Attractions
Attractions in Poland
The sights worth building a day around.
Poland's attractions run from the medieval market squares of Krakow and Wroclaw to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, the memorial at Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Teutonic castle at Malbork. Each page below covers what the place is, how long to spend and how to get there, grouped by city.
All Attractions in Poland
Gdańsk
Amber Museum (Great Mill)
The Amber Museum in Gdańsk tells the story of Baltic amber, from raw fossilised resin to jewellery and art, inside the Great Mill, a 14th-century Teutonic watermill.
Katowice
Silesian Theatre (Stanisław Wyspiański Silesian Theatre)
The largest theatre in Silesia, a Neoclassical building on Katowice's Market Square with a history stretching back to 1907 and more than a thousand premieres to its name.
Kazimierz Dolny
Historic Well (Studnia na Rynku)
A large timber-roofed well at the lower end of Kazimierz Dolny's Market Square, given its present form in 1913 by architect Jan Koszczyc-Witkiewicz and tied to a local legend about returning to the town.
Kraków
Old Synagogue (Stara Synagoga)
The Old Synagogue at 24 Szeroka Street is the oldest surviving synagogue building in Poland and now a branch of the Museum of Kraków telling the story of the city's Jews.
Łódź
Survivors' Park and Marek Edelman Dialogue Center
An 8.5-hectare memorial park in northern Łódź that honours those who survived the Łódź Ghetto, with 418 trees planted by survivors and a dialogue centre devoted to the city's wartime memory.
Lublin
Po Farze Square (Plac Po Farze)
An open square in Lublin's Old Town that marks the site of the demolished parish church of St. Michael the Archangel, with the lost building's outline traced in the paving and an elevated terrace over the rooftops.
Olsztyn
Municipal Forest (Las Miejski)
A large working forest inside Olsztyn's city limits, often cited as the biggest urban forest complex in Europe, laced with marked trails and crossed by two rivers.
Poznań
Old Zoo (Stare Zoo), Poznań
The Old Zoo in Poznań is Poland's oldest continuously operating zoological garden, a compact heritage-listed park of period pavilions near the city centre.
Toruń
Toruń Fortress (Fort IV)
A ring of 19th-century Prussian forts around Toruń, with Fort IV the best preserved and open for tours of its brick corridors, barrack rooms and moats.
Warsaw
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Saxon Garden
A national war memorial with an eternal flame and round-the-clock honour guard on Pilsudski Square, backed by one of Warsaw's oldest public parks.
Wrocław
National Museum in Wrocław
One of Poland's principal art museums, set in a monumental 1880s brick building near the Oder, with collections ranging from medieval Silesian art to Polish painting of the 17th to 20th centuries.
Zakopane
Karol Szymanowski Museum at Villa Atma
A wooden villa on Kasprusie Street where composer Karol Szymanowski lived and worked, now a biographical museum devoted to his life and music.
Poland fits a lot into one country: medieval market squares, a salt mine carved into underground chapels, the memorial at Auschwitz-Birkenau, mountain trails and a long Baltic coast. Seventeen places hold UNESCO World Heritage status, and most of the headline attractions cluster around the cities you are likely to base yourself in, so a first trip rarely means long transfers.
Where the big attractions are
Krakow has the densest cluster: the Main Market Square, laid out in 1257 and among the largest medieval squares in Europe, the underground Wieliczka Salt Mine, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial within a day trip. Warsaw rebuilt its Old Town from wartime rubble, Gdansk lines the Motlawa with tall merchant houses, and Wroclaw and Torun keep intact Gothic centres. The mountains around Zakopane and the lakes of Masuria add the outdoor side.
How to choose
Group attractions by the city you are staying in rather than chasing them across the map. Krakow, Warsaw and Gdansk each reward two or three days and put more sights within an easy day trip. For the classic sights that define the country, see the best viewpoints and our city guides.
Before you go
The busiest sites use timed entry, so book Wieliczka and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial ahead, especially in summer. Many state museums have one free day a week. Tickets are good value by European standards; our note on costs in Poland has the typical prices.
Attractions by city
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