Gorgeous but Inexpensive, this country in Central Europe is full of opportunities. That is why, using my personal experience as a traveler, I wrote an updated list of the 10 best cities to visit in Poland in 2022.
Below are towns and attractions for every taste. For those seeking a lively nightlife, or looking for a calm spot in the mountains and some skiing slopes. The only thing that is common between all the 10 below is one thing: They are worth every single cent you spend in Poland.
Two of the easiest ways to arrive in Bruges (if your country does not have flights directly to there) are via AMS Airport in Amsterdam (a city that also has its own attractions), or from Fiumicino Airport in Rome (the Eternal City), or the FRA Airport in Frankfurt (a great destination for party goes and with some of the best hostels in Europe), and from these cities take a low-cost flight.
Friendly reminder: If you are traveling in Poland and need a place to stay close to the airport, Nearby Airport Hostel is the best (and most economical) option for you.
1 – The best place in Poland to learn snowboarding and skiing: Bukowina Tatrzanska
This small city (or rather village) in the region of Podhale is overshadowed by its more famous neighbor Zakopane. Unfairly, I would say. To make justice to them, they come first in this list of the 10 best cities to visit in Poland in 2022.
There are many reasons why travel is good for you, and practicing sports is one of them.
Bukowina is just at the side of what is probably the ski center with the best cost-benefit ratio in Poland (Bialka Tatrzanska). The price I paid there for a day pass + equipment rental (around 130zl) was much less than the pass alone in other ski stations in Europe or Chile.
But this is not the only thing that makes Bukowina special. One amazing advantage are the good accommodation options (like Orla Village, where I stayed a couple of times), with unimaginably low prices and friendly hosts. Paying near 120 zlotys for a night in the place mentioned before, I stayed in a very comfortable and clean room. Across it was one of my favorite restaurants in the whole region: Karcma “U Wróbla”. In this inexpensive restaurant, besides discovering a fantastic regional plate called Placki po zbójnicku, you will be served by waitresses in regional clothes. Lovely.
2 – The town with the most beautiful castle: Malbork
With only 38 thousand inhabitants, Malbork could just be another small city on the way to the Polish coastline and to Gdansk. However, on the east bank of the river Nogat and within walking distance from the city center, is a monumental medieval construction.
In fact, this is the largest brick castle on the planet: the Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork, also known as Marienburg Castle.
When I visited it, we arrived around 10:30 in the morning and left after 16:00 without seeing all its public areas (and with my feet begging for a rest, since its stone paths can be demanding after some time). If you have the chance and is interested in medieval history, you should try to spare two days to visit everything it offers. Some parts of it were restored after the destruction of World War II (what is common in Poland). In my view, the most impressive building of the complex is The Blessed Virgin Mary Church and its magnificent acoustic. If you are as lucky as me, you can even witness choir chants there.
3 – The city with the best nightlife: Warsaw
This is an obvious choice. Warsaw is not only the largest city in Poland but also the place with the largest airport, the biggest demand for entertainment, and the highest per capita wealth. All those factors together make the city a stage of year-round concerts, festivals, and exhibitions. While the pandemic caused a break in its rich schedule, in the last years the city witnessed heavyweights like Rolling Stones, Iron Maiden, and Ed Sheeran. This last one gathered more than 100 thousand people at the national stadium.
The central area of Warsaw is dotted with pubs, clubs, and lounges for all tastes. From inexpensive Pijalnia Wódki i Piwo to the fancy rooftop bars, you will find something suiting your preferences and your pocket.
If you don’t want to miss your flight the next day, the best way is to stay in a Hostel near the Chopin International Airport. The Nearby Airport Hostel is a suggestion offering free airport transfer.
4 – The best cuisine (especially for cheese-lovers): Zakopane
We already mentioned Zakopane before, but here I will not write about skiing opportunities (especially because it is not the best city for that, honestly speaking), but about all the rest the city offers.
Affordable handcrafted garments made of sheep wool, sheepskin leather, and (at the risk of sounding repetitive), probably the best sheep cheese someone could taste in this part of Europe.
It is like a Dom Perignón of the cheeses. Between April and October, regional farmers, mastering an art of cheesemaking passed across generations, use the milk of their grass-fed sheep to prepare the exquisite Oscypek.
There are numerous ways and versions to serve it. All that I tasted were simply great. However personally I favor it grilled, hot and with cranberry sauce.
Oscypek is not the only thing making Zakopane and Podhale (region where the city is located) cuisine the best in the country. There are plenty of other specialties for you to try in the regional restaurants (or Karcma).
5 – The most beautiful old-town: Torun
Once known as the Teutonic city of Thorn, Torun is one of the oldest cities in Poland, with its history tracing back to the 8th century. Being one of the few Polish cities that avoided damage during both world wars, now they have the biggest number of Gothic houses preserved in the country.
This medium city located in the margins of the river Vistula also displays a very illustrious son: Nicolaus Copernicus, one of the greatest astronomers in history. He was the creator of the heliocentric model.
I spent two days in this city visiting its cobblestone streets, massive Gothic churches, and historical tenement houses. To have a break from the historical sightseeing, the city also has a particular confiture tradition, where the star is the piernik, the local gingerbread. There is even a museum about it, which I visited and recommend it.
6 – The ideal fairy-tale scenario: Krakow
Often people ask themselves which one they should visit first: Warsaw or Krakow?
As much as Warsaw is an obvious choice for nightlife, Krakow is the best choice for architecture appreciators. And if this is a list of the 10 best cities to visit in Poland in 2022, our effort is just to write about the other 9, since Krakow always will have its place. For centuries this was the capital of the Polish nation. Naturally, its royal heritage is stamped in every visible corner of the stare miasto (the polish expression for old town) of the city.
During the World Wars, Krakow was not nearly as damaged as Warsaw (after all, few cities in the world had a comparable fate), so much of it was preserved. Nowadays, attractions like the St Mary’s Basilica (a UNESCO heritage site) and the nearby Wawel Castle are an explanation why this Polish city has one of the most photographed old towns in the world. Krakow is a city of many attractions.
Playing in a league of its own, the Royal Wawel Castle is halfway between the Jewish historical district of Kazimierz and the stare miasto. There you can visit the staterooms of kings and nobles, the crown treasury as well as the final resting place of historical figures, buried in the Wawel Cathedral. One slightly off-path attraction, which is not far from there, is the Corpus Christi Church, which has, in my opinion, the most impressive altar of the whole country.
Chris Christensen from The Amateur Traveler wrote an awesome list of things to do in Krakow.
7 – The best-conserved national park (in Poland and whole Europe): Białowieża
Białowieża is a small town with around two thousand inhabitants, just in the middle of a real natural treasure: the biggest – and, by some standards, the last- primeval (or virgin) forest in Europe. There you can find wild bison in their natural habitat. Although the park is marvelously preserved, there is a decent infrastructure, even offering night tours using night-vision binoculars. That comes in handy since foxes, owls, bison, and deers are easier to be seen after sunset.
Besides the splendid lush forests, the region is the cradle of one of the most famous polish products: the vodka Żubrówka, which also carries a reference to the local bison (know as Żubr)to the point that some varieties have among the ingredients the bison-grass (a kind of hay found in the region and eaten by those animals)
8 – The best city for kite surfers and windsurfers: Hel
If you need strong winds and vast bodies of water to put in practice your wind-taming skills, there is a Polish city ideal for you. The name of it is Hel, and I promise to not make the cliché jokes about the highway there.
When you find this town on the map, you immediately understand the reason for it being a perfect spot for water sports requiring wind. It is just at the end of a long peninsula, which places the city almost like an island in the middle of the Baltic Sea, 33 kilometers far away from the polish mainland.
The small population just above three thousand people can give a false impression that it is a calm and boring place, but in the summer thousands of young tourists crowd the city, building a party atmosphere.
9 – The city to visit three countries in a day: Wisła
Wisla is near some of the most extensive ski slopes in the country (in fact, the longest is just at the neighboring Szczyrk ski center). It is also the place that revealed Ski jumping Olympic stars like Piotr Żyła. Besides winter sports (which there is overpriced when compared to the previously mentioned Bukowina Tatrzanska), this Silesian city have another peculiar attraction.
One is that from there you can visit natural parks and historic towns in the other two countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which are just a few kilometers away. Those three countries share the gorgeous region of the Silesian Beskids and have similar historical heritages. A great chance for backpackers on a short schedule wanting to visit multiple countries at once.
10 – The best city for a romantic escape: Wrocław
If you have ever been to Wroclaw (or, as some languages call it, Breslau or even Breslávia), you may be surprised when I rank it as the ideal place for a romantic escape. You can even think something like:
Wroclaw? Romantic? It can be a party city or a historical hotspot, but romantic? This list of the 10 best cities to visit in Poland in 2022 should have stopped at 9!
If this is your reaction, chances are you didn’t visit the alluring Ostrów Tumski. It is not your fault. So many travelers pass by the city and spend all their time in the old-town ignoring this place which was once an island belonging to the church (almost like an ecclesiastical nation, with its own laws).
Ostrów Tumski conserved its medieval charm, with its cathedrals, cobblestone streets, and the most special of all: the gas lamps giving its cinematic colors and atmosphere. Every day around sunset a traditionally dressed man lights one by one the 102 lamps of the district, coloring the whole place in vintage shades. It is the closest I ever felt to a Casablanca movie scenario.
Wroclaw may remind you of Frankfurt (with equally nice spots for pictures). This is not a coincidence, since this nowadays Polish town, for centuries, was part of the German empire.
All in all, Wroclaw has the potential to be one of your favorite cities in Poland.
What to visit after Poland
If you are heading to the south, take a few days also to visit Budapest, the capital of the once-great Hungarian Empire. That are also multiple cities in Europe that can be included on your route thanks to the ample offer of low-cost flights, like:
- Venice, in Italy, is a place that does not need introductions.
- Brussels, in Belgium, is the place for fans of beer and chocolate.
- Edinburgh, in Scotland, is close to some truly impressive castles.
- If it is summer, take a low-cost flight to Dubrovnik in Croatia and enjoy everything this impressive place has to offer.
Other Tips for Travelling to Poland
- Poland’s air quality may be VERY low during winter, so look for ways to protect yourself from pollution.
- Poland is an extremely safe place and an ideal spot for solo female travel!
- Be aware that temperatures in Poland vary drastically during the year, meaning: hot summers and cold winters! So pack properly (here you can find some very useful packing tips).
- After visiting all that, you may continue your journey by heading, for example, to Hungary. If this is the case, you should read our Budapest guide.
Conclusion: Your favorite city in Poland?
Above is our list of the 10 best cities to visit in Poland in 2022. Now we would like to hear you:
Have you ever been to one of those cities? Which places have you seen or would like to visit?
See you soon!
Author: Levi Borba, founder of Expatriate Consultancy, of Small Business Hacks, Recomendações de Livros, former RM specialist for the world’s greatest airline, co-founder of Nearby Airport Hostel Warsaw and author of the books Moving Out, Living Abroad and Keeping Your Sanity and Budget Travelers, Digital Nomads & Expats: The Ultimate Guide: 50 Tips, Tricks, Hacks and Ways to Free Stuff & Cheaper Flights in a Practical Guide to Travel Plans