141 Best Sights in Poland

Every Polish child knows the legend of the fire-breathing dragon that once terrorized residents from his Smocza Jama, a cave at the foot of Wawel Hill. Follow the signs to the ticket office opposite the castle, in the direction of the river. The dragon threatened to destroy the town unless he was fed a damsel a week. The king promised half his kingdom and his daughter's hand in marriage to any man who could slay the dragon. The usual quota of knights tried and failed. But finally a crafty cobbler named Skuba tricked the dragon into eating a lambskin filled with salt and sulfur. The dragon went wild with thirst, rushed into the Vistula River, and drank until it exploded. The Dragon's Den is still there, however, and in warmer months smoke and flame belch out of it every 15 minutes to thrill young visitors. A bronze statue of the dragon itself stands guard at the entrance.

Visiting the Dragon's Den involves a descent via a spiral stairway followed by walking on uneven ground through a rock cave, therefore it is advisable to bring comfortable walking shoes.

The oldest surviving example of Jewish religious architecture in Poland, this synagogue was built in the 15th century and reconstructed in Renaissance style following a fire in 1557. It was here in 1775 that Tadeusz Kościuszko successfully appealed to the Jewish community to join in the national insurrection. Looted and partly destroyed during the Nazi occupation, it has been rebuilt and now houses the Museum of the History and Culture of Kraków Jews, which is part of the Kraków City Historical Museum. Audio guides are available for an additional zł 10.

Isaac's Synagogue was named after its founder, Izaak Jakubowicz (reb Ajzyk reb Jekeles). One of the most famous Hasidic legends is connected with this pious Jew, who lived in Kazimierz.

One day he had a dream about a treasure hidden in Prague, near the Charles Bridge. Without thinking twice, Isaac went to Prague and found the bridge he had seen in his dream. The bridge was filled with soldiers, and Isaac was unsure what to do next when one of the soldiers approached him and asked what he was doing there. When Isaac told the soldier about his dream, the man laughed: "Only a naive fool would come so far for a dream! I myself keep having this dream that in a house of a Krakovian Jew named Isaac, son of Jacob, there is a treasure hidden under the furnace, but I'm not so foolish as to go to Kraków and check it out. After all, every second Jew is named Isaac, and every third, Jacob!" Isaac thanked him, returned home, dismantled the furnace, and found a great treasure, becoming one of the wealthiest citizens of Kazimierz—wealthy enough to found a magnificent synagogue. Today the early baroque building with a beautiful, stucco-decorated vault and marvelous arcades in the women's gallery is home to Chabad Lubawicz Foundation, which, among other things, is running a kosher store and a library.

This 16th-century synagogue is still used for worship and is named after the son of its founder, Rabbi Moses Isserles, who is buried in the cemetery attached to the synagogue. Used by the Jewish community from 1533 to 1799, this is the only well-preserved Renaissance Jewish cemetery in Europe. (The so-called new cemetery on ulica Miodowa, which contains many old headstones, was established in 1800.) Today this synagogue in Ashkenazi tradition again serves as a place of prayer for the local Jewish community and visitors. Visitors should wear a head covering out of respect.

The 19th-century Reformed Tempel Synagogue has a striking, eclectic decor complete with stained-glass windows. Under the care of the local Jewish Community, it is one of the venues of the famous Jewish Culture Festival.

The Romanesque collegiate church in Tum, which is built of granite and sandstone, dates back to the 12th century and is one of the most magnificent churches throughout Poland—and it's well worth a detour from the main routes if you are traveling to Łódź or Toruń from Warsaw. Even though it was partly damaged and has been rebuilt periodically throughout its history, the church has retained its original shape and many of its original architectural details. At the main entrance, note the Romanesque portal, which is framed by adoring angels. Be sure to take a look at the crucifix in the main aisle and the surviving fragments of ancient frescoes in the western apse.

Today the church stands well off the beaten tourist path, so it's not often visited, though you should expect absolutely no tourist infrastructure in the small village. The church is usually open, but if it happens to be locked when you arrive, the keys can be collected from the priest at the parish house opposite the church (approximately 100 meters to the east). Admission is free, but contributions toward the restoration of the church are gratefully accepted.

The Benedictine Abbey at Tyniec is perched high on a cliff above the Vistula River. Benedictine monks had settled at Tyniec as early as the 11th century, though the oldest remaining portions of today's abbey were not begun until the 12th century, and most of the buildings that stand today were begun in the 16th century. From this fortified cloister, the Confederates of Bar set off in 1772 to raid Kraków; as a result, the abbey was destroyed later that year by the Russian army. It was rebuilt, and it is those buildings that you see today. In 1817 the Benedictine order was banned, and the monks disbanded. It was not until 1939 that the order recovered the land and not until the late 1960s that it again became an abbey and the work of reconstruction began in earnest. From May to September recitals of organ music are held in the abbey church.

To get to the abbey from Kraków, take Highway 7 (E77) south to Highway A4, then take A4 about 4 km (2½ miles) to Tyniec; or take Bus 112 from most Grunwaldzki, near the Manggha Center. On summer weekends, Żegluga krakowska runs boat trips to the abbey from Kraków.

The beautiful Brama Floriańska (Florian Gate) was built around 1300 and leads through Kraków's old city walls to this street, which was laid out according to the town plan of 1257. The Gothic houses of the 13th-century burghers still remain, although they were rebuilt and given Renaissance or neoclassical facades. The house at No. 24, decorated with an emblem of three bells, was once the workshop of a bell founder. The chains hanging on the walls of the house at No. 17 barred the streets to invaders when the city was under siege. The Dom pod Murzynami (Negroes' House), standing where ulica Floriańska enters the market square, is a 16th-century tenement decorated with two rather fancifully imagined African tribesmen—testimony to the fascination with Africa entertained by Europeans in the Age of Discovery. The house was also once known as Dom pod Etiopy (House under the Ethiopians).

This street, which leads from almost the center of town to the foot of Wawel Hill, is considered by some the most beautiful street in Europe. Most of the houses here date from the 14th and 15th centuries, although they were "modernized" in Renaissance or later styles. The street was named for the many canons of Wawel Cathedral who have lived here, including Pope John Paul II, who lived in the Chapter House at No. 19 and later in the late-16th-century Dean's House at No. 21.

Łódź's main boulevard is lined with shops, cafés, cinemas, galleries, bars, and clubs. And to think that in the mid–19th century it was a road leading through the woods. Today Piotrkowska is the longest street (with the longest uninterrupted line of buildings) in Europe, but if you get tired of walking, you can always take a rickshaw or a "retro streetcar." Along the street, you will find benches with life-size statues of famous Poles: poet Julian Tuwim, novelist Władysław Reymont, and pianist Artur Rubinstein. Since 2015, the courtyard at number 3, the Passage of the Rose, features an installation made from shattered mirrors by Polish artist Joanna Rajkowska. Much further up—and many lovely facades later—you get to OFF Piotkowska at number 138/140, an enclave of cool bars, shops, and designer studios.

This is the only street in Jewish Warsaw where tenement buildings have been preserved on both sides of the street. It's a melancholy sight, reflecting a world that has all but disappeared. The Lauder Foundation has instigated a plan to restore the street to its original state. No. 9 belonged to Zelman Nożyk, founder of the ghetto synagogue. Since 2004, ulica Próżna and the neighbouring square, Plac Grzybowski, become a stage for the "Singer's Warsaw" Jewish Culture Festival in the summer.

This plaza was the rail terminus from which tens of thousands of the ghetto's inhabitants were shipped in cattle cars to the extermination camp of Treblinka, about 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Warsaw. The school building to the right of the square was used to detain those who had to wait overnight for transport; the beginning of the rail tracks survives on the right. At the entrance to the square is a memorial gateway, erected in 1988 on the 45th anniversary of the uprising.

The high wrought-iron gates of Warsaw University lead into a leafy campus with some beautiful buildings. The Pałac Kazimierzowski (Kazimierzowski Palace), which currently houses the university administration, is among the more historic campus buildings but also a focal point for the university. In the 18th century it was the Military Cadet School where Tadeusz Kościuszko studied.

Built in 1444, Gdańsk's crane was medieval Europe's largest—and today it's also Europe's oldest. It used to play the double role of a port crane and city gate. The structure was given its present shape between 1442 and 1444. Today it houses the Muzeum Morskie (Maritime Museum), with a collection of models of the ships constructed in the Gdańsk Shipyards since 1945. At the museum ticket office, inquire about tickets for tours of the Sołdek, a World War II battleship moored nearby on the canal.

One of the youngest and certainly one of the best museums in Poland tells the story of the 1944 Rising by means of interactive displays. The museum features a life-size plane, cobblestone streets, reconstructed sewers (vital transportation and evacuation lines during the battles), real objects, photographs, and also video footage and audio recordings. It is a day-by-day account of the heroic struggle of the insurgents, most of them twentysomething years old—often told in their own words. It is impossible not to be involved and moved by it. Allow a minimum of 2½ hours to see the exhibition with a guide. English-language guides are available, but to ensure that you have a guide, you should make a tour reservation on the museum website by emailing a request to the museum, especially in summer. It is possible to wander around on your own as well. Large groups (11-plus persons) must book their entry in advance.

The mermaid is the symbol on the crest of the city of Warsaw. Many legends claim to explain the presence of this misterious creature so far inland. One speaks of two sister-sirens, who swam from the Atlantic to the the Baltic Sea. One settled in Denmark, in Copenhagen, and the other travelled to Gdańsk, and then upstream the Vistula, all the way to Warsaw. There are in fact several statues of the mermaid that can be found all over town. This particular stone statue had been traveling around the city for more than 70 years before finding itself back home in 2000. It had originally been installed in 1855, in the center of a fountain in the Old Town Square.

Ten kilometers (6½ miles) north of the Old Town, the peninsula of Westerplatte is home to a branch of the National Museum. World War II broke out here, at the entrance to the northern port. On September 1, 1939, a German warship, the Schleswig Holstein, began a bombardment of the Polish army positions here. A monument to the men who attempted to defend the Westerplatte for seven days against impossible odds was erected in the 1960s. Westerplatte can be reached by Bus 106 or 158 from ulica Okopowa, just outside the Main Town wall, or by water bus.

At the southwest corner of Rynek Square, the Wieża Ratuszowa is all that remains of the 16th-century town hall, which was demolished in the early 19th century. The tower houses a branch of the Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa (Kraków History Museum) and affords a panoramic view of the old city.

Warsaw's Royal Castle stands on the east side of Castle Square. The princes of Mazovia first built a residence on this spot overlooking the Vistula in the 14th century. Its present Renaissance form dates from the reign of King Zygmunt III Waza, who needed a magnificent palace for his new capital. Reconstructed in the 1970s, it now gleams as it did in its earliest years, with gilt, marble, and wall paintings. It also houses impressive collections of art—including the famous views of Warsaw that were painted by Canaletto's nephew Bernardo Bellotto (also known as Canaletto), which were used to rebuild the city after the war. Tours in English are available.

Szczecin still carries many reminders of its medieval heritage, including the grandiose castle, built on the left bank of Odra, which, due to its favorable defensive position, was inhabited as early as the 8th or 9th century. The oldest surviving parts date back to the 14th century and the reign of prince Barnim III. The clock tower dates from the beginning of the 16th century; later in that century, it was expanded by by prince Barnim X and again by Jan Fryderyk. Eventually, the castle grew to have four wings and a courtyard decorated with picturesque loggias, reminiscent of Wawel in Kraków. In the 17th century a fifth wing was added, creating a second narrow courtyard and a second tower (the bell tower, which, incidentally, offers the best panoramic view of the city). Today the reconstructed castle is a cultural center.

A statue of Adam Mickiewicz marks the eastern entrance to the Renaissance Cloth Hall, which is in the middle of the Main Market Square. The Gothic arches date from the 14th century, but after a fire in 1555 the upper part was rebuilt in Renaissance style. The inner arcades on the ground floor still hold traders' booths, now mainly selling local crafts and traditional souvenirs. From the Age of Enlightenment to Impressionism and the beginnings of Symbolism, this gallery on the first floor of the Sukiennice showcases all the most important movements and styles in Polish art between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. Those interested in history will find it amply illustrated: in the portraits of the Polish kings, or the monumental canvasses by Jan Matejko ("Prussian Homage") and Henryk Siemiradzki ("Nero's Torches"). There is no lack of atmospheric nature scenes, portraits, and allegories; note the controversial (at the time) "Ecstasy" by Władysław Podkowiński. Perhaps the single most interesting painter featured in the collection is Piotr Michałowski, author of the Romantic "Somosierra." Apparently Picasso himself had the highest praise for Michałowski's work.