Lanckorona – The Market Square, Castle, and Tourist Trails

At the foot of Lanckorona Mountain, in the very heart of the Wieliczka Foothills, lies Lanckorona, indisputably belonging to the group of the most charming villages in Lesser Poland. The settlement is famous for its authentic, 19th-century wooden architecture and the stately ruins of a medieval castle. Rows of historical houses, a picturesque market square, and its location at a significant altitude – approx. 500 m a.s.l. – make Lanckorona an extremely charming place for a peaceful, weekend wander.

We visited Lanckorona on a certain sunny, winter Saturday, choosing the village as the starting and ending point of a neat loop around the Wieliczka Foothills and the Maków Beskids. In this post, I will describe my impressions of the walk around the village, focus on the tourist trails located within its boundaries, and introduce the history of the castle towering over it. I cordially invite you!

Spis treści

• A brief history of Lanckorona
• The market square in Lanckorona
• The Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in Lanckorona
• The castle on Lanckorona Mountain (545 m a.s.l.)
• Lanckorona – tourist trails
• Lanckorona – our route

A brief history of Lanckorona

The history of the settlement dates back to the first half of the 14th century, when Casimir the Great founded a brick castle on the summit of nearby Lanckorona Mountain. The location was no coincidence. The stronghold guarded the border running across the hill between the Polish Crown and the Duchy of Oświęcim, a vassal of the Kingdom of Bohemia at the time. Lanckorona was founded shortly afterwards – around 1361. From the very beginning, the town received numerous trade privileges, equal to the capital city of Kraków. In addition, a starostwo (district administrative office) was established in Lanckorona, covering a dozen villages scattered today across the Wadowice, Myślenice, and Sucha districts.

In 1410, Władysław Jagiełło granted the Lanckorona starostwo to Zbigniew of Brzezie, the Crown Marshal and a trusted diplomat who commanded the 34th knightly banner at the Battle of Grunwald. His sons took the surname Lanckoroński, thus laying the foundation for the power of one of the most prominent magnate families of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Over time, Lanckorona (along with its surrounding estates) passed into the hands of successive families – the Wolskis, and then the Zebrzydowskis. In 1768, the castle became one of the most important headquarters of the Bar Confederates. In February 1771, they even achieved a stunning success, repelling an assault by Russian troops under the command of Alexander Suvorov. However, the good fortune did not last long. Already in May, the Confederates engaged Suvorov in the field, suffering a crushing defeat and losing approx. 300 men. For comparison, the Tsarist army reportedly suffered only… 5 casualties.

In 1774, the Maków and Myślenice estates were separated from the Lanckorona estate, and then the property was sold. The buyer turned out to be the Duchess of Courland, Franciszka Krasińska. In the 19th century, the settlement underwent gradual marginalization, until finally – in 1934 – it lost its town rights. This status continues to this day. Despite the strenuous efforts of the previous mayor, Mr. Tadeusz Łopata, the residents firmly rejected the idea of returning to town status and decided to remain a village.

The market square in Lanckorona

It is close to 10 o’clock when we pull into the free parking lot, located in the lower part of the Lanckorona market square. Why the lower part? That is because the market square in Lanckorona, much like the entire village, is situated on the slopes of Lanckorona Mountain (545 m a.s.l.). This determines a significant height difference of several meters between the northern and southern sides. For this reason, the square is counted among the steepest market squares in Poland.

In the center of Lanckorona, the medieval urban layout from the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries has been preserved. Right by the Market Square stand a dozen beautiful wooden houses, mostly dating from the second half of the 19th century (in 1869, the settlement was struck by a catastrophic fire that destroyed the earlier buildings). The preserved buildings delight with their characteristic arcades, wide gateway passages, and shingled roofs. Walking among them, one can get the impression that time in Lanckorona flows slower, and in some places, it seems to have stopped completely. Without a shadow of a doubt, the village belongs to a narrow group of the most beautiful and picturesque examples of Lesser Poland folk architecture.

In addition to the Market Square, beautiful wooden houses can also be found on Józefa Piłsudskiego Street. During our visit to Lanckorona, one of the local cottages featured a large banner reading “for sale”. So… if anyone is interested in a wooden marvel, you know where to look. Individual old cottages are also located in other parts of the village.

The most characteristic cottage lies at the junction of the Market Square and Józefa Piłsudskiego Street (at the address Rynek 23). Today, the building serves as a regional museum with exhibits that relate to the rich history of the settlement.

Since Lanckorona has become increasingly widely recognized among tourists in recent times, the village begins to burst with life during the summer months. Cafés, restaurants, and guesthouses operate here, and seasonal stalls open up. Today, however, we experience nothing but silence and a soothing peace. Because we have a beautiful, sunny morning, the Market Square offers an incredible view of Babia Góra and the adjacent Polica range.

The Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in Lanckorona

From the Market Square, we take the combined blue and yellow trail heading up the slope along św. Jana Street. For a moment, we walk among more wooden houses, and then we bypass the brick Church of St. John the Baptist. The temple was founded together with the castle in the first half of the 14th century. In the following centuries, however, it was rebuilt many times, and at the end of the 19th century, it received a tall tower that is visible from afar.

After bypassing the church, the trail turns off the asphalt road. For a few minutes, we walk through a dense forest, taking in the soothing sights of a beautiful winter in Lesser Poland. After just 400 meters from leaving the Market Square, we emerge at the ruins of the stately medieval castle.

The castle on Lanckorona Mountain (545 m a.s.l.)

As I mentioned above, the castle on Lanckorona Mountain was one of the main headquarters of the Bar Confederates. In 1772, after the fall of the uprising, the stronghold gradually began to fall into ruin. In the 19th century, the Habsburgs established a prison here, but it was soon transferred to nearby Wadowice. The remains of the castle were blown up, and the surviving remnants were dismantled. The stone from the former stronghold became free building material for the local population. Fortunately, not everything was lost. To this day, the foundations of the towers and a significant fragment of the wall from the times of Casimir the Great have been preserved.

The ruins are open to visitors, and admission is free. Recently, significant renovation works have been carried out at the castle. Large sections of the walls have been exposed and secured against further deterioration. A visit to the hill naturally requires a good dose of imagination – as is the case with ruins – but it must be admitted that a stroll between the ancient walls is remarkably atmospheric.

The castle lies at the very summit of Lanckorona Mountain (545 m a.s.l.), which is one of the highest elevations of the Wieliczka Foothills. The height might not seem very impressive, but the mountain has a distinctive, dome-like silhouette that rises sharply above the surrounding fields and villages. Interestingly, the hill is very well visible from regional road no. 52 when driving along the highway from the direction of Kraków towards Wadowice. According to a local legend, it was precisely the view from Lanckorona Mountain onto nearby Żar that reminded Mikołaj Zebrzydowski of the panorama of the Jerusalem Hills (which reportedly resulted in the construction of the splendid, Baroque Calvary).

Lanckorona – tourist trails

Three PTTK tourist trails (yellow, blue, and black) and several other types of walking routes run through Lanckorona. As for the former, I would not describe them as overly attractive. Apart from the forested section to the castle, they lead mainly along asphalt roads, connecting Lanckorona with nearby settlements.

The blue trail runs from north to south. It begins in Brzeźnica, and then leads through Kalwaria Zebrzydowska as well as the Lanckorona castle and market square. The trail continues through the Groby forest (which owes its name to those who fell in the Battle of Lanckorona fought in that area), the Sanguszko Pass, and further on to Babica Zachodnia in the Maków Beskids.

The yellow trail leads from west to east – from Myślenic via the Barnasiówka range (the highest part of the Wieliczka Foothills), and then along the highway through Sułkowice and Jastrzębia to Lanckorona. The route also passes through the castle and the market square, briefly merging with the blue trail, only to split off in a southwesterly direction afterwards and lead through the village of Skawinki to Chełm Wschodni in the Maków Beskids.

The black trail, on the other hand, is a short connecting trail between Lanckorona, the Calvary sanctuary, and the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska Lanckorona railway station. This station lies on the iron route to Zakopane and is significant in that it handles both regional and long-distance traffic. You can therefore reach Kalwaria directly from cities such as Warsaw, Szczecin, Poznań, or Bydgoszcz.

Apart from the PTTK trails, several forest walking routes have been laid out on the northern and western slopes of Lanckorona Mountain, boasting quite charming names (Lover’s Avenue, Avenue of Quiet Whispers…). A section of the Beskid Way of St. James also passes next to the castle.

Lanckorona – our route

We walked up to the castle along the PTTK trail marked in yellow and blue. From Lanckorona Mountain, we descended along the aforementioned section of the Way of St. James, which runs along the northeastern branch of the hill. In this way, we reached Legionistów Street, along which the black trail runs, and then we continued our hike towards the next destinations of the trip – the Calvary sanctuary and Mount Chełm.

By the way, while walking along the highway, a car with Kraków license plates stopped next to us, and its driver asked us if we knew where the most beautiful house in Poland was located. We smiled and replied that we didn’t. However, because this intrigued us a little, I checked the matter later. It turns out that there is indeed a single-family house in Lanckorona that won an award in a well-known architectural competition.

Returning to Lanckorona from Chełm, we chose the aforementioned yellow trail, which includes an almost 7-kilometer walk along an asphalt public road. Passing through the village of Skawinki, our attention was caught by the charming wooden Church of St. Joachim. Although the temple dates back to the beginning of the 18th century, it originally stood… in nearby Przytkowice. The church was dismantled and moved to Skawinki only in the late 1950s. Besides, the highway offers a nice view of the silhouette of Lanckorona Mountain and the settlement lying on its slope.

Date of the trip: February 21, 2026

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