Poland has a way of surprising you. One day you're standing in a Warsaw square that was rebuilt brick by brick from rubble, the next you're on a Gdansk waterfront that looks like it belongs in Amsterdam. It's a country of contrasts: Gothic brick churches and Soviet-era skyscrapers, royal castles and candy-colored merchant houses, amber shops and milk bars. Every corner feels like it has a story to tell.
This is more than just a list; it's a field guide. In my Journey to 1000 Cities, I've personally visited and shot every location here. I don't just show you my photos—I give you the exact GPS coordinates for every single shot. No more wandering around looking for that one angle. You can go straight to the spot, set up your tripod, and capture the magic.
This guide covers the famous must-see spots in Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk and Poznan, plus a few places most visitors walk right past.
Why Trust This Poland Photography Guide?
In a sea of generic "best photo spot" lists, this guide is different. It's not just a list; it's a field-tested playbook from a passionate photographer. Here's why this is the only guide you'll need:
First-Hand Experience: All these photos are mine. I've personally walked every one of these spots to find the perfect angle.
Exact GPS Coordinates: I'm not just giving you a vague idea of where to go. This guide provides the exact GPS coordinates for each location.
Pro Photography Tips: Each spot includes specific advice on timing, gear, and composition to elevate your photos.
Designed for All Photographers: Whether you're using a professional camera or just your phone, this guide will help you capture incredible images.
Whether you're hunting for the best photo spots in Poland or just looking for the most Instagrammable locations to make your feed pop, this is your ultimate guide.
Here are the Top Photo Spots in POLAND
I’ve also created a map with EXACTLY where to I took these photographs at the end. These pins come directly from the GPS marker on my photos.
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Old Town Market Square, Warsaw
Castle Square & the Royal Castle, Warsaw
Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw
Main Market Square & the Cloth Hall, Krakow
St. Mary's Basilica, Krakow
St. Joseph's Church, Krakow
Dluga Street & the Main Town Hall, Gdansk
Long Market (Dlugi Targ), Gdansk
The View from the Main Town Hall Tower, Gdansk
Chlebnicka Street Through the Archway, Gdansk
Apollo Fountain & the Town Hall, Poznan
Fara Church from Swietoslawska Street, Poznan
The View from the Royal Castle Tower, Poznan
WARSAW
Old Town Market Square
It's hard to believe that almost none of this is original. Warsaw's Old Town was flattened during World War II and rebuilt so faithfully that it earned UNESCO World Heritage status. The Market Square is the heart of it: walls of tall, narrow townhouses in terracotta, mustard, slate blue and sage green, each one painted and decorated a little differently. Come before the cafes open and you get the whole square to yourself, with the umbrellas still folded and the cobblestones laid out in sweeping arcs at your feet.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Get low and let the curved cobblestone pattern fill the bottom half of the frame, leading the eye to the facades. Stand near one corner so two walls of the square meet in the shot. A cloudy sky works in your favor here, because it gives the top of the frame texture.
GPS Coordinates: 52.2497° N, 21.0122° E
How to Get There: A 10-minute walk from Ratusz Arsenal metro station, or take a bus to the Stare Miasto stop.
Cost: Free
Best Time to Shoot: Early morning (before 8 AM), while the umbrellas are closed and the square is empty.
Castle Square & the Royal Castle
This is the postcard shot of Warsaw, and it's best from above. From the viewing terrace of the bell tower beside St. Anne's Church, the whole of Castle Square opens up below you. Sigismund's Column stands on the left, the salmon-pink Royal Castle with its green copper clock tower fills the right, and a row of townhouses in green, yellow and brick red closes the far side. Behind them rises the stepped brick gable and green roof of St. John's Cathedral, with the Vistula beyond.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Shoot vertically so the paving of the square leads up to the castle and the skyline. Wait for people to spread out across the square. From this height they give the scene its scale, and the street performers add a bit of fun.
GPS Coordinates: 52.2466° N, 21.0142° E (bell tower viewing terrace)
Address: Krakowskie Przedmiescie 68, 00-322 Warszawa, Poland
How to Get There: A 10-minute walk from Ratusz Arsenal metro station. The bell tower is at the southern end of Castle Square.
Cost: The square is free. The bell tower charges a small fee, and cash is safest (check current price). The castle interior is ticketed separately.
Best Time to Shoot: Late afternoon, when the sun lights the castle and the townhouses.
Website: https://www.zamek-krolewski.pl/en
Palace of Culture and Science Terrace
The Palace of Culture and Science is a 237-meter Stalin-era skyscraper that Warsaw has never quite decided whether to love or hate. The best thing about it may be the view from the 30th-floor terrace, 114 meters up, because from here you see the Warsaw nobody expects: a skyline of glass towers. Straight ahead is Zlota 44, the sail-shaped apartment tower, with the curved roofline of the Zlote Tarasy mall wrapping around its base. At sunset the glass turns blue and gold and the clouds light up behind it.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Face west toward the glass towers and shoot vertically, giving the sky the top half of the frame. Put your lens right up to the opening in the safety barrier so it stays out of the picture, and include the wide avenue below for a sense of height.
GPS Coordinates: 52.2319° N, 21.0067° E
How to Get There: Directly beside Warszawa Centralna train station and Centrum metro station. Take the elevator from the main hall.
Cost: Ticketed (check current price). The Friday and Saturday night terrace in summer is 35 PLN.
Best Time to Shoot: The hour before sunset, when the low sun hits the glass and the clouds.
Website: https://pkin.pl/en
KRAKOW
Krakow is about 2 hours 40 minutes from Warsaw on the express train, which makes it a long but very doable day trip. Unlike Warsaw, it came through the war largely intact, so what you photograph here is the real thing.
Main Market Square & the Cloth Hall
Rynek Glowny is one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, and it feels like it. The Renaissance Cloth Hall runs down the middle, horse-drawn carriages line up along one edge, and the two mismatched towers of St. Mary's rise over everything.
St. Mary’s was under construction when I went, so my photos aren’t great. Hope you have better luck!
PRO PHOTO TIP: Walk into the Cloth Hall arcade and photograph the basilica framed by one of the arches. It's the most distinctive composition on the square.
GPS Coordinates: 50.0617° N, 19.9373° E
Address: Rynek Glowny, 31-042 Krakow, Poland
How to Get There: A 10-minute walk from Krakow Glowny train station.
Cost: Free
Best Time to Shoot: Sunrise for an empty square, or blue hour when the Cloth Hall is lit.
St. Mary's Basilica
The outside is the symbol of Krakow. The inside is the real surprise: a deep blue ceiling scattered with gold stars, walls painted from floor to vault, and a carved Gothic altarpiece that is among the largest in the world. Every hour a trumpeter plays a bugle call from the taller tower, and it breaks off mid-note.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Inside, look up. A wide-angle lens pointed at the star ceiling from the center aisle is the shot. Outside, the view from a cafe terrace across the square gives you both towers without the crowd at your feet.
GPS Coordinates: 50.0616° N, 19.9394° E
How to Get There: On the northeast corner of the Main Market Square.
Cost: 20 PLN for the visitor entrance. The tower is a separate 20 PLN ticket, sold in person on the day and open seasonally.
Best Time to Shoot: Visitor hours start late morning, so shoot the exterior first.
Website: https://mariacki.com/en
St. Joseph's Church
Cross the river to the Podgorze district and you'll find a church that looks like it was lifted from a fairy tale. St. Joseph's is a neo-Gothic church from the early 1900s, with a tall central clock tower and a forest of pointed spires and turrets. It stands at the top of the triangular Podgorze market square, so the whole square leads your eye straight to it. Far fewer visitors make it here than to the Old Town.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Walk to the far end of the square and shoot back toward the church with a vertical frame, so the tower rises between the townhouses on both sides. Move closer with a wide-angle lens for the detail on the spires.
GPS Coordinates: 50.0437° N, 19.9490° E
Address: Zamoyskiego 2, 30-523 Krakow, Poland
How to Get There: A short tram ride south from the Old Town across the Vistula, or about a 35-minute walk from the Main Market Square.
Cost: Free. It's an active church, so avoid visiting during services.
Best Time to Shoot: Blue hour, when the facade is lit, or a bright overcast day for even light on the stonework.
GDANSK
Gdansk is on the Baltic coast, about 2 hours 35 minutes from Warsaw by express train. Centuries as a wealthy trading port left it looking more Dutch than Polish, with tall, narrow, gabled houses in every color. If I had to pick the most photogenic city in Poland, this would be it.
Dluga Street & the Main Town Hall
Dluga Street is the Royal Way of Gdansk, and the Main Town Hall is its crown. The red-brick tower rises about 80 meters over the street, with a golden sun at the center of its clock face and a green copper spire topped by a gilded statue of a Polish king. Tall, narrow merchant houses with stepped gables line both sides, banners with the city's red-and-gold crest hang overhead, and the Green Gate closes the view at the far end.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Stand in the middle of the street and shoot vertically to fit the whole spire. Use the flower planters as your foreground, and in the morning line the sun up directly behind the spire so the tower wears a halo.
GPS Coordinates: 54.3492° N, 18.6510° E
Address: Dluga 46/47, 80-831 Gdansk, Poland
How to Get There: A 15-minute walk from Gdansk Glowny train station. Enter through the Golden Gate and walk straight ahead.
Cost: Free from the street. The museum inside and the tower are ticketed (check current price).
Best Time to Shoot: Morning for the sun behind the spire and a quiet street. By midday the street is packed.
Website: https://muzeumgdansk.pl/en
Long Market (Dlugi Targ)
Keep walking past the Town Hall and Dluga Street opens into the Long Market, the grandest square in Gdansk. One whole side is a wall of tall merchant houses, and no two are alike: stepped gables, scrolled gables, rooftops crowned with statues and stone urns, and facades in peach, ochre and brick red covered in white stucco ornament. Cafe umbrellas line the bottom and the square is busy from mid-morning on.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Step back to the middle of the square and shoot vertically, leaving plenty of blue sky above the gables. The crowd can work for you here. People in the foreground show how tall the houses are.
GPS Coordinates: 54.3486° N, 18.6535° E
Address: Dlugi Targ, 80-833 Gdansk, Poland
How to Get There: Directly past the Main Town Hall, where Dluga Street widens.
Cost: Free
Best Time to Shoot: Sunrise for an empty square, or late morning when the sun is full on the facades.
The View from the Main Town Hall Tower
From the top, Gdansk turns into a sea of orange-red rooftops, with rows of gabled houses in mint, lilac and pale blue far below. The green copper spires of St. Mary's Church rise on one side, and on a clear day you can see the port cranes and the Baltic on the horizon.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Shoot vertically and keep the spires of St. Mary's at the edge of the frame as an anchor. Then zoom in on a single row of pastel gables for a tighter, more graphic shot.
GPS Coordinates: 54.3489° N, 18.6527° E
Address: Dluga 46/47, 80-831 Gdansk, Poland
How to Get There: The entrance is through the Town Hall on Dluga Street.
Cost: Ticketed (check current price). The tower is open in the summer months only.
Best Time to Shoot: A clear day. Blue sky makes the red rooftops pop.
Website: https://muzeumgdansk.pl/en
Chlebnicka Street Through the Archway
This is the kind of shot you only find by wandering. Step under the stone archway and the old town appears in a ready-made frame: a towering Gothic brick gable, narrow old houses with green window frames, cafe umbrellas and flower boxes, and a carpet of cobblestones leading in.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Stand back inside the arch so its curve frames the top of the picture, and get low so the cobblestones fill the foreground.
GPS Coordinates: 54.3493° N, 18.6540° E
Address: Chlebnicka, 80-830 Gdansk, Poland
How to Get There: One block north of the Long Market, between St. Mary's Church and the river.
Cost: Free
Best Time to Shoot: Midday, when the sun reaches down into the narrow street.
POZNAN
Poznan is Poland's best-kept secret. It sits roughly halfway between Warsaw and Berlin, about two and a half to three hours from Warsaw by train, and most international visitors skip it. Their loss: the old town is compact, colorful, and far less crowded than Krakow's.
Apollo Fountain & the Town Hall
For the whole square in one frame, start at the Apollo Fountain. A bronze Apollo holding a lyre stands on a stone basin, and behind him the merchants' houses run in a line toward the Renaissance Town Hall, with its three tiers of arcades, green-domed turrets and tall clock tower. Every day at noon, two mechanical billy goats come out above the clock and butt heads twelve times.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Stand close to the fountain and shoot vertically, with Apollo on the left and the Town Hall tower on the right. The statue and the spire echo each other.
GPS Coordinates: 52.4079° N, 16.9345° E
Address: Stary Rynek 1, 61-772 Poznan, Poland
How to Get There: The fountain is at a corner of the Old Market Square, a short walk from the Town Hall.
Cost: Free
Best Time to Shoot: Late morning. Stay until noon for the goats.
Fara Church from Swietoslawska Street
Walk one block south of the square and turn down Swietoslawska Street. At the end, filling the entire view, is the salmon-pink Baroque facade of the Fara, Poznan's parish church. The narrow street frames it perfectly.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Stand back at the top of the street with a telephoto lens so the church fills the gap between the buildings. Then go inside: the interior is all dark marble columns and gold.
GPS Coordinates: 52.4069° N, 16.9343° E
Address: Klasztorna 11, 61-779 Poznan, Poland
How to Get There: A 2-minute walk south of the Old Market Square.
Cost: Free
Best Time to Shoot: Morning light is softest on the pink facade.
The View from the Royal Castle Tower
On a small hill just west of the square stands Poznan's Royal Castle, and its tower has the best view in the city. Below you is a patchwork of red rooftops and treetops. The Town Hall tower rises on the left, the pink towers of the Fara stand on the right, and the modern city stretches to the horizon.
PRO PHOTO TIP: Include a strip of the brick parapet at the bottom of the frame for depth. Then zoom in to isolate the Town Hall tower above the rooftops.
GPS Coordinates: 52.4096° N, 16.9316° E
How to Get There: A 3-minute walk uphill from the Old Market Square.
Cost: Ticketed (check current price).
Best Time to Shoot: Afternoon, with the sun behind you.
Map of the Most BEAUTIFUL Photo Spots in Poland
Here's a map of exactly where you can get the best Instagram photos in Poland for your next trip. In order to use it, just open it on your phone and these pins should show up when you get here.
My most instagrammable maps include photos and a description at each pin so you know what you're heading to.
You can also save and customize my maps for your own trip planning! Just click on the 'view larger' rectangle on the right hand corner -> copy map, and now you have a copy that you can customize to your interests during your visit!
FAQ: Photographing Poland's Most Beautiful Spots
Q: What is the most "Instagrammable" spot in Poland? A: The strongest contenders on this list are the Long Market and Dluga Street in Gdansk, the Main Market Square in Krakow, and the Old Town Market Square in Warsaw.
Q: Can you really see Krakow, Gdansk and Poznan as day trips from Warsaw? A: Yes. Each is about two and a half to three hours away by express train, and that is exactly how I did it. Book the earliest train out and a late train back, and reserve seats in advance because express trains require them.
Q: When is the best time to photograph Poland? A: Late spring through early autumn has the longest days and the best light. December brings Christmas markets to every main square.
Q: Are these Polish photo spots free to visit? A: Most are. Squares, streets and waterfronts cost nothing. Castles, towers, the basilica interior and the Palace of Culture terrace charge an entrance fee, usually a modest one.
Q: How many days do you need in Poland for photography? A: Five to six days covers all four cities in this guide at a comfortable pace: two days for Warsaw and one each for Krakow, Gdansk and Poznan.
Summary of Best Photo Spots in Poland
Old Town Market Square, Warsaw
Castle Square & the Royal Castle, Warsaw
Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw
Main Market Square & the Cloth Hall, Krakow
St. Mary's Basilica, Krakow
St. Joseph's Church, Krakow
Dluga Street & the Main Town Hall, Gdansk
Long Market (Dlugi Targ), Gdansk
The View from the Main Town Hall Tower, Gdansk
Chlebnicka Street Through the Archway, Gdansk
Apollo Fountain & the Town Hall, Poznan
Fara Church from Swietoslawska Street, Poznan
The View from the Royal Castle Tower, Poznan
Hi there! I'm Tari, and I’m embarking on a journey to 1000 cities. I’ll learn a lot about food, culture, photography, and customs along the way, so sharing my learnings and travel tips here!
This is the only travel blog that will offer fully customized and downloadable maps for your photo needs down to the GPS marker.
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