When visiting a new place you are always faced with a dilemma - what is worth seeing, where is it worth going. Poznań is an extraordinary city - open and dynamic, filled with unique places and attractions. Here are a few tips which will allow you to enjoy your stay to the fullest - the 6 Must-Do Things in Poznań.

Kahawa Coffee House, after Rome, probably the 2nd best place in the world to have coffee.

Fair trade, organic, and high quality coffee from Kamerun, Kongo, and Peru. Coffee is selected by the Kahawa owner on small plantations and imported directly from coffee farmers. Then, coffee is roasted by the owner in-house. If lucky, one can observe the process.

In the Kahawa Coffee House one can try not only traditional espresso, latte, and americano, but also coffee brewed a modern way - from chemex or drip. Home-made cakes go well with these kinds of coffee. Enjoy!

In the very heart of the Old Market Square you will find the most beautiful Renaissance Town Hall north of the Alps. In 1551, a clock with mechanical billy goats has been installed in the Town Hall. Every day, as the clock strikes noon, on the tower above the clock a door opens, and two billy goats appear. Controlled by the clock’s mechanism, they butt their horned heads 12 times.

Good tip for the late-comers - if you didn’t manage to get to the Rynek before 12pm, there is a vintage billy goat mechanism on display inside the Town Hall.

There is a legend connected to the installing of the billy goats. After the clock was finished, it was supposed to be showcased to all the councilmen and the governor of Poznań. A feast had been prepared for this occasion, but due to the clumsiness of one of the cooks, the haunch of venison which was to be served, was completely burned. To save face, the cook stole two billy goats, which he intended to roast and serve, but they escaped to the Town Hall tower. When the esteemed guests arrived, they saw the two billy goats butting heads on the ledge of the tower. It was then that the governor commanded mechanical billy goats to be attached to clock’s mechanism.

A St Martin’s Croissant is made with semi-puff pastry and white poppy-seed. Today it has become one of the most famous Polish pastries, protected by the European Union Certificate of Authenticity, which only allows for its production here in Wielkopolska, under strict instructions. The tradition of baking St Martin’s Croissants goes back to the 19th century and is tightly connected with the November 11th church fair at St Martin’s parish. One of Poznań’s pastry makers, in response to the call of the parish priest, asking for donations for the poor, made as many as three trays of croissants and brought them to the church. Other pastry makers soon followed his lead. And so, the tradition of eating St Martin’s Croissants was created, and it has been continued on until the present day. Only on St Martin’s day (November 11th), Poznań natives and the many tourists eat around 250 tonnes of croissants - that is about 1.25 million individual pastries! In the Poznań Croissant Museum and Experience you can see the original shows which reveal the secrets of Saint Martin Croissants and other Poznan’s prides. Let’s meet in a beautiful, renaissance tenement house right opposite the Town Hall. The shows are presented live by the locals and prices include croissant tasting!

The Old Brewery 50 50 is a commerce and arts center, created in a former 19th century brewery. Apart from many shops, there are also beer gardens, clubs, a park, an arts center and a hotel. In 2005, the Old Brewery 50 50 received the International Council of Shopping Centers Award in the best medium-sized shopping center in the world category.

Everyone willing to get to know the Old Brewery 50 50, its history, the scope of its activities, the idea whose representation it is as well as its unique architecture and permanent art collection can visit the information points in the Old Brewery 50 50 and arrange for a convenient time for a guided tour. It is also worth asking for a map of the facilities which are in the building - listing unusual gems like a Persian carpet, or the list of art installations.

The guided tours need to be arranged with two weeks’ notice. For more information, visit:

• Atrium, Tel. +48 61 859 60 50; e-mail: [email protected]
• Pasaż (Walkway) Tel. +48 61 677 14 00; e-mail: [email protected]

The former Imperial Castle is the last and youngest monarchical residence in Europe, created at the beginning of the 20th century for German Emperor Wilhelm II. After WW1, the Zamek (Castle) housed among others the Mathematical Department of the Poznań Univeristy, whose alumni broke the code of the German ciphering machine - Enigma. During WW2 the castle was completelly remodelled and made into the official quarters of Adolf Hitler. Today, Zamek is a cultural facility, with many exhibitions, a cinema and a children’s animation theater.

It can be visited with a guide (assembly in the Great Hall), which allows to see many interesting nooks and crannies of the castle, unavailable on any other occasion, such as the original 5-ton throne of Wilhelm II.

More information on tour dates available here: www.zamek.poznan.pl.

In the Museum there is a collection of Roman imperial portraits, extraordinary and rare among Polish collections. On the ground floor museum presents a unique collection of coffin portraits. On the first floor there is the collection of Western-European art - Netherlands’, Flemish and Dutch paintings, Italian, German from the first part of the 19th century, as well as the only in Poland collection of Spanish paintings (Zurbaran, Ribera and Velazquez).

It is there that you can see Poland’s only Claude Monet - “La plage à Pourville, soleil couchant” (“Beach in Pourville”) - returned to the Museum in 2010 after being stolen ten years prior.

Due to the sensational thread and the daring theft of the painting, a film about the event is currently in the making.

In the underground of Poznań’s cathedral church you can see the relics of the first Polish cathedral from the 10th century, the tombs of Poland’s first rulers - Mieszko I and Bolesław the Brave as well as a supposed baptistery from 966. Next to the cathedral, a state-of-the-art interactive Heritage Center of Cathedral Island "Brama Poznania" was built.

The former cathedral island of the Cathedral Island is one of the most charming parts of Poznań. With the cathedral overlooking the whole area, a small Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Summo, cobblestone streets leading up to former ramparts and historic garden homesteads of cathedral canons is an enclave of peace and quiet, and somehow time seems to slow down here.

Other places worth visiting in the Cathedral Island are the Archdiocesan Museum, home of St. Peter’s sword, located in the former Lubrański Academy and the Genius Loci Archeological Reserve.