Krakow (Kraków)

Wieliczka is located about 13 kilometers southeast of Krakow (Kraków) and has lived from salt since the Middle Ages. The first shafts were dug in the 13th century, and the town was granted city rights in 1290. Salt mining ended in 1996; the mine has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1978, joined by the Bochnia mine in 2008, and the Saltworks Castle in 2013. Together, they form the World Heritage site Royal Salt Mines Wieliczka and Bochnia.Most visitors come for the underground tourist route, but the town itself is also worth a tour. At Rynek Górny, the buildings follow the medieval layout, while Rynek Dolny was once a trading place for salt and is located by the Regis Shaft. The town also features the Saltworks Castle, the wooden St. Sebastian's Church, and a brine graduation tower.

Lesser Poland (Małopolska) stretches from the Vistula around Krakow (Kraków) to the peaks of the High Tatras on the Slovakian border. Krakow, capital of the Kingdom of Poland until 1596, serves as the administrative and cultural heart of the Voivodeship; its Old Town, the Wieliczka Salt Mine, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial together form several UNESCO World Heritage Sites located close by.To the south, the land rises through hills to the Carpathians. Around Zakopane and in the Pieniny, the Goral people define the landscape with their wooden architecture, sheep's cheese, and folk music, and in the villages of Southern Lesser Poland stand Gothic wooden churches that have been World Heritage Sites since 2003.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and State Museum is located on the outskirts of Oświęcim, west of Krakow (Kraków). German occupiers established the camp in 1940, and Auschwitz II-Birkenau was built from October 1941. According to estimates by the Memorial, approximately 1.1 million people were murdered in Auschwitz, about 1 million of them Jews. The victims also included approximately 70,000 Poles, 21,000 Sinti and Roma, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, and about 12,000 prisoners of other nationalities.On January 27, 1945, Soviet troops liberated the camp; since 2005, this day has been the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Polish Parliament founded the museum on July 2, 1947, and since 1979, the site has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The site covers approximately 191 hectares: the former main camp Auschwitz I and the much larger Birkenau, about three kilometers away; a free shuttle bus provided by the Memorial connects both parts. For a visit, you should allow at least half a day.

Katowice is the capital of the Silesian Voivodeship and the hub of an urban agglomeration with several million inhabitants. The village grew into an industrial city in the 19th century thanks to coal and ore, receiving city rights in 1865. Following a plebiscite and the division of Upper Silesia, it joined Poland and became the capital of the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship in 1922. From 1953 to 1956, it was called Stalinogród. Today, approximately 279,000 people live here.The city center (Śródmieście) stretches from the train station to the Rynek. Nearby lies the pedestrian street ul. Mariacka, with its 19th-century neo-Gothic St. Mary's Church, which becomes the hub of nightlife in the evenings. Just a few minutes' walk north stand the Spodek Hall and the Culture Zone (Strefa Kultury) on the grounds of the former Katowice Mine. In the east of the city, the mining settlements of Nikiszowiec and Giszowiec are preserved.Since 2015, Katowice has been a UNESCO Creative City of Music. Alongside NOSPR concerts, the OFF Festival in August and the Tauron Nowa Muzyka Festival shape the calendar, while the Spodek hosts the finals of the Intel Extreme Masters e-sports tournaments.

The Silesian Voivodeship (województwo śląskie) in southern Poland was established in 1999 from the former voivodeships of Katowice, Częstochowa, and Bielsko-Biała. It encompasses the eastern part of Upper Silesia, a portion of Cieszyn Silesia, and areas historically belonging to Lesser Poland, including Częstochowa and the Dąbrowa Basin. Approximately 4.3 million people live across its 12,334 square kilometers.Its core is the Upper Silesian Industrial Region around Katowice, Gliwice, and Zabrze, which grew in the 19th century with hard coal mining. Disused mines are now museums and cultural venues. To the north, the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland stretches through the region with castle ruins on limestone cliffs; to the south, the Silesian Beskids rise.