The tripto catalogue lists 115 palaces – from royal and aristocratic residences with original interiors to manor houses and hunting lodges turned into hotels.
Wilanów Palace is the Baroque residence of King John III Sobieski, built in 1681–1696; it survived the partitions and both world wars almost untouched, and has been a museum since 1805. Branicki Palace in Białystok, nicknamed the Versailles of Podlasie, has Rococo interiors and a reconstructed French garden. At Kozłówka near Lublin, the Zamoyski family's authentic interiors from around 1900 have survived, and next door is Poland's only Gallery of Socialist Realist Art. The neo-Gothic palace in Kamieniec Ząbkowicki was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, with terraces by Peter Joseph Lenné. The Czartoryski Palace in Puławy, with the Temple of the Sibyl in its park, was once called the Polish Athens.
Most palaces are in the Silesian region (more than 20) and Lower Silesia (close to 20), followed by Greater Poland (over a dozen) and Lesser Poland. Lower Silesia is known for its former aristocratic residences, some of which are open to guests again.
In practice: allow one to two hours for a palace with its park. Interior tickets usually cost 30–60 zł, and many residences have a free day – Wilanów on Thursdays, Kozłówka on Tuesdays (limited), Puławy on Mondays. At Wilanów, visitors aged 8–26 pay 1 zł. Palace parks are at their best from spring to autumn; some palaces are now hotels, so interiors are not always open.
Hidden gemPalaces
Warsaw
Wilanów Palace (Polish: Pałac w Wilanowie, roughly "vee-LAH-noof") is the Baroque summer residence of King John III Sobieski in southern Warsaw, often called the "Polish Versailles." Unlike much of the capital, which was rebuilt after Worl…
Palaces
Białystok
In the 19th century more than a hundred statues disappeared from the gardens of Branicki Palace — reportedly because the nude figures might corrupt the pupils of the tsarist Institute for Young Ladies of Noble Birth that had moved into the…
Hidden gemPalaces
Kozłówka
Kozłówka Palace (say "kozh-WOOF-kah") is a Baroque residence of the aristocratic Zamoyski family about 40 km north of Lublin in eastern Poland. Today it houses the Zamoyski Museum, whose interiors from around 1900 survive almost complete,…
Hidden gemPalaces
Kamieniec Ząbkowicki
The Palace of Marianne of Orange in Kamieniec Ząbkowicki (say "kah-MYEN-yets zomb-ko-VEETS-kee") is a vast neo-Gothic castle-style palace in Lower Silesia, southwestern Poland, designed by the great Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schink…
Hidden gemPalaces
Puławy
The Czartoryski Palace in Puławy (say "poo-WAH-vih") is the centerpiece of a palace and landscape park that around 1800 was one of the great cultural hubs of Poland — so much so that Puławy was nicknamed the "Polish Athens". Here Princess…
Hidden gemPalaces
gmina Barciany
365 windows for the days of the year, 52 rooms for the weeks, 12 chimneys for the months, 7 balconies for the days of the week and 4 portico columns for the seasons — this is how tradition explains the architecture of Drogosze Palace, and…
Palaces
Białystok
In the 19th century more than a hundred statues disappeared from the gardens of Branicki Palace — reportedly because the nude figures might corrupt the pupils of the tsarist Institute for Young Ladies of Noble Birth that had moved into the…
Hidden gemPalaces
Kozłówka
Kozłówka Palace (say "kozh-WOOF-kah") is a Baroque residence of the aristocratic Zamoyski family about 40 km north of Lublin in eastern Poland. Today it houses the Zamoyski Museum, whose interiors from around 1900 survive almost complete,…
Hidden gemPalaces
Kamieniec Ząbkowicki
The Palace of Marianne of Orange in Kamieniec Ząbkowicki (say "kah-MYEN-yets zomb-ko-VEETS-kee") is a vast neo-Gothic castle-style palace in Lower Silesia, southwestern Poland, designed by the great Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schink…
Hidden gemPalaces
Łomnica
A square, three-storey palace with two corner turrets stands where the roads to Karpniki and Wojanów split, about 5 km from Jelenia Góra. In the early 1990s it was a ruin; today it is one of the liveliest estates in the Valley of Palaces a…
Hidden gemPalaces
gmina Barciany
365 windows for the days of the year, 52 rooms for the weeks, 12 chimneys for the months, 7 balconies for the days of the week and 4 portico columns for the seasons — this is how tradition explains the architecture of Drogosze Palace, and…
Hidden gemPalaces
Warszawa
Wilanów Palace (Polish: Pałac w Wilanowie, roughly "vee-LAH-noof") is the Baroque summer residence of King John III Sobieski in southern Warsaw, often called the "Polish Versailles." Unlike much of the capital, which was rebuilt after Worl…
Hidden gemPalaces
Łódź
Three female figures stand on top of the façade at 104 Piotrkowska Street: Liberty, Industry and Commerce. This is how Juliusz Heinzel, known as the "king of wool" and owner of the largest woollen goods factory in the Kingdom of Poland, pr…
Hidden gemPalaces
Kraków
Krzysztofory Palace, on the corner of the Main Market Square and ul. Szczepańska, is the headquarters of the Museum of Kraków and one of the best places to get to grips with the city's history in a single afternoon. It takes its name from…
Hidden gemPalaces
Wisła
In the night before Christmas Eve 1927, the Habsburgs' freshly renovated hunting lodge in Wisła, intended as a residence for the President of Poland, burned down in unexplained circumstances. In its place Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz designed a mo…
Hidden gemPalaces
Warszawa
For nearly a hundred years this was the point from which distances from Warsaw were measured, and on 2 November 1830 Fryderyk Chopin handed in his luggage at the post office here, not knowing he was leaving Poland for good. Wessel Palace (…
Hidden gemPalaces
Puławy
The Czartoryski Palace in Puławy (say "poo-WAH-vih") is the centerpiece of a palace and landscape park that around 1800 was one of the great cultural hubs of Poland — so much so that Puławy was nicknamed the "Polish Athens". Here Princess…
Hidden gemPalaces
gmina Przygodzice
In the autumn of 1829 the young Fryderyk Chopin spent more than a week in Antonin, playing music with the cello-playing prince, giving lessons to his daughter and writing his Polonaise in C major, Op. 3 for cello and piano. Prince Antoni R…
Hidden gemPalaces
Żywiec
Paintings by Wojciech Kossak and Julian Fałat hung on the walls, the fireplaces came from Italy and the bathroom fittings from England. The Habsburg Palace in Żywiec, also known as the New Castle, was for half a century the main residence…
Palaces
Sobótka
The Neo-Renaissance "castle" in Sobótka-Górka, at the foot of Mount Ślęża, hides something far older than its 19th-century turrets: the medieval chapel and church of a former monastery of the Canons Regular of St Augustine. It is one of th…
Palaces
Siedlce
The Ogiński Palace in Siedlce is a classicist residence with a white columned portico, set in Aleksandria Park – the town's most important historic monument. In the 18th century Princess Aleksandra Ogińska turned Siedlce into a centre of E…
Palaces
Bukowiec
Bukowiec Palace is the heart of one of the first landscape parks in Lower Silesia. In the late 18th century Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden turned a Renaissance manor house here into a Neoclassical residence and, inspired by his travels…
Palaces
Kopice
Kopice Palace (say "ko-PEE-tseh") is a romantic Gothic Revival ruin reflected in a pond in a wooded landscape park in Poland's Opole region. Its turrets, gables and lacy stone tracery have earned it nicknames like "Poland's Disneyland," an…
Palaces
Krzyżanowice
Franz Liszt lived and composed in this palace in 1843–1848, and before him Ludwig van Beethoven visited his friend and patron, Prince Karl Lichnowsky. Krzyżanowice Palace, near Racibórz in Upper Silesia, is a neo-Gothic residence with octa…
Palaces
Żyrowa
An American millionaire bought it as a wedding present for his daughter, Kaiser Wilhelm II stayed here, and after the war it was used to treat children at risk of tuberculosis. Żyrowa Palace is one of the largest early Baroque residences i…
Palaces
Włodowice
In July 1683, on his way to the relief of Vienna, King John III Sobieski stopped here. Today all that remains of Włodowice Palace on Krakowska Street is a burnt-out shell with a Baroque gable – the ruin of a residence built in 1669–1681 fo…
Palaces
Warszawa
The name comes from the Italian "belvedere", a beautiful view: the palace stands on the highest stretch of the Warsaw escarpment, above Łazienki Park. Grand Duke Konstantin lived at Belweder, insurgents stormed it on the November Night of…
Palaces
Świerklaniec
The white Neo-Gothic palace with a tall tower in Nakło Śląskie looks more like a Tudor-era English residence than a typical Silesian palace. It was built in 1856–1858 by Count Hugo I Henckel von Donnersmarck, one of the richest industrial…
Palaces
Janów
This small manor house with a columned portico, tucked beneath old trees in the hamlet of Bystrzanowice-Dwór, passed through the hands of three well-known families within two centuries: the Bystrzanowskis, the Krasińskis and the Raczyńskis…
Palaces
Zator
On the road from Zator to Wadowice, in a small village on the edge of the Carpathian Foothills, stands one of the oldest noble residences in western Lesser Poland. The masonry fortified manor in Graboszyce was built around 1570–1580 by Dzi…
Wilanów Palace – the Baroque residence of John III Sobieski, which survived both world wars almost untouched. A palace and park ticket costs 70 zł from April to October and 60 zł in winter.
Yes, on selected days: Wilanów on Thursdays, Kozłówka on Tuesdays and the Czartoryski Palace in Puławy on Mondays. At Wilanów, young people aged 8–26 pay 1 zł.
In the Silesian region (more than 20 in the catalogue) and Lower Silesia (close to 20). Greater Poland also has many.
Updated: · Opening hours and prices can change — check the attraction page before you go.