Top Tourist Destinations in Poland
Top 23 for 2011
Welcome to the Love Poland, 'Top Tourist Destinations' section where we tell you about the 23 places we like to visit when we have some time off. Many of these are well-known tourist destinations such as Krakow and Gdansk but many are not traditional tourist hot-spots and that's probably why we love them so much! One of our favourite places to visit is the Bieszczady Mountains, just stunning! - But watch out for the wolves!
Bieszczady Mountains
The Bieszczady Mountains are not typically a tourist destination as places such as Krakow, Warsaw and Gdansk are usually the first places tourists go when visiting Poland for the first time and only the seasoned Polish tourist will have ventured into the area fondly known as the, 'Wild East'. The scenery in the region is wild and rugged and includes flora such as the Dacian Violet, Carpathian Beech and the Hungarian Violet, all species which cannot be seen further West. The wildlife in the area include bears, lynx, beavers, wolves, European bison and red mountain deer...
Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz is a city located in northern Poland, on the Brda and Vistula rivers, with a population of 358,029 (June 2009), which makes it the 8th biggest city in Poland. Definitely one of the most beautiful buildings, and undoubtedly the oldest building, in the city is the Church of St Martin and Nicolaus, commonly known as Fara Church. It is a three-aisle late Gothic church erected between 1466 and 1502. The church boasts a late-Gothic painting entitled Madonna with a Rose, or the Holy Virgin of Beautiful Love, from the 16th century...
Czestochowa
The town is known for the famous Pauline monastery of Jasna Góra that is the home of the Black Madonna painting, a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Every year, millions of pilgrims from all over the world come to Częstochowa to see it. There is also a Lusatian culture excavation site and museum in the city and ruins of a medieval castle in Olsztyn, approximately 25 kilometres (ca. 16 mi) from the city centre. Pope John Paul II, a native son of Poland, prayed before the Madonna during his historic visit in 1979, several months after his election to the Chair of Peter...
Tri-City
Tricity (or Tri-City, in Polish Trójmiasto) is an urban area consisting of three Polish cities: Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. They are situated adjacent to one other, in a row, on the coast of the Gdańsk Bay, Baltic Sea, in Eastern Pomerania (Pomeranian Voivodeship), northern Poland. The Tricity metropolitan area has a population of over 1 million people. There's plenty to do around Tri-City, there are lots of tourist attractions and a lively nightlife scene not to mention all the fun of the seaside! Either enjoy sunbathing or take part in any of the many watersport activities on offer...
Gdansk (Danzig)
Gdańsk is known and has been known as Danzig, Gdania, Gyddanyzc, Kdanzk, Gdanzc, Danceke, Danzc, Danczk, Danczik, Danczig and Gdąnsk amongst others! Gdańsk was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which, under the leadership of political activist Lech Wałęsa, played a major role in bringing an end to Communist rule across Central Europe. The area around Gdansk is famous for Amber which is also known by many other names such as: jantar, good stone, sacred stone, gold of the north, Baltic gold, and electron. Amber is also a mineral of many colours...
Gdynia
Gdynia is a relatively modern city, but the oldest building in Gdynia is nevertheless the 13th century St. Michael the Archangel's Church in Oksywie. There is also a 17th century neo-Gothic manor house located on Folwarczna Street in Orłowo. However, what attracts most tourists in Gdynia deals with its recent past. In the harbour, there are two anchored museum ships, the ORP Blyskawica destroyer and the Dar Pomorza Tall ship frigate. The nearest airport is in nearby Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (25 km). The airport is a a popular destination for low-price flights...
Sopot
Sopot is a major health-spa and tourist resort destination. It has the longest wooden pier in Europe, at 515.5 meters, stretching out into the Bay of Gdańsk. The city is also famous for its Sopot International Song Festival, the largest such event in Europe after the Eurovision Song Contest. Among its other attractions is a fountain of bromide spring water, known as the "inhalation mushroom". Monte Cassino Street provides the best selection of bars and cafes in the town with the "Pinochio" restaurant's little courtyard particularly pleasant for a spot of lunch or even a few drinks...
Kashubia
Kashubia (in Polish Kaszuby) is a lake district in north Poland in Pomeranian Voivodship. It is surrounded by many hills made by Scandinavian glaciers. At Wdzydze Kiszewskie is an outdoor museum of traditional Kaszubian buildings, founded in 1906. The buildings were collected from the region, lovingly restored and furnished and set up as a folk village. Perhaps some of them were abandoned by the Kaszubs as they left to look for a new life overseas. In the area of 22 hectares there are approximately 40 buildings: 7 farmyards, 2 manor houses, 5 cottages, 4 nobleman houses...
Katowice & Chorow
Katowice is the largest city in Silesia in Poland with a population of about 320,000 in the city itself and over 2.1 million if the surrounding cities of the Upper-Silesian Metropolitan Union are taken into account. Located in the middle of Silesia on the banks of the river Rawa, Katowice's historical importance as Poland's main industrial centre has been indisputable in recent decades. Nowadays Katowice has also a rich cultural life with theatres, the Silesian Philharmonic, the Silesian Museum and famous concert hall known as the Spodek. Visitors will find an interesting city with many relics...
Krakow (Cracow)
Kraków, also spelled Krakow or Cracow, is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Its historic centre was inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites as the first of its kind. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic centres. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596; the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918...
Lodz
Piotrkowska Street is the main artery and attraction stretching north to south for a little over five kilometres, making it (one of) the longest commercial streets in the world. A few of the building fronts have been renovated and date back to the 19th century. Another popular source of recreation is the Lunapark, an amusement park featuring about two dozen attractions including an 18 metre tall roller coaster and two dozen other rides and features, located near the city's zoo and its botanical gardens. Prior to World War II, the Jewish population of Łódź numbered about 233,000...
Malbork (Marienburg)
Malbork is a town in northern Poland in the Żuławy region, with 38,478 inhabitants (2006). The Teutonic Order was founded around the year 1190 in Palestine to crusade against the Muslims and pagans. In the early 14th century the Teutonic Knights moved their capital from Venice to Malbork on the Nogat River, which is now in northern Poland. The most significant trace of the their presence in the town is the imposing red brick castle from 1274 on the river bank, and it is the largest Gothic fortress in Europe. Under continuous construction for nearly 230 years, the castle complex is...
Masurian Lakes
Masuria is an area in northeastern Poland famous today for its many thousands of lakes. Today, the region's economy relies largely on eco-tourism and agriculture. The lakes offer varieties of water sports, and vacation activities. Masuria and the Masurian Lake District are known in Polish as Kraina Tysiąca Jezior and in German as Land der Tausend Seen, meaning "land of a thousand lakes." These lakes were ground out of the land by glaciers during the Pleistocene ice age, when ice covered north Eastern Europe. By 10,000 BC this ice started to melt...
Auschwitz (Oswiecim)
Auschwitz was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated in occupied Poland by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. It was the largest of the German concentration camps, consisting of Auschwitz I (the Stammlager or main camp); Auschwitz II-Birkenau (the Vernichtungslager or extermination camp); Auschwitz III-Monowitz, also known as Buna-Monowitz (a labor camp); and 45 satellite camps. Auschwitz is the German name for Oświęcim, the town the camps were located in and around; it was renamed by the Germans after they invaded Poland...
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. Poznań is an important centre of trade, industry, and education, and hosts regular international trade fairs. It was the host city for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2008, a key stage in the creation of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Poznan is a candidate city for European Capital of Culture in 2016...
Szczecin
Szczecin is the capital city of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. Szczecin is located on the Oder River, south of the Lagoon of Szczecin and the Bay of Pomerania. The city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of the Oder and on several large islands between the western and eastern branch of the river. There is a popular public transit system operating throughout Szczecin, including a bus network and electric trams...
Tarnow
Tarnow is situated in the south-eastern part of the country (East Malopolska), 80 km to the east of Cracow, along an important communication route linking the south with the east. It has a population of more than 117,000. Standing on the river Biala, Tarnow boasts the warmest climate in Poland. Here, they have an average annual temperature of 8.8 degrees C. Tarnow has preserved the medieval urban layout of its Old Town. The square is lined with old houses in the middle of which stands the Gothic-Renaissance town hall. Just off the market square is the Gothic cathedral.
Tatra Mountains
The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra, constitute a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They occupy an area of 750 km², the major part (600 km²) of which lies in Slovakia. The highest mountain is Gerlach at 2,655 m, located in Slovakia just north of Poprad. The north-western peak of Rysy (2,499 m) is the highest Polish mountain. The Tatra Mountains are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains. Although considerably smaller than the Alps, they are classified as having an alpine landscape...
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Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital city of Poland and a city, which has until recently struggled to shrug off its dour Eastern Bloc / Communist image. That's all gone now and the transformation to a big, modern city is well under way. A good way to judge investment in a city is to look at the skyline and count the number of modern skyscrapers and Warsaw has plenty of these in addition to some striking older buildings such as the Palace of Culture pictured above next to one of its more modern neighbours. Without any doubt, Warsaw is a new city located in a very new looking Europe...
Wieliczka Salt Mine
The Wieliczka Salt Mine, located in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland, lies within the Kraków metropolitan area. The mine continuously produced table salt from the 13th century until 2007 as one of the world's oldest operating salt mines (the oldest being the Bochnia Salt Mine). The mine's attractions for tourists include dozens of statues and an entire chapel that have been carved out of the rock salt by the miners. About 1.2 million persons visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually. Commercial mining was discontinued in 1996 due to low salt prices and mine flooding...
Wolf's Lair
Wolf's Lair is the standard English name for Wolfsschanze, Adolf Hitler's first World War II Eastern Front military headquarters, one of several Führerhauptquartier (Führer Headquarters) or FHQs located in various parts of Europe. The complex, which was built for Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, was located in the Masurian woods, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the small East Prussian town of Rastenburg, now Kętrzyn in Poland. Hitler first arrived at the Wolf's Lair late on the night of 23 June 1941 and departed for the last time on 20 November 1944...
Wroclaw
Wrocław is the chief city in south-western Poland, situated on the River Oder. Over the centuries the city has been either part of Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Prussia or Germany. Wrocław is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. According to official population figures for June 2009, its population is 632,240, making it the fourth largest city in Poland. The Old Town is comparable to Krakow's in beauty and size, and includes the Gothic St. John's Cathedral, the Renaissance houses near the Market Square, the Baroque university and lots of fine examples of Art Nouveau and Functionalism...
Zakopane
Zakopane is a town in southern Poland. The location is informally known as "the Winter Capital of Poland," and lies in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, the only alpine mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains. Zakopane is located in southern Poland near the Slovak border. It can be reached by train or bus from Krakow, which is about two and a half hours away. Zakopane lies in a large valley between the Tatra Mountains and Gubałówka Hill. It is the most important Polish center of mountaineering and skiing, and is visited annually by some three million tourists...