About Poland

• Tourist Information
• Geographical information
• Government of the state in Poland
• Voivodships in Poland

Tourist Information

Revival - in recent years, tourism in Poland has enjoyed a substantial boost thanks to an increasing number of budget airlines, more airports within Poland and improved roadways. Additionally, accommodation in Poland has improved in quality and remained low in price.

The coastal region to the North boasts magnificent sand beaches and a variety of water sports, geared toward all ages. The hilly landscape within the mountainous region to the South of the country offers many possibilities, among them are cycling, walking, hiking, mountaineering, skiing, tobogganing, biathalon and sledding. Above all, Poland has pure untouched nature just waiting to be appreciated.

Poland’s rich historical culture and various festivals has made Poland more and more interesting for tourists. The former capital city Krakaw is often seen as the most beautiful city in Poland, and receives annually approximately 1 million visitors. One of the main attractions in Krakaw is the Jagiellonen university, founded into 1364. The hotels, restaurants, pubs and the night-life are to be found in the larger cities of Krakaw, Warsaw, Breslaw and Poznan, which draw a young and metropolitan crowd.

There are in Poland 23 national parks and numerous nature reserves. For example, the Karkonosze national park is to be found close to the German border and it is magnificent to visit in the summer where you will find beautiful vegetation and foliage, as well as in the winter when the park is visited by many skiers. Szklarska Poręba and Karpacz are the most popular areas, with the salt-mines of Wielinczka and Bochnia enjoying as of late an increase in tourism mostly due to the various spas and resorts housed there.

Geographical information

Position - Poland is situated in Central Europe on the Baltic, in between Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the former Soviet Union. The total area is 3.487 kilometres and borders:

• The Baltic - 528 km;
• The Russian federation - Region Kaliningrad - 210 km;
• Lithuania - 103 km;
• Belarus - 416 km;
• Ukraine - 529 km;
• Slovakia - 539 km;
• The Czech Republic - 795 km;
• Germany - 467 km.

Surface - Poland amounts to 312.685 km², of which 304.465 km² is land and 8.220 km² is territorial sea with 1.200 km² of lagoons, which makes it the ninth largest nation of Europe and the 63rd largest nation in the world.

Climate - Poland has a temperate climate which is influenced by the sea in the north and more continental in the south east and east. Summers are generally warm and sunny, with the occasional rain shower. Poland has, in contrast with other countries, six seasons. There is a pre-spring and an extra autumn, in which the weather can be warm and dry. Especially this golden polish autumn, the so-called indian summer, is quite special.

Sea-level - Poland is a lowland of which 91,3% of the surface lies only 300 metres above the new Amsterdam water-mark.

Average temperature - in the spring and summer months the temperatures are very agreeable, averaging 17ºC in the north and 19ºC in the south. The average temperature in the winter months is between -1ºC and 0ºC in the west and -5ºC and -6ºC in the north-east and in the mountains to the south.

The highest mountain Rysy - is situated in the immense Tatra mountain range with a height of 2.499 metres above sea-level. The name “Rysy” in English means “cracks”, and it received it’s name because when looking at it from a distance it looks like as if there are many cracks running down the side as if drawn with a pencil. Rysy mountain ranks 15th highest of the Tatra mountain range, with the highest mountain being situated on the Slovakian side of the range and reaching a height of 2.655 metres.

Śniardwy - is the largest lake in Poland and is situated in Warmian – Masurian. The lake has a longitude of 22 kilometres and a latitude of more than 13 kilometres, and a total surface of 114 km². The maximum depth is 23 metres and the average depth is 5,8 metres. This lake is characterized by sand banks, flat stones which lie just below the surface of the water and high waves. There are a total of eight islands whose total combined surface amount of 44 hektares. The largest islands into the lake are called Szeroko Ostrów, Czarci Ostrów, Pajęcza and Kaczor. The largest lagoons in the south of the lake are classified as a lake of their own and are called Warnołty i Seksty.

Hańcza - with a depth of 108,5 metres Hancza is the deepest lake in Poland. It is a beautiful lake with pure clear water, and it is used for drinking water. The surface amounts to 305 hektares, the longitude nearly 5 kilometres and the maximum latitude 1 kilometres. The banks of the lake are mostly steep and high with many large stones. Since 1963 the lake has been used as a landscape-water-tank.

Żuławy - the lowlands of Poland are situated along the coastal region of Gdansk, in the river delta from the Wisła. The name Żuławy comes from the term “Żuł”, which means “sediment”. Żuławy lies 30 % below sea-level of which the lowest part lies –1,8 metres below new Amsterdam water mark. This place is marked as the lowest point in Poland and the nearest town is Raczki Elbląskie which is situated near the road Elbląg (Elbing) – Malbork (Marienburg).

The river Wisła - boasting a length of 1.047 kilometers, this is the most important and longest river in Poland and the largest river which flows into the Baltic Sea. The walls of the river are begin in the south of Poland and highly placed at 1.106 metres above new Amsterdam water mark. The average flow near the mouth of the river amounts to 1.054 metres³/second.

The time-zone - Poland shares Central Europe time zone, the 15º East longitude meridian. In the summer it is the Eastern Europe time, the 30º East longitude meridian. The extreme geographical co-ordinates of Poland are:

• 49º00’ geographical the North latitude (N) - the mountaintop Opołonek
• 54º50’ geographical the North latitude (N) - the cape Rozewie
• 14º07’ geographical the East longitude (E) - the winding of the river Oder near Osinów Dolny
• 24º08’ geographical the East longitude (E) - the knee of the river Bug near Zosin.

The population - the census at the end of 2007 was 38,51 million inhabitants.

Government of the state in Poland

The republic - Poland is a republic with many parties. The republic has a “two” chamber parliaments and elections are held every four years. The foundations of the statute laws of Poland are embedded in the constitution of the Polish Republic from April 2, 1997.

The president - as stated in the constitution, the president is the highest representative of the Polish authority. He must guarantee continuity of the imperial authority and he representatives the highest seat of the state within the reach of the Executive. From December 23, 2005 – Lech Kaczyński. The president of Poland, who is elected by general democratic elections, serves a term of five years from the day he is sworn in.

The parliament - the « Sejm », consist of a “Lower House” with 460 representatives, who are elected via general elections. The term of the parliament is four years. The “Upper House”, the senate, consist of 100 senators and the term served is also four years. The Premier is in many countries the head of the Government. The official name of the Prime Minister in Poland is the “Premier”. Since October 2005, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz has served as the Prime Minister. He was succeeded on July 10, 2006 by Jaroslaw Kaczyński, a twin-brother of the president. After the elections on Sunday, October 21, 2007, Jaroslaw Kaczyński was not re-elected. His successor, the former chairman of the liberal Citizensplatform (PO), Donald Tusk, was installated at November 9, 2007 as the new Prime Minister.

Territorial partition of Poland - there are 16 provinces (voivodships) which are divided into 315 districts or counties (the so-called powiats). In these districts there are 2.489 municipalities (the so-called gmina).

Voivodships in Poland

The provinces - a voivodship was originally described as a dominion ruled by a duke and is under existing circumstances the denomination of the sixteen regions of Poland, the “Województwa” (singular: the Województwo), from which a Woiwode the highest governour is.

The term woiwode (also: wojewode) goes back to the Slavonic term “voj-voda”, literally “army commander”. The title is considered to be at the same level as a duke.

The old kingdom of Poland had voivodships, but also the sovereigns from Moldavia and Wallachia were “voivods”. The name of the region Vojvodina in the north of Serbia, means nothing else than voivodship.

There are 16 voivodships or provinces in Poland. All these voivodships were founded on January 1, 1999, pursuant to the local government reorganisation act.

More information about the voivodships