Zakopane

The Tatra National Park (Tatrzański Park Narodowy, TPN) has protected the Polish part of the Tatra Mountains since 1955, covering over 211 square kilometers. Together with the Slovak National Park, it has formed a cross-border UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1993. Here, Rysy (2,499 meters on the Polish side) is Poland's highest peak; chamois, marmots, brown bears, and lynxes live in the forests and cirques.The most famous destination is Morskie Oko, a glacial lake at an altitude of 1,395 meters in the Rybi Potok Valley at the foot of the Mięguszowieckie Szczyty. Covering almost 35 hectares, it is the second-largest lake in the Tatra after Wielki Staw and up to approximately 51 meters deep. From the Palenica Białczańska car park, an approximately 8.5-kilometer-long asphalt road leads up, which is closed to private cars.

The Pieniny Mountains are a small limestone range on the border with Slovakia, east of the Tatra Mountains. The Polish Pieniny National Park was established in 1932 as Poland's first national park and covers just over 23 square kilometres. The highest peak of the central massif is Trzy Korony (Three Crowns) at 982 metres, from whose viewing platform on Okrąglica you look deep into the valley.The Pieniny Mountains are primarily known for the Dunajec Gorge: The river has carved its way in loops between steep limestone cliffs. On wooden rafts, the region's rafters take visitors from Sromowce through the gorge to Szczawnica or Krościenko. West of this, the castles of Niedzica and Czorsztyn face each other across the Czorsztyn Reservoir.

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.

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.

Krakow (Kraków) lies on the Vistula in southern Poland and, with around 800,000 inhabitants, is the country's second-largest city. Until 1596, it was the capital of the Kingdom of Poland; on Wawel Hill, kings were crowned until 1734 and most of them were interred. Since 1978, its historic center—the Old Town, Wawel, Stradom, and Kazimierz—has been a UNESCO World Heritage site.The Old Town (Stare Miasto) surrounds the Rynek Główny, whose layout dates back to 1257. A green belt, the Planty, occupies the site of the former city fortifications; the historic Royal Route begins at St. Florian's Gate and led coronation processions up to Wawel. South of it lies Kazimierz, founded as a separate city in 1335 and for centuries a center of Jewish life. Today, synagogues, cafés, and bars mingle there.Beyond the Vistula lies Podgórze, where German occupiers established the ghetto in 1941; in the Zabłocie district stands Oskar Schindler's former enamel factory. To the east, Nowa Huta is an industrial city of the socialist era, incorporated in 1951.