Baltic Heritage: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia

Poland's alpine resort at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, all timber highlander architecture and crisp mountain air.

A funicular railway climbs Gubałówka hill for a sweeping panorama over Zakopane and the jagged Tatra range beyond.

Poland's royal capital for 500 years — the Wawel Castle above the Vistula and a UNESCO old town of churches, squares and cobbled lanes.

A UNESCO World Heritage site — subterranean chambers, chapels and chandeliers carved entirely from rock salt over seven centuries.

Europe's largest medieval market square, anchored by the Renaissance Cloth Hall and ringed by townhouses and pavement cafés.

The Gothic brick basilica on the square, famed for Veit Stoss's carved wooden altarpiece and the hourly trumpet call sounded from its tower.

The seat of Polish kings on a limestone hill above the Vistula — Renaissance courtyards, state rooms and the royal cathedral.

The former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, now a UNESCO Memorial and Museum — a solemn, essential place of remembrance.

Poland's phoenix capital, meticulously rebuilt after wartime destruction, blending a restored Old Town with a modern skyline.

The 'Polish Versailles' — a baroque royal residence of gilded interiors set in formal gardens on the edge of Warsaw.

A UNESCO Old Town rebuilt brick by brick after WWII, with the Royal Castle, the Copernicus Monument and the Warsaw Mermaid.

On the Baltic coast, Gdańsk's skyline of brick gables and church spires marks Poland's great Hanseatic port.

Gdańsk's showpiece thoroughfare of ornate patrician houses, crowned by the 17th-century Neptune Fountain.

Set in a medieval gatehouse, a museum of 'Baltic gold' — amber jewellery, artefacts and insects trapped in ancient resin.

The seaside resort of Sopot, with its long wooden pier and the whimsical, fairytale-warped 'Crooked House'.

Hitler's hidden Eastern Front headquarters deep in the Masurian forest — a complex of ruined, camouflaged concrete bunkers.

The heart of Poland's Great Lake District, a maze of connected lakes and lakeside towns like Mikołajki.

Lithuania's second city and former interwar capital, where two rivers meet beneath a historic old town.

One of Europe's largest baroque old towns, a UNESCO World Heritage site of churches, courtyards and cobbled lanes.

The white neoclassical cathedral and its bell tower on the main square, beneath the hilltop Gediminas Castle.

A red-brick Gothic castle on an island in Lake Galvė — Lithuania's storybook medieval fortress, reached by causeway.

A masterpiece of Gothic brickwork in Vilnius, so beautiful that Napoleon reputedly wished to carry it back to Paris.

Near Šiauliai, a hill bearing more than 100,000 crosses — a moving site of pilgrimage and Lithuanian resilience.

Latvia's capital on the Daugava, famed for the greatest concentration of Art Nouveau architecture in Europe.

The ornate centrepiece of Riga's UNESCO Old Town — a lavishly decorated guild house on Town Hall Square.

Riga's oldest dwelling houses, three adjoining medieval façades that trace the city's architectural evolution.

Estonia's summer capital, a genteel spa town of long sandy beaches and wooden villas on the way to Tallinn.

One of Europe's best-preserved medieval towns — a UNESCO maze of merchant houses, guild halls and city walls.

A grand Orthodox cathedral crowning Toompea hill, its black onion domes and mosaics a striking Tallinn landmark.

Peter the Great's baroque summer palace and gardens, and the vast amphitheatre where Estonia's national Song Festival is held.