Poznań

A city with a Renaissance town hall on its Old Market Square and Poland’s first cathedral on Ostrów Tumski, reached from Wrocław Główny by direct PKP Intercity train.

Poznań's Renaissance town hall on the Old Market Square under a grey sky: a cream building with three storeys of arcades, painted figures in a row under the parapet, a clock, and a tall tower with a green spire, with narrow coloured houses on both sides and a few people crossing the paved square.

A.Savin Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

What it is

Two parts of Poznań are what a visitor goes for on a day from Wrocław: the Old Market Square in the Old Town, and Ostrów Tumski, the oldest part of the city.

The Old Market Square

The Old Market Square (Stary Rynek) has the 16th-century Renaissance town hall in the middle. Every day at noon the mechanical billy goats (koziołki) come out on the town hall’s tower.

Checked 25 October 2026 Shows like this can change their hours; the tourist office’s page below has the current one.

The Italian architect Giovanni Battista di Quadro rebuilt the town hall in the Renaissance style in 1550–1560. The square was laid out around 1253, and each of its sides is about 140 metres long.

Beside the town hall stands a row of narrow, brightly painted arcaded houses, the domki budnicze. The town hall houses the city’s museum, Muzeum Poznania.

Checked 25 October 2026 The town hall museum is closed for restoration; the National Museum plans to reopen it at the turn of 2027 and 2028.

A row of narrow arcaded houses on the cobbled market square, each painted a different colour — red, green, blue, ochre — with red tiled roofs and dormers, a tall decorated Christmas tree and a column on the right, and the painted corner of the town hall at the edge, in late afternoon light.

The domki budnicze beside the town hall.

Аимаина хикари Wikimedia Commons CC0

Ostrów Tumski

Poznań Cathedral, on Ostrów Tumski, was Poland’s first cathedral and dates from the 10th century. Inside is the Golden Chapel, a 19th-century memorial to the first rulers of Poland.

The west front of Poznań Cathedral in evening sun: an orange-red brick façade with a tall Gothic window and a pointed doorway between two square brick towers, each topped by a green copper Baroque spire.

Diego Delso Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

Inside the Golden Chapel: walls and niches covered in gold with painted saints, a bronze statue of two crowned men on a stone plinth on the left, an altar with a painting of the Virgin on the right, and a round patterned stone floor.

The Golden Chapel in the cathedral.

Łukasz Bakuła Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

Across the river from the cathedral, Porta Posnania tells the story of Ostrów Tumski and the beginnings of the Polish state, with multimedia rather than museum exhibits.

A cobbled bridge with red steel arches leading towards the cathedral, whose two dark towers with green copper spires and green domes rise behind a yellow building, with a street lamp and a sign reading

Bishop Jordan Bridge, towards the cathedral.

Аимаина хикари Wikimedia Commons CC0

A narrow river between grassy banks, crossed by a long glass-walled footbridge that runs from an old brick fortification on the left to a large white concrete building on the right, under a pale cloudy sky.

Porta Posnania, by the river.

Аимаина хикари Wikimedia Commons CC0

A day on foot: from the station to Ostrów Tumski

The map follows one day out: the PKP Intercity train from Wrocław Główny along line 271 to Poznań Główny, then on foot past the Imperial Castle and the Fara church to the Old Market Square, and across the river to the cathedral and Porta Posnania. The walk drawn is about 4 km, measured along the route. It plays by itself; the stops are listed under it.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the ODbL: the rail line, roads, rivers, streets, buildings, water and woods. The walk is routed with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data.

  1. Poznań Główny station
  2. Imperial Castle
  3. Fara church
  4. Old Market Square
  5. Cathedral
  6. Porta Posnania

The Imperial Castle was completed in 1910 as a residence for the German emperor Wilhelm II. Today it is the Zamek Culture Centre.

The Imperial Castle seen across a wide street with tram wires: a long grey sandstone building with arched windows and a steep dark roof, and a tall square clock tower in the middle, under a blue sky with clouds.

The Imperial Castle, completed in 1910.

Igor123121 Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0

South of the square, the Fara is a Baroque church built by the Jesuits between 1651 and 1701.

Inside the Fara: tall columns of red-brown marble with gilded capitals, carved white and gold cornices crowded with small heads and scrolls, white statues above them, and painted vaults and arched windows overhead.

The Baroque interior of the Fara.

Michalpe96 Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

Getting there from Wrocław

PKP Intercity runs direct trains from Wrocław Główny to Poznań Główny, among them the Baltic Express between Prague and Gdynia. More on long-distance trains is on the trains page.

Checked 25 October 2026 Times change with every timetable, so this page prints none. Check PKP Intercity’s timetable for the day you go, and look at the last connection back before you set out. The goats’ hour is on the tourist office’s page below.

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