Lesser Poland (Latin Polonia Minor) is an historical and ethnographic region in south-eastern Poland. Geographically, it encompasses the basin of the upper and part of the middle Vistula with most of the Polish Carpathians, the Sandomierz Basin, the Oswiecim Basin and the Lesser Polish Uplands which include the Krakow and Czestochowa Jura with its unique flora and Jurassic rocks.

With more tourist attractions than any other region in Poland, Lesser Poland has a delightful collection of historical monuments, religious shrines, beauty spots and resorts. The major destination for sightseeing is of course Krakow, Poland's cultural capital, with about a quarter of all the country's museum holdings, and European City of Culture for the year 2000. It has strong competition, though. The main rival is Zakopane - a lively resort at the foot of Poland's highest mountains, the Tatras, and the best-known town in the mountainous Podhale region. Some four million pilgrims come every year to Czestochowa, the country's national shrine, to pray in front of the holy picture of the Black Madonna at the Monastery of Jasna Góra. Another great attraction is Wieliczka with its stunning salt mine. The medieval town of Oswiecim had its peace shattered forever during the Second World War when the Nazis built a death camp in the neighborhood and called it Auschwitz. The site and the memorial museum set up there after the War are now the grim destination for thousands paying homage to those who died there.

If you like unspoiled countryside, see the Roztocze and the area around Lublin, both east of the Vistula and south of the Bug. Noted for their beauty (there are two national parks here), these lands once had substantial Jewish enclaves in the small towns dotted around the area, where vestiges of the Ashkenazi material culture may still be observed. Two other places definitely deserve to be visited: Lublin itself, a charming city with an interesting Old Town and many historical buildings including an impressive castle, and Zamosc, a splendid Renaissance town dubbed the Padua of the North and entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List.