Poland: Itinerary Planning Guide

Poland is Central Europe's most underrated destination — a country of striking medieval cities, extraordinary wartime history, dramatic landscapes, and a food and vodka culture that is far more interesting than its reputation suggests. It is also among Europe's best-value destinations, where a full day of sightseeing, meals, and a craft beer costs a fraction of Western European prices. Kraków's Rynek Główny — the largest medieval market square in Europe — anchors a city where Wawel Royal Castle and the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz sit within a 20-minute walk of each other. Warsaw was destroyed street by street during World War II and then painstakingly reconstructed from historical paintings and photographs: a city that literally rebuilt itself from scratch. Gdańsk on the Baltic Sea was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement — the trade union that, in the early 1980s, helped bring down Communism across Eastern Europe. The Białowieża Forest, straddling the Polish-Belarusian border, is one of the last remaining primeval forests in Europe, home to European bison roaming an ancient woodland that predates recorded history. Polish cuisine rewards exploration: żurek (sour rye soup), pierogi (dumplings in dozens of variations), bigos (hunter's stew), and oscypek (smoked highland sheep's cheese from the Tatras). The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial outside Kraków draws 2.3 million visitors annually — the most important historical site in Europe for understanding the 20th century's defining atrocity.