Our recommendations
Attractions of Malopolska
Nowy Sącz preserved its medieval urban system of the city with the big Market Square. In the middle of the square appears impressive, neo-Baroque Town Hall with a tower, four corner risalits and rich decoration of facades. In front of the Town Hall there is the monument of Pope John Paul II linked to the multimedia playing fountain. In the neighbourhood of the Market Square you can visit a Gothic church of St. Margaret from the turn of the XIII and XIV century. The two-nave sanctuary was erected from stone and brick, and two massive towers were built on to the facade. In the vicinity there is also a marvellous Gothic House housing one of the divisions of the local District Museum. You can find here many interesting exhibits connected with art., culture, and history of the city and Sądecczyzna Region. Another division of District Museum is in synagogue from the year 1746, one of few memorials left after Jewish community. It is here, where exhibits are collected linked to Jews from this region. If you would like to know how in the XIX century the apartment of a rich townsman from Nowy Sącz looked like you can visit one of the city residences at the Market Square, which houses another division of District Museum, that is, Maria Ritter Gallery and Old Municipal Interiors. In the park, at the edge of Old Town, on the slope above the Dunajec Valley there is a Renaissance tower with the attic and the fragment of fortified walls with guard’s porch. In the neighbourhood you can find some remains of the walls and vaulted cellar hidden underground. It is all that is left after the big Nowy Sącz Castle. It was erected at the beginning of the XIV century, and at the beginning of the XVII century it was extended in the Renaissance style by starosts from Nowy Sącz. These edifices were crowned with the attic, and the castle consisted of 40 chambers. During the II World War, the German occupiers kept there ammunition and together with it the castle was blown up in 1945. Till present, only the mentioned tower has been reconstructed.
The Heritage Park in Nowy Sącz, that is Sądecki Ethnographic Park, lies east on the suburbs. The territory of this park covers 20 hectares (200 acres) on which 70 constructions have been collected, which represent the unique variety of old wooden architecture and traditional folk culture of the local ethnic groups, such as: the Lach (Sądecki Lach and Foothills Lach (Pogórzanie), Lemkos, and Sądecki Highlanders (Górale Sądeccy). The buildings from the German colonists’ settlement and a small Gypsy district were reconstructed. Gradually, in recent years the new division has been created, that is the Galician Small Town, where today you can find Town Hall, few old small-town houses, fire brigade station and a nobleman’s manor.
Worth seeing in the vicinity !
Stary Sącz with over 700 year convent of St. Clare. Near the convent, on meadows over the Poprad River there is the Pope’s altar. It is a memorial after High Mass in the year 1999. Stary Sącz preserved its medieval urban system with widespread, cobbled Market Square, from which narrow, quiet streets diverge.
Rytro, where on the step hill you can find ruins of a XIII-century castle. In Rytro there is the end of the Poprad River Gorge. On special rafts you enjoy a 10 km (6 miles) ride from the small spa in Piwniczna-Zdrój. In this city you will also find a long cable car of a new ski station, from which the tourists are taken to the peak of the Jastrzębska Mount. Here you can also find long, picturesque tourist trails, leading to the highest mountain of the Sądecki Beskid, that is Radziejowa (4153 ft asl).
South from Nowy Sącz, along the Dunajec you can reach the banks of the pond lake, i.e.: Rożnowskie Lake. This water region is perfect to have some rest: there are swimming areas and hire places with water sports equipment.
