Top 24 historical sites to visit in Poland near Kraków:

  • Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

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    The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is a museum on the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim, Poland. It is a World Heritage Site since 1979 and has been preserved by the Polish government in memory of the 1.1 million people who died there during the Holocaust.
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  • Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec

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    The Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec is a historic monastery located near Krakow, Poland. Visitors can explore a Baroque church, a museum showcasing the abbey's history, and a picturesque courtyard with stunning views of the Vistula River. Active tourists can enjoy a scenic bike ride along the river to reach the Abbey.
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  • Bobolice Castle

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    The Bobolice Castle is a 14th-century royal castle in the village of Bobolice. It was a part of the defense system of royal strongholds protecting the western border of Poland on the side of Silesia.
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  • Bydlin Castle

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    Bydlin Castle is a fourteenth-century castle ruins, located in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. The fortress was built as part of the Trail of the Eagles' Nests defence system.
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  • Bąkowiec Castle

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    Bąkowiec Castle is a fourteenth-century knight's castle ruins, located in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland.
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  • Będzin Castle

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    The Będzin Castle is a castle in Będzin town in southern Poland. The stone castle dates to the 14th century, and is predated by a wooden fortification that was constructed in the 11th century. It served as a military outpost on the southwestern border of the Kingdom of Poland.
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  • Chęciny Castle

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    Chęciny Royal Castle was built in the late 13th century in Chęciny, Poland. It fell into ruin in the 18th century and remains in that state to this day.
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  • Czorsztyn Castle

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    The ruins of Czorsztyn Castle are located at Czorsztyn Lake within Pieniny National Park borders. It is a medieval castle that stands at the top of the hill near the Dunajec River.
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  • Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry

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    Step back in time and experience the hardships of miners in the 18th and 19th centuries at the Historic Silver Mine in Tarnowskie Góry, Poland. The mine is normally open for tourists, and guided tours in several languages take place every day.
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  • Katowice

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    Katowice is a large business, conference and trade fair center. Unlike most other large Polish cities, Katowice did not originate as a medieval town. Katowice's urban layout is a result of expansion and annexation of various towns, industrial worker estates, and villages.
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  • Mirów Castle

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    Mirów Castle is a 14th-century castle, now ruined, located in the Mirów village, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland.
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  • Niedzica Castle

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    Niedzica Castle, also known as Dunajec Castle, is a medieval stronghold located on the right bank of the Czorsztyn Reservoir in the village of Niedzica-Zamek. This castle was probably built in the early 14th century, probably on the site of an earlier defensive structure.
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  • Observation tower in Dąbrówka Szczepanowska

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    A 16-meter-high wooden observation tower was opened in Dąbrówka Szczepanowska village in early December 2018. From its five floors there is a view of Tarnow, Wojnicz, the valley and bend of the Dunajec River, the hills of the Beskid Wyspowy, and even the distant Tatra Mountains.
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  • Ogrodzieniec Castle

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    Ogrodzieniec Castle - ruins of a castle built in the system of the so-called Eagles' Nests in the 14th-15th centuries. The castle is located on the highest elevation in the Krakow-Czestochowa Jurassic Highlands - Castle Mountain rising to 515.5 meters above sea level.
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  • Olsztyn Castle

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    Olsztyn Castle – castle ruins located in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, lying on the Trail of the Eagles' Nests – formerly protecting the southern border of the Kingdom of Poland.
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  • Pilcza Castle

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    Pilica Castle is a Neo-Renaissance castle located in Pilica. Encircled by bastion fortifications, the castle is made up of four wings, surrounding an interior courtyard. The castle is surrounded by a 10 ha park with diverse fauna and flora. There is a Classicist well in the park.
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  • Pszczyna

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    Pszczyna is a town in southern Poland. It is worth visiting because of the Old Town, with the layout dating back to the Middle Ages, Pszczyna Castle and the historical Park of Pszczyna.
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  • Rabsztyn Castle

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    Rabsztyn Castle is a preserved Gothic ruined castle located in the Polish Jura within the Eagles' Nests Trail. Having undergone extensive reconstruction, since May 2015, the castle has been opened to tourists.
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  • St. Michael Archangel's Church

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    Michael Archangel's Church in Dębno is a Roman Catholic Gothic-wooden church from the fifteenth-century. The church is considered to be one of the oldest structures of its type in Poland. The church remains in its original structure, with a unique polychrome interior from around 1500.
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  • Tenczyn Castle

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    Tenczyn Castle is a medieval castle in the village of Rudno. The castle stands on the remnants of a Permian period lava stream, the highest hill of Garb Tenczyński (Castle Hill), which is 411 m above the sea level.
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  • Tropsztyn Castle

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    Tropsztyn Castle is a reconstruction of a defensive castle near the Czchowskie lake. The history of the castle is connected with the village of Tropie, located on the opposite side of the river.
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  • Tyskie Brewing Museum

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    The Tyskie Brewing Museum is a museum in Tychy in Silesia. The museum is an Anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage. Tyskie brewery gave it's name to one of the leading brands of beer in Poland.
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  • Wieliczka Salt Mine

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    The Wieliczka Salt Mine, located in southern Poland and excavated from the 13th century, has been producing table salt continuously since then. Its attractions include the shafts and passageways, an underground lake, four chapels and numerous statues carved by miners out of the rock salt.
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  • Zywiec Brewery Museum

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    Żywiec Brewery is one of the largest breweries and beer producers in Poland. The brewery museum offers to visit guided tours, manufacturing museum and a beer cellar.
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