Top things to do in Sandomierz

This bakery-cafe looks a bit tumbledown from the outside but inside you'll savour the kind of homestyle cooking people claim their grandmother perfected – although she never actually did. Dine on long benches. There…

Simple food well prepared – big salad and cheese plates, craft beers and very good burgers – is the major draw card at this cheery restaurant and cafe located in the town hall basement. Dine right on the Rynek durin…

Built between 1360 and 1382, this massive church has retained much of its Gothic exterior, apart from the baroque facade added in the 17th century. The Russo-Byzantine frescoes in the chancel were painted in the 142…

The quintessential example of Sandomierz’s underrated assets, the medieval Długosz House (Dom Długosza) was built in 1476 for Poland’s first historian, Jan Długosz. Today it houses the Diocesan Museum, with a treasu…

This stylish cafe on the Rynek serves excellent homemade lemonade, as well as coffees and teas, craft beers, frilly cocktails, and an enticing range of cakes and ice cream sundaes. Breakfasts are popular and light m…

The minute village of Ujazd (oo-yahst), some 35km west of Sandomierz, is home to arguably Poland’s most bizarre ruin. Krzyżtopór Castle was commissioned in the 1600s by eccentric governor Krzysztof Ossoliński and bu…

A 40-minute guided tour (in Polish) leads through a chain of 30-odd cellars tidily connected over 500m beneath the Old Town. The cellars – originally used for storage and sometimes for shelter during times of confli…

The main entrance to the Old Town, and the only surviving gate of the four originally built, is 14th-century Opatów Gate. You can climb to the viewing platform at the top for a pleasant (though by no means bird’s-ey…

The Royal Castle was built in the 14th century on the site of a previous wooden stronghold and was gradually extended during the next three centuries. It now accommodates the regional museum, which contains modest e…

Sandomierz's town hall was built in the 14th century and is the oldest building on the Rynek; the white clock tower was added in the 17th century and the sundial on the southern wall (the work of Tadeusz Przypkowski…