Tarnów is a historic city in Małopolskie Province in southern Poland, southeast of Kraków.

Get in

By train

Tarnów railway station

Trains from Kraków run every hour or so, cost around 20 zł and take two hours. Trains from Nowy Sącz takes two hours and tickets cost around 10 zł.

1 Tarnów Railway Station is southwest of the city centre. It's an elegant 1906 building, worth a brief look even if you're not travelling by train. In 1939 a German agent set off a bomb here, killing 20, two days before the Nazi invasion of Poland.

By bus

Buses run frequently from Kraków, with fares and travel time similar to trains. Tarnów bus station is next to the railway station.

By car

Route 4/E40 or A4 motorway.

Get around

There is public transportation with around 30 bus lines, but most attractions are in the historic centre so you'll manage on foot.

See

• Medieval urban layout of Old Town with tenement houses and the Main Square with 14th century Gothic/Renaissance City Hall in the middle.

Medieval City Hall

Regional Museum on Main Market Square.

Existing remains of the old synagogue

• Remains of the defensive walls and two fortified towers
• 1 Bimah. Remains of the old synagogue  
• 2 Tarnów Cathedral, plac Katedralny. From the 14th century.  
• 3 Holy Trinity Church (Kościół Trójcy Przenajświętszej), Tuchowska 5. This late Gothic wooden church dates back to the 16th century. Now it is somehow hidden between railway tracks.  
• complex of a Bernadine Abbey. 
• 4 Tarnowski Castle. Picturesque ruin on St Martin's Hill, this 12th century fortification towered over the city until it fell into utter disrepair and was eventually dismantled and used in the construction of Bernardine church and monastery. Parts of the stonework are said to have been fitted to various buildings surrounding the town square. What remained of the castle was largely covered during construction of a mound which was never completed.  
• World War I cemeteries. The Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive cost 300,000 men their lives. Many of them have never been identified and today they rest in war cemeteries, often marked with commemorative statues, in towns surrounding Tarnów. 
• 5 Regional Museum in Tarnów. Three buildings in the city: the Town Hall, the house at Rynek 20-21 and Ethnography Museum at ul. Krakowska 10. 
• Town Hall Tower. There are additional artifacts, including local mammoth tusks, on the way to the tower; visitors will also be able to see the fully functional mechanical clockwork of the town hall clock. The ticket costs 10 PLN. 
• Tower of the Tarnów Cathedral. No service is available to the public. However, it has been said that one can talk to the rector about accompanying the janitor to the tower. 

Do

There are several parks and two cinemas.

Buy

• Town Hall, there are many souvenirs, pictures, postcards, and books about Tarnów available at the front desk. One of the noteworthy items is an album containing old photos of Tarnów, it includes rare photos of Gorlice-Tarnów offensive during the First World War, and the aftermath of the Tarnów rail station bomb attack (see above).

Eat

Most restaurants are on ul. Krakowska and in the Old Town.

Drink

A lot of cafes and pubs it the Old Town.

Go next

Head east to Rzeszów and Przemyśl or west to Bochnia and Kraków. Possibly south to Nowy Sącz.