16 best attractions in Poland to see in 16 regions - part 1

daria

08 May 2020

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16 best attractions in Poland to see in 16 regions – part 1

Is Poland on your bucket list and trying to note all must see in Poland? We are coming with a helpful hand. This won’t be next boring text about polish attractions around Krakow. That you can find anywhere else. We point one attraction for a region (province) of Poland. Just one. Feel invited!

PROVINCES OF POLAND

Let’s explain what’s going on with the administrative names of Poland. We have: province, states, voivodeships and much more. Uff. That’s confusing.
From 1999 Poland is devided into 16 divisions. Those in Poland are so called województwo (sgl). Confusion comes with English translation: region, province, voivodeship. Those provinces (I will stay with this translation as I find it less complicated) are not always derives from historical conotations. So that makes another problem. When someone looks for his family roots in Poland he tries to match the old German name with modern Polish name and he cannot find it! We are working on the e-book about that! It’s a big thing!
Now let’s get back to administration! The public administration system in Poland works on the decentralization principle. That ensures the decision making and executing processes take place at the lowest possible level and closest to the citizen.
16 provinces of Poland are divided into 314 rural districts (powiats) and 66 municipal districts.
Those have 2479 communes.
Here we have three levels of governance 🙂
One of each – Poland must see
As there are 16 provinces we will point 16 best attractions in Poland to see. That what’s bucket list really is. Few places are well know, some are totally off the beaten path.
In today’s article we will mention only 5 of them. Next will be described soon.
Poland must see places list below is in alphabetical order (by province):

#1 DOLNOSLASKIE PROVINCE: UNDERGROUND ROUTE OF URANIUM MINE

The uranium Mine of Kletno is a magical place. Visiting a maze of colourful corridors, you will be transported back in time. You’ll take a prehistoric journey through the last 500 million years of evolution.
The history of mining in the area of Kletno dates back to the thirteenth century. Initially miners extracted ores of iron, copper, lead and silver. The darkest period began after World War II. In the Soviet Union, under Stalin’s command, searched frenziedly for uranium. What for? To build an nuclear bomb!

Uranium Mine in Kletno

photo: www.kletno.pl/ P. Woźniak

# 2 KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE PROVINCE: BYDGOSZCZ - VENICE OF POLAND

If your dream was to go to Venice but somehow you’re going to Poland, don’t worry. Bydgoszcz is a city on water. Based on rivers, canals and islands is a perfect place to stay in Poland. It’s both natural and urbanized. Perfect match. It’s off the beaten path but all those who decide to arrive here are amazed! Bydgoszcz was listed in finals of the contest for Best European Destination 2020. Already convinced to travel to Bydgoszcz? If yes here you will find an article about what to do in Bydgoszcz.

Bydgoszcz city center along the river

# 3 LUBELSKIE PROVINCE: LUBLIN - CULTURAL CAPITAL OF POLAND

Lubelskie region is famous of two things: cebularz and festival of performers called Carneval. Both are from Lublin. So this would be natural choice for lubelskie must see.
Cebularz is the famous baked roll (pancake) topped with onion from Lublin cuisine. The first to bake cebularz were Jews on Lublin Old Town. It is so important and well known that from 2007 is on List of Traditional Products of Poland.
If you are interested in it’s history (not only consuming) you can go to Regional Museum of Cebularz.
Carneval is Lublin’s most important event throughout the year. All magicians and performers from Poland and all around the Globe are coming to Lublin on the end of the summer. This is one week full of street art.

Cebularz - typical food from the region

photo: Shutterstock

# 4 LUBUSKIE PROVINCE: WINE ALL AROUND YOU!

Lubuskie is a border region with Germany. And my only thought about this area is … wine and wineries. If you are wine lover you should at least give a try to polish wines. Nowhere else than here you will have as many vineyards. Over 40 families are recreating the wine business which has gone during the Communism. You can travel from one to the other tasting wine samples and local specialities. There are many spectacular places to stay in lubuskie province such as: palaces, calm farmhouses in the middle of nowhere.
Ask us to recommend you the best places.

vineyard in Poland

photo: Pixabay

Travel to Poland and want to discover more than just well known places? The other 11 ideas for Poland day trips you will get in the next article on this blog. In the next article you will doscover the rest of 16 best attractions in Poland to see. Subscribe our newsletter to be sure that you won’t miss that.