Poland has beautiful cities and many hidden gems. They are generally built around the Old Town with their attractive main squares. Warsaw, the capital, is a large metropolitan city with the mixture of Polish and global culture. Krakow's gem is its historical Old Town, the church and its castle. Up on the coast, Gdansk and Gydnia are popular summer getaways. For many, the Auschwitz concentration camp is an important visit to pay respects and so we don't forget those horrors. Other sites include the salt mine of Wieliczka and Malbork Castle, the large Crusaders castle from 13th century. In the south, the Tatra Mountains, with Zakopane at its resort town, is popular for summer and winter sports. Another reason to visit in winter is to attend Poland's Christmas markets.

The shoulder seasons before and after the hot summer months would be the best time to visit Poland, March through May and September through November. is during spring (March-May) and fall (September-November). Winters are generally cold and summer is hot and rainy.

Polish cuisine is good comfort food: hearty and tasty, and you can't go wrong with it. Bigos is a meat-based hunter’s stew, Pierogi are stuffed dumplings fried, Gołąbki are stuffed Cabbage roll)s with meat and rice in a tomato-based sauce., Żurek is a sour rye meal mash soup, Kotlet is a meat cutlet, Kiełbasa is the Polish sausage, Oscypek is a local smoked cheese. On the sweet side, Paczki are Polish donuts and Sernik is a cheese pastry. Of course, while in Poland, you can also enjoy some of the best Vodka.

Poland (J. Michener), Poland: A History Book (A. Zamoyski), This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (T. Borowski), The Doll (B. Prus), The Zookeeper's Wife (D. Ackerman), Push Not the River (J. C. Martin), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (J. Boyne), The Spies of Warsaw (A. Furst), View With a Grain of Sand (W. Szymborska).