Katowice travel guide

Katowice is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000.

A series of medieval villages grew up in the forest clearings of Silesia, working at agriculture and small-scale metal-bashing; Katowice is first documented among these in 1598. They urbanised from the 18th century when coal mines plumbed deeper underground, and better processes were invented for extracting metals such as zinc and for turning iron into steel. Katowice outgrew its neighbours and in 1873 it became the county town. Poland in those centuries was carved up by other nations and Katowice was part of Prussia, later of Germany.

Getting around

Many sights are within a km or two of Rynek or the main railway station. The pavements are broad and level. ZTM Metropolia run almost all buses and trams across the 40-some cities of Upper Silesian Metropolis, which straddles the Czech border. They have a unified ticket system. (PKM Jaworzno are an exception. They run blue and yellow buses on some 20 routes, including lines A, E and J from Aleja Korfantego. They have a completely different fare system; but you're unlikely to use them and they're not described further here.)

Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.