All About Poland

The capital of medieval Poland was the university city of Kraków, perennially popular among visitors for its liveliness, the amber jewelry at the central market, and the well-preserved buildings, churches, and Jewish sights of its Old Town. (Just outside Kraków, hit the labyrinthian Wieliczka salt mines, carved into airy underground chapels and sculpture galleries.) In 1596, the Polish capital moved to Warsaw, today a wonderful jumble of grim Soviet-era buildings, modern skyscrapers, and a baroque Old Town carefully reconstructed after World War II.

Poland, World War II, and the Iron Curtain
Poland is a vast Slavic nation with no naturally defensible borders, That is part of why, after a long medieval period of rule under its own kings, since the 18th century Poland has repeatedly been squeezed—and parts frequently conquered—by its more powerful neighbors: the Prussians (later Germans) to the west, and the Russians (later Soviets) to the east. Nazi Germany officially launched World War II with a 1939 attack at Gdansk—a Baltic port city that has since restored its 17th century, Hanseatic look (for beach action, head just up the coast to trendy Sopot). The Nazis soon overran Poland and embarked on five years of bloody reprisals against rebels and resistance fighters, in the process levelling Poland’s major cities and establishing in the countryside many of the most notorious concentration camps—including Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka.

By the time the war was over, more than a quarter of the Polish population had perished, including more than three million Polish Jews. Poland then fell under the Iron Curtain until 1989 when the Solidarity movement—which, like World War II, started at the Gdansk docks—produced Poland’s first free elections and spelled the beginning of the end for the Soviet empire.

The Rest of Poland
Most visitors stick to Krakow and Warsaw—plus a sober, disturbing, difficult, but ultimately worthwhile visit to the Nazi death camps—leaving the rest of Poland ripe for discovery. Just inland from Gdansk, in Malbork, is the mighty Marienburg Castle from which the medieval Teutonic Knights ran their own small Monastic State of crusaders charged with Christianizing the Prussians. The knights also founded Toruń, a pretty medieval University town where Copernicus was born. The intriguing Silesia region in western Poland has Poznan—a lovely restored medieval city on the Berlin-Warsaw rail line—and Wrocław, filled with Flemish and Germanic-style houses and churches. In the south, by the Slovak border, rise the gorgeous Tatra Mountains for hiking and skiing.

When to Go to Poland: Autumn is best all around for weather, crowd levels, and cultural events; spring second-best (though a bit rainy). Summer can run a bit hot, and certainly more crowded. Unless you’re skiing, winter can disappoint with long dark nights, cold weather, and many secondary spots shut down tightly.

Events and Holidays in Poland: