Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Landmarks
Częstochowa
On its southern side, the Jasna Góra hill is skirted by a street where the headquarters of the Home Army's commander-in-chief stood in the last months of the Second World War. It was in house no. 21 that General Leopold Okulicki, codename…
Landmarks
Krynki
Drivers arriving in Krynki for the first time often circle Plac Jagielloński a few times before finding the right exit. From the roundabout in the centre of this small town near the Belarusian border, no fewer than 12 streets radiate outwa…
Landmarks
Bydgoszcz
Townhouses, rear wings and former small factories rising straight out of the Młynówka river opposite Mill Island – this is Bydgoszcz Venice, one of the best-known views of Bydgoszcz. This group of old-town buildings forms the southern and…
Landmarks
Kraków
The Town Hall Tower in Kraków (Polish: Wieża Ratuszowa, "VYEH-zhah rah-too-SHOH-vah") is the Gothic tower rising from the Main Market Square – the only part of the medieval town hall that survived its demolition in the 19th century. About…
Landmarks
Strzelin
In the cellars of this tower a starvation dungeon survives, its walls covered with inscriptions and drawings by prisoners dating from the 16th century. Above it now rises the rebuilt town hall tower of Strzelin, more than 70 metres tall, w…
Landmarks
Szczawnica
The Nad Zdrojami Villa, also known as the House over the Springs, stands on the eastern side of Dietl Square in the heart of spa-town Szczawnica. Since the 19th century, spa guests have been served the local carbonated waters here, right a…
Landmarks
Zakopane
On the night of 22–23 August 1939, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz painted his last portrait in this house, and the next day he left Zakopane, never to return. Witkiewiczówka on Antałówka street is a wooden villa in the Zakopane style from 190…
Landmarks
Olsztyn
The High Gate in Olsztyn (Polish: Wysoka Brama, "VIH-so-kah BRAH-mah"), historically called the Upper Gate, is a 14th-century Gothic town gate and the classic entrance to the Old Town of this lakeside city in northeastern Poland. It is the…
Landmarks
Wrocław
Piasek Island in Wrocław (say "PYAH-sek," meaning "sand") is a small island in the Oder River between the Old Town and Cathedral Island, and it lies on the city's most scenic walking route. It's dominated by the Gothic Church of the Virgin…
Landmarks
Gdańsk
Granary Island in Gdańsk (Wyspa Spichrzów, roughly "VIS-pah SPEEKH-zhoov") sits between the Motława River and its man-made channel, the New Motława, directly across from the Main Town waterfront. For centuries it held hundreds of grain war…
Landmarks
Płock
Cathedral Hill in Płock (Wzgórze Tumskie; say "PWOTSK") is the historic heart of one of Poland's oldest cities, perched on a high bank above the Vistula River about 120 km northwest of Warsaw. Here a Romanesque-Renaissance cathedral holdin…
Landmarks
Opole
University Hill, known to locals as the Górka ("the little hill"), is the highest point of Opole's old town – 165 m above sea level, a few steps from the market square. In the Middle Ages lime was burned here; for five centuries it was hom…
Landmarks
Lądek-Zdrój
A green dome topped with a lantern rises above the centre of Lądek-Zdrój, and beneath it warm water has been flowing for more than three hundred years. The Wojciech spa house was built in 1678–1680, modelled on the Turkish baths of Buda, a…
Landmarks
Gdańsk
The Green Gate in Gdańsk closes off Long Market on the river side and forms the grand finale of the Royal Route. This broad Renaissance building with four archways was meant to be the Gdańsk residence of Polish kings – none ever lived here…
Landmarks
Gdańsk
The Golden Gate in Gdańsk is the ornate Mannerist gateway at the western end of Long Street (ulica Długa) and one of the classic photo spots of the Main Town. Polish kings once passed through it on the Royal Route when entering the city. I…
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…