Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Lesser Poland Voivodeship known for?

The Lesser Poland Voivodeship is known as a voivodeship of Poland set beneath the Tatra Mountains, centred on the old city of Kraków. Its range is wide. From the heights of the Tatra Mountains to the salt mines and the wooden churches of the countryside, this corner of Poland gathers a span of landscape and heritage around Kraków, on the border with Slovakia.

Where is Lesser Poland Voivodeship?

The Lesser Poland Voivodeship lies at the far edge of Poland, where the land climbs to the Tatra Mountains along the border with Slovakia. The ground rises southward. From the rolling countryside of woodlands and farms around Kraków, the region reaches up into the heights of the Tatra Mountains, the high range along Poland's border with Slovakia.

The relief is dramatic. Between the lowland around Kraków and the peaks of the Tatras, the voivodeship gathers hills, valleys, and the deep salt mines cut beneath its ground. The voivodeship sits apart from the sea.

No coast reaches this part of Poland, landlocked against the mountains on the border with Slovakia and open only to the rest of the country beyond the hills. Rivers run down from the hills. Streams gather in the valleys below the Tatra Mountains and flow out across the countryside toward Kraków and the lowlands beyond, draining the high ground of the voivodeship.

The salt lies deep below. Beneath the surface around Kraków the old salt mines run down into the rock, a mark of the ground that has shaped the Lesser Poland Voivodeship as much as the Tatra Mountains above.

What is Lesser Poland Voivodeship like?

The Lesser Poland Voivodeship carries a culture rooted in Kraków and the highland country beneath the Tatra Mountains. Kraków sets the tone. The old city holds the theatres, churches, and squares of the region, while out in the countryside the wooden churches and village traditions of the Tatra foothills keep an older way of life across this voivodeship of Poland.

Two worlds sit side by side. The learning of Kraków and the folk custom of the mountains both answer to the Polish language spoken across Lesser Poland. That culture reaches back through the region's long past.

The salt mines near Kraków drew wealth and workers for centuries, shaping towns and trade across the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Salt made the region rich. The mountains kept their own.

In the Tatra foothills the highlanders held to their wooden churches, their dress, and their music, a folk tradition distinct from the city below. One name binds them. From Kraków to the Tatra Mountains and the border with Slovakia, the Polish language and the shared history of Lesser Poland tie the region into a single whole.

What is the history of Lesser Poland Voivodeship?

The Lesser Poland Voivodeship took its modern form in 1999, though the region of Lesser Poland reaches back far beyond it. The history of Lesser Poland reaches far back. For centuries the salt mines near Kraków drew trade and settlement across the land beneath the Tatra Mountains, and the old city of Kraków grew into the seat of the region.

This ground also holds grave memory. Within the voivodeship stands Auschwitz, preserved as a memorial and a place of remembrance, set among the towns of Lesser Poland.

What is the climate of Lesser Poland Voivodeship?

The Lesser Poland Voivodeship lies in the temperate band of Poland, its weather shaped by the Tatra Mountains along the border with Slovakia. The heights change everything. Cold and snowy winters grip the Tatra Mountains and the high country, while the lowland around Kraków sees milder seasons, so the region runs from alpine cold in the mountains to gentler weather on the plains.

How do you get to Lesser Poland Voivodeship?

The Lesser Poland Voivodeship is reached mostly through Kraków, the region's hub for air and rail in this voivodeship of Poland. Routes converge on the city. Trains and roads run in from the rest of Poland and across the border with Slovakia, while the Tatra Mountains close off the far southern edge to all but the mountain passes.