Poland

Poland – situated in „the heart of Europe”, is a country of rich history and cultural heritage, beautiful nature with Europe’s oldest primeval forest and exciting atmosphere of the present day.

The most recognizable Polish great personalities are: Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Fryderyk Chopin, Nicolaus Copernicus.

Access to Poland is easy and relatively inexpensive.

Poland is divided into 16 administrative provinces, covering an area of 312,696 sq.m. and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. Poland has a population of nearly 38.5 million people, and is the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union.

Warsaw is the nation's capital and largest metropolis. Other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin.

Poland's topographically diverse territory extends from the beaches along the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in its south. The country is bordered by Lithuania and Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west.

Poland’s roots go back to the 10th century, leaving more than a thousand years of twists and turns and kings and castles to explore. WWII history buffs are well served.

 

Tragically, Poland found itself in the middle of that epic fight, and monuments and museums dedicated to these battles – and to Poland’s remarkable survival – can be seen everywhere.

 

There’s a growing appreciation, too, of the country's rich Jewish heritage. Beyond the deeply affecting Holocaust memorials, synagogues are being sensitively restored, and former Jewish centres such as Łódź and Lublin have heritage trails where you can trace this history at your own pace.