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
Warsaw
Warsaw Zoo
Warsaw's municipal zoo sits on the Praga bank of the Vistula and is known both for its thousands of animals and for the wartime rescue story behind 'The Zookeeper's Wife'.
Wrocław
Old Jewish Cemetery, Wrocław
A remarkably well-preserved 19th-century Jewish cemetery on Ślężna street, now a museum branch of the City Museum of Wrocław, where elaborate tombs and carved headstones stand among overgrown greenery.
Zakopane
Jan Kasprowicz Museum at Harenda
A biographical museum in the wooden villa where poet Jan Kasprowicz lived until his death in 1926, set at the Kraków-side entrance to Zakopane and preserving his rooms, manuscripts and personal effects.
Zamość
Zamość City Park (Park Miejski)
A landscaped park of about 11 hectares wrapping the northern edge of Zamość's Old Town, laid out in the 1920s on former fortress moats and earthworks. It is a green belt around the historic centre, with a pond and preserved fortification relics.
Gdańsk
National Maritime Museum and SS Sołdek
Gdańsk's National Maritime Museum spreads across historic granaries on Ołowianka Island and the opposite Motława bank, with the SS Sołdek, a post-war Gdańsk-built cargo ship, moored alongside as a floating museum you can board.
Katowice
Beboki Figurines
A trail of small bronze goblin figurines scattered across Katowice, based on Silesian folklore, that visitors hunt down street by street.
Kraków
Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta is a planned socialist-realist district in eastern Kraków, begun in 1949 as a model workers' city around the Lenin Steelworks and now toured for its Stalinist architecture and Cold War history.
Toruń
Dybów Castle Ruins
The brick ruins of a 15th-century royal castle on the far bank of the Vistula from Toruń's Old Town, freely open to walk through, with views back across the river to the city skyline.
Warsaw
PGE Narodowy (National Stadium)
Warsaw's national stadium is Poland's largest football arena, built for Euro 2012 and known for its red-and-white latticework facade and retractable roof.
Wrocław
Wrocław Main Railway Station (Wrocław Główny)
Wrocław's main railway station is a castle-like Tudor neo-Gothic terminus from 1857, and for many arriving travellers it is the first thing they see of the city.
Zamość
Infułatka (Sacred Museum)
The Infułatka is a Baroque building beside Zamość Cathedral that now holds a museum of sacred art, with liturgical vestments, vessels and a coronation alb on display.
Gdańsk
National Museum in Gdańsk (Memling's Last Judgment)
Gdańsk's National Museum, set in a former Franciscan monastery, holds Hans Memling's triptych The Last Judgment, one of the most valuable paintings in any Polish collection.
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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