człuchów once had the second-largest castle of the Teutonic Order – only Malbork was bigger. Of the fortress where Konrad von Wallenrode and other knights resided, the main…
Castles
Dąbrowa
Dąbrowa Castle (roughly "dom-BRO-vah") is a 17th-century Renaissance residence near Opole in southern Poland, remodeled in the 1890s into a Neo-Renaissance mansion and famous for its spiral, twisted brick chimneys. It stands in a large his…
Castles
Wielka Wieś
On a limestone crag in the Kluczwoda Valley, between Wielka Wieś and Biały Kościół, stand the modest remains of a castle that lasted only a few decades. It was built at the start of the 14th century, and by the middle of that century part…
Castles
Giżycko
By the canal linking lakes Niegocin and Kisajno stands a small brick house with Renaissance gables – all that remains of the Teutonic Knights' castle in Giżycko. Over six centuries it served as the seat of the Order's procurators, a ducal…
Castles
Gołuchów
Gołuchów Castle (say: go-WOO-hoof) is a fairy-tale château in western Poland that has housed a branch of the National Museum in Poznań since 1951. Rebuilt in the 19th century by Princess Izabela Działyńska, née Czartoryska, in the spirit o…
Castles
Konin
Bishop Andrzej Łaskarz (1362–1426) built a brick castle and a Gothic church on the shore of Lake Gosławskie in 1418–1426. The castle survived as a ruin, served for years as a brewery or distillery and, after restoration in 1978–1986, becam…
Castles
Karpniki
Karpniki Castle is one of the most romantic residences in the Jelenia Góra Valley: turrets and battlements reflected in the moat, with the wooded slopes of Krzyżna Góra in the Rudawy Janowickie hills behind. Beneath its mid-19th-century Go…
Castles
Koło
On an artificial mound in a bend of the Warta river, just outside the town of Koło, stand the brick ruins of a royal castle from the time of Casimir the Great. Since 2026 there has been a viewing terrace on top of the surviving tower, and…
Castles
Zebrzydowice
On the road from Jastrzębie-Zdrój to Cieszyn, beside a pond in the village of Kończyce Małe, stands a building nicknamed the "Wawel of Cieszyn". It owes the name to its Renaissance arcaded courtyard, something no other noble residence in t…
Castles
Korfantów
On a low hill above the Ścinawa Niemodlińska valley, at the north-western edge of Korfantów, stands the late Renaissance castle of what was once Friedland. From a distance you see a square tower and three wings arranged in a horseshoe; up…