Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
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Katowice
At the western end of Mickiewicza Street stand two silver-and-gold office towers that in 1981 were the tallest buildings in Poland outside Warsaw. The Stalexport Towers were designed by an architect from Belgrade and built by a Swedish fir…
Monuments & mounds
Bydgoszcz
Above the Brda river, by the Jerzy Sulima-Kamiński Bridge, a young man holding a balancing pole has been walking a rope for over twenty years without ever falling. "Przechodzący przez rzekę" ("Man Crossing the River"), known locally as the…
Other
Białystok
Right next to Kościuszko Market Square, a stretch of pavement in Białystok turns into a guide to the history of Polish blues. The slabs of Blues Alley (Aleja Bluesa) carry the names of people who played, recorded and championed the genre –…
Gardens
Rudy
Behind the chancel of the former Cistercian church in Rudy grows an oak that dates back to the last Jagiellonian kings, and right next to it stand young trees named after popes. The Papal Oaks Avenue is a small but unusual spot in the park…
Other
Władysławowo
The Avenue of Sports Stars in Władysławowo is a promenade almost directly in front of the gate of the Central Sports Centre in Cetniewo, where since 2000 bronze stars bearing the names of athletes, coaches and journalists have been set int…
Other
Busko-Zdrój
On the promenade of the Spa Park in Busko-Zdrój, between the main façade of the old Bathhouse (today the Marconi Sanatorium) and the fountain, a row of commemorative slabs is set into the paving. Each carries a bronze "Little Sun" bearing…
Other
Międzyzdroje
The Walk of Fame in Międzyzdroje (say "myen-dzih-ZDRO-yeh"), known in Polish as Aleja Gwiazd, is Poland's answer to Hollywood's famous sidewalk: more than 200 bronze handprints of Polish actors, musicians and directors set into the seaside…
Landmarks
Częstochowa
Holy Virgin Mary Avenue (Aleja Najświętszej Maryi Panny, known locally simply as "Aleje") is the grand central boulevard of Częstochowa (say "chen-stoh-HOH-vah"), Poland's great pilgrimage city. Some 44 m wide, with a tree-lined pedestrian…
Monuments & mounds
Sobótka
On large granite rocks at the foot of Mount Ślęża, porcelain plaques show the photos and achievements of Poland's finest cyclists. The Cycling Walk of Fame in Sobótka is — as the wroclaw.pl portal points out — the only such avenue in the c…
Historic sites
Góra Świętej Anny
Stone terraces cut into a former limestone quarry were meant to hold 7,000 seated and 20,000 standing spectators. The amphitheatre on Góra Świętej Anny was built by the Nazis in the 1930s as a stage for propaganda rallies, with a mausoleum…
Gardens
Racibórz
The Moravian Gate Arboretum in Racibórz (Arboretum Bramy Morawskiej; Racibórz is pronounced roughly "rah-CHEE-boosh") is a free botanical garden and forest on the eastern edge of this town in southern Poland. Its roughly 162 hectares of hi…
Gardens
Zielonka
The Forest Arboretum in Zielonka is a free-to-visit tree collection run by the Poznań University of Life Sciences, set deep inside the Puszcza Zielonka forest northeast of Poznań, Poland. About 1,100 species and varieties of trees and shru…
Churches & monasteries
Gdańsk
Oliwa Cathedral in Gdańsk (Archikatedra Oliwska, pronounced roughly "oh-LEE-vah") is a former Cistercian abbey church, the longest church in Poland and home to a famous Rococo organ whose carved angels and stars actually move as it plays.…
Churches & monasteries
Częstochowa
The Archcathedral of the Holy Family in Częstochowa (say "chen-stoh-HOH-vah") is one of the largest churches in Poland: a neo-Gothic red-brick basilica with twin spires over 80 m (260 ft) tall, standing just a few minutes' walk from the ci…
Landmarks
Sławków
In August 1697 King Augustus II the Strong feasted at the Sławków inn and — so the story goes — broke a silver cup with his bare hands in front of the guests. The wooden inn at Rynek 2 still stands and still feeds visitors: a restaurant ha…
Mountains & peaks
Soblówka
Poland's first PTTK "bacówka" – a small mountain hut – was supposed to be flown up to the meadow in one piece by helicopter from the village of Soblówka. That proved technically impossible, so the wooden hut was built on site on Hala Rycer…
Mountains & peaks
Jastrzębik
Bacówka nad Wierchomlą is a small PTTK mountain hut in the Sądecki Beskids, set in a broad clearing at 887 m above sea level on the trail between Runek and Pusta Wielka. From the clearing you can see the Radziejowa range and, on clear days…
Nature
Brodnica
Above Brodnica the Drwęca river makes a wide bend, and every spring its flat, marshy valley floor floods. During migration up to 20,000 waterbirds stop here, including up to 7,000 greater white-fronted geese. The easiest way to look into t…
Mountains & peaks
Istebna
Signs give the height as 1220 m, but that figure refers to a survey point set almost 5 m above the ground on a concrete obelisk – the summit itself is about 1215 m. Barania Góra is the second-highest peak of the Silesian Beskids (after Skr…
Fortifications
Warszawa
The Warsaw Barbican (Barbakan, pronounced "bar-BAH-kahn") is a red-brick fortified gateway from the mid-16th century that links the Old Town and the New Town in the heart of Poland's capital. Almost every walk through the Old Town passes t…
Viewpoints
Wrocław
Bastion Sakwowy in Wrocław (roughly "SAHK-vo-vy"; long known locally as Partisans' Hill) is a 16th-century bastion of the old city walls that was turned into a romantic hilltop promenade in the 19th century. Following a major restoration c…
Fortifications
Byczyna
Piaskowa (Sand) Tower, also called the South Tower, closes off from the south one of the best-preserved rings of town walls in Poland. Inside, the vault over a former starvation dungeon has survived, and during the 2023–2024 restoration th…
Fortifications
Olkusz
The tower in Olkusz is a reconstructed half-tower with a stretch of defensive wall, standing in a corner of the Old Town right next to St Andrew's Basilica. It is the best-preserved and most legible trace of the medieval fortifications of…
Nature
Elbląg
Bażantarnia in Elbląg (roughly "ba-zhan-TAR-nya," meaning "pheasantry") is a historic forest park of 369 hectares (about 910 acres) inside the city limits, on the edge of the Elbląg Upland. Deep ravines, streams and beech-covered hills ear…