Tarnów

Tarnów is a historic city in Małopolskie Province in southern Poland, 80 km east of Kraków. The city has a little over 100,000 inhabitants and is an important centre in the region.

Understand

• 1 Tourism information point, Rynek 7, ☏ +48 146 889 090. 

Get in

By train

Tarnów railway station

Trains from Kraków run every hour or so, cost around 20 zł and take a little more than one hour. Trains from Nowy Sącz take around one hour and 45 minutes. Tickets cost around 13,50 zł.

1 Tarnów Railway Station. 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.

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

Mausoleum of General Jozef Bem

• 1 Half-Bastion (Półbaszta), Basztowa 4. Remains of the defensive walls and two fortified towers.  
• 2 Bimah. Remains of the old synagogue.  
• 3 Tarnów Cathedral, plac Katedralny. From the 14th century. The tower isn't open to the public. However, it has been said that you can talk to the rector about accompanying the janitor to the tower.  
• 4 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.  
• 5 Bernadine Abbey Complex, Bernardyńska 13.  
• 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. 
  • 6 World War I Cemetery no. 200 – Tarnów-Chyszów.  
  • 7 World War I Cemetery no. 202 – Tarnów.  
• 8 Jewish Cemetery, Szpitalna. The cemetery was founded in the 16th century. It is one of the oldest and most interesting cemeteries in southern Poland, with over four thousand tombstones. Research from 2019 has discovered over 11,000 people are buried in the necropolis. The keys to the cemetery gate can be borrowed, for a returnable deposit, at the Tarnów Information Center (Rynek 7) or at the premises of the Tarnów museum.  
• 9 Diocesan Museum (Muzeum Diecezjalne). An collection of religious art from the 15th century onwards, housed inside wonderful ensemble of 16th-century houses. The museum's most precious artefact is the original altar from St. Leonard's Church in Lipnica Murowana. Museum established in the year 1888.  
• Regional Museum in Tarnów (Muzeum Okręgowe). Five buildings in the city. 
  • 10 Town Hall. Old Art Gallery. The Tarnów Town Hall is one of the most well-known sights in the city. 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. 10 zł.  
  • 11 Museum of the History of Tarnów and the Region, Rynek 20-21. 
  • 12 Etnographic Museum, Krakowska 10.  
  • 13 Panorama Gallery, pl. Dworcowy 4. 
  • 14 Regional Center for Education about Remembrance, Mościckiego 29. 
• 15 Strzelecki Park with Mausoleum of General Józef Bem. In the middle of the park stands the Mausoleum of General Józef Bem, who fought for Polish and Hungarian independence in the 19th century. He was born in Tarnów in 1794 but died in Aleppo in 1850. Bem was initially buried there until his remains were moved to Tarnów in 1929, 11 years after Poland gained independence. The mausoleum is a sarcophagus, resting on 6 columns with Corinthian capitals. There are inscriptions in Polish, Hungarian and Arabic on the walls of the sarcophagus.  
• 16 BWA Gallery in the former Strzelecki Palace, Słowackiego 1. This small neo-gothic palace at the edge of the Strzelecki Park now houses exhibition spaces open to the public.  
• 17 Szekelys Gate (Brama Seklerska). A gift from the Hungarian Irott Szó Foundation and the city of Sepsiszentgyőrgy for the city of Tarnów. Unveiled on May 26, 2001, the day of its handover is associated with the 170th anniversary of the Battle of Ostrołęka - one of the battles of the November Uprising in which Józef Bem fought. It is the second gate of this type in Poland (the first one stands in Stary Sącz). Free of charge. 

In the outskirts

• 18 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. Free.  
• 19 Sanguszko Palace, ul. Sanguszków 28. One of several palaces that were owned by the Sanguszko family. The palace is now used as a school.  
• 20 Nalepówka Villa, ul. Gumniska 30. A neogothic villa in Gumniska, in the south-eastern part of Tarnów. Nearby the Sanguszko Palace. The building is not used since 2019 and is slowly falling apart. There are plans for a renovation, but no strict plans have been made yet. (updated Jul 2022)

Do

There are several parks and two cinemas.

• 1 Kino Marzenie, Staszica 4, ☏ +48 146 888 885. Cinema. (updated Jul 2022)

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.

Sleep

• 1 Camping 202 Pod Jabłoniami, Piłsudskiego 28A, ☏ +48 502 562 005, recepcja@camping.tarnow.pl. 
• 2 Hotel Bristol, Krakowska 9, ☏ +48 14 621 22 79, recepcja@hotelbristol.com.pl. 
• 3 Hotel Cristal Park, Traugutta 5, ☏ +48 14 633 12 25, hotel@cristalpark.pl. 
• 4 Hotel Gal, Dworcowa 5, ☏ +48 530 040 856, recepcja@hotelgaltarnow.pl. 
• 5 Hotel Kantoria, Piłsudskiego 28A, ☏ +48 14 652 29 33, recepcja@kantoria.pl. 
• 6 Hotel Krzyski, Krzyska 52b, ☏ +48 14 620 11 34, recepcja@hotelkrzyski.pl. 
• 7 Hotel Pod Dębem, Marusarz 9B, ☏ +48 14 626 00 88, recepcja@hpd.pl. 
• 8 Hotel Tarnovia, Kościuszki 10, ☏ +48 14 630 03 50, fax: +48 14 621 27 44, recepcja@hotel.tarnovia.pl. 
• 9 Euro Aparthotel U Jana, Rynek 14, ☏ +48 14 626 05 64, recepcja@euroaparthotel.pl. 
• 10 Aparthotel Zakątna, Zakątna 19, ☏ +48 664 009 460, info@aparthotelzakatna.pl. 

A detailed, constantly updated description of accommodation facilities in Tarnów and the Tarnów region is available on the website of the Tarnów Information Center.

Go next

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