Best souvenirs from Poland: Perfect Polish Gift Guide
Are you travelling to Poland and wondering what to buy as a souvenir? This blog post is for you.
When it comes to Poland and souvenirs, the choice is wide. It also depends on the region you visit. In the post, we will look more specifically at regional souvenirs, but also ‘generic’ ones that you can buy in shops across the country.
I will show both food and drinks (easy to travel with) and other items perfect to bring as a gift. Everything is based on my local experience.
Hopefully after reading this post you will not waste too much time from your trip to Poland for gift shopping, but also you will be able to buy things that are really worth it (and avoid these typical tourist traps).
Food
I’m starting the post with my favourite, food category. When I travel, I usually bring home something that you can use in your kitchen. It’s useful; it brings back travel memories, and usually it’s easy to pack.
So what can you bring from Poland as a food souvenir? Well, many things, as we love good food.
Sausage
Polish sausage is traditional and widely used in Polish cuisine. There are many types of dry sausage, which is not problematic to take on the journey.
Here especially look at kabanosy, thin dry sausages traditionally prepared from pork meat, but you can also buy chicken kabanosy.
It’s a great thing for a journey, as it can stay outside the fridge for longer. I take it sometimes for trips to have an emergency snack. They are also packed well for travel.
Cheese
Although we have good cheese, Poland is not considered as a ‘cheese country’ very much. But one cheese is a good idea to take as a souvenir. It’s called oscypek, smoked cheese from sheep milk. It’s a hard cheese, easy to travel with.
It’s traditional for the mountains, especially Tatra. If you visit this region, you will be able to buy it on every corner. But you can also buy oscypek in other regions, even in shops.
Grilled oscypek with cranberry sauce is one of the delicacies that you can eat at Christmas markets in Poland.
Jams and Honey
If you travel with carry-on only, you have to be careful and search for smaller jar sizes. Anyway, you will eat very good jams in Poland, and there are many types.
I especially recommend ‘powidła śliwkowe’, a very thick plum jam or plum butter. They are very traditional and used just as a spread or in other desserts.
Every September, there is even the Festival of Plum organised in a village close to Bydgoszcz city.
If you don’t like plums, there are other jam tastes like cherry or strawberry as well.
You can also buy honey. There are many natural honey producers in Poland, so you will be able to find great honey in all regions.
Sweets
Let’s look now at sweets that I recommend the most. They are ‘very Polish’, and they are also easy to buy; most of them you can just buy in regular shops, no need for some super fancy special shops.
Ptasie Mleczko
Probably the most well-known Polish sweet. The exact translation means ‘bird’s milk’ and emphasises it’s something unique. They are small bars covered in chocolate. Inside, there is something like marshmallow, but it’s actually more like mousse or foam than marshmallow.
It was created in 1936 by Jan Wedel (remember this family name, as it appears very often when it comes to Polish sweets and chocolate) after his trip to France.
The original ‘ptasie mleczko’ was with vanilla-tasted mousse. At the moment there are many other tastes, so you can choose according to your preferences. There are also other companies that produce something similar, but they can’t use the same name.
I suggest looking at Wedel’s Ptasie Mleczko, though, especially vanilla one, as it is the most traditional.
Krówki
The word ‘krówka’ is the diminutive of the Polish word for cow (‘krowa’). That’s why on many packages you will see the picture of the cow. These are milky soft toffee candies like fudge. It’s a good idea for a souvenir, as they are easy to pack and carry during the journey.
The best known are Krówki Milanowskie (in a yellow package). I like the most Krówki from the Wawel factory (in the picture).
Pierniki
‘Pierniki’ means ‘gingerbreads’. You can buy them in the whole country; however traditionally they come from the city of Toruń.
It’s a funny story, as Toruń is in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian region, together with Bydgoszcz, from which I come. There have always been some arguments between both cities (which one is more important in the region or better in sports), so it would be easy for me to skip pierniki in this blog post.
But I can’t do it, as it’s another perfect gift idea. You can buy beautiful-looking pierniki in nicer souvenir shops in different cities. But you can also just in regular shops. Then look for ‘Pierniki Toruńskie’ from the company Kopernik.
If you visit Toruń, you will have the biggest choice of pierniki: in Kopernik’s company shops or in Iga Sarzyńska’s shops. Especially the second one is a great place to buy beautifully decorated pierniki gifts. In Toruń, you can also visit the museum Muzeum Piernika (Living Museum of Gingerbead
Wedel chocolate
Wedel is the most legendary and the oldest factory in Poland. Its history started in 1851 when Karol Wedel opened in Warsaw the confectionary that was serving hot chocolate. In the following years, the company was taken over by his son, Emil, and later on by his grandson, Jan (the one who started producing Ptasie Mleczko). The company was developing, although its history also has some dark sides, like nationalisation during communistic times.
The company exists until today, with a wide choice of products. So any of them will be a good idea to take home for you or as a present.
I especially recommend different chocolates (they taste good and are easy to pack), torcik wedlowski (decorated wafer cake in dark chocolate) or pralines in a can with Chopin.
If you visit Warsaw, you can actually visit the Wedel Chocolate Factory. Also in Warsaw, there still exists the oldest Wedel chocolate café, ‘Staroświecki Sklep’, established in 1984 by Emil Wedel.
If you visit any other city in Poland, you can visit other Wedel chocolate lounges (where you can also buy great souvenirs).
Other sweets
The part about sweets is long, and it’s not yet the end. There are more sweets worth noticing as a gift idea.
Firstly, plum in chocolate (śliwka nałęczowska), candies called Michałki, Kukułki or Raczki, all from the Wawel company, another legendary company with history dating back to 1898, or cakes called Delicje and Jeżyki.
As you can see, there are a lot of options for all the sweets lovers.
Drinks
Even if I don’t like alcohol, I have to add this part to the blog post.
As part of the Polish percentage drinks could be used as a good gift from Poland.
You can, of course, buy clear vodka in different elegant bottles.
However, I would rather suggest looking at nalewki. It’s an alcoholic beverage prepared based on different fruits or herbs, something like liqueur. Look especially at wiśniówka- nalewka prepared based on cherries or pigwówka- nalewka pigwowa based on quince.
Or any other tastes that sound interesting to you. They are often sold in nice, elegant, smaller bottles that could be treated as a present.
There is also quite a big choice of beer and craft beer in Poland.
Pottery
Although the food chapter was long, there are also other ideas for souvenirs that are not eatable. Pottery might be tougher to travel with, but if you have the possibility, it might be a great idea for a gift.
Polish pottery has a long, few-centuries tradition. You can easily buy beautiful cups, plates, etc. in many shops with different patterns: modern ones or ones with traditional regional folk patterns. There are many companies producing pottery, like Lubiana, Ćmielów or Bogucice and these are just examples; there are more, both older and also new companies.
Bolesławiec
But there is one place and company that is the most legendary and famous all over the world. Ceramika Bolesławiec, produced in different factories in Bolesławiec, a small city located in the southwest of Poland, in the Lower Silesia region (close to Wrocław).
They have quite characteristic patterns and are easily recognisable. I like their cups; they are comfortable to drink coffee from, too.
You will buy Bolesławiec pottery in different cities; also, quite often you can find them at different fairs and Christmas markets.
Jewellery
Jewellery is another great idea for a souvenir from Poland. It’s also easy to pack and carry with you. There are many jewellery shops, bigger companies with chain shops, but you will also find a lot of places where they sell artistic and handcrafted jewellery.
The most ‘Polish’ would probably be jewellery with Baltic amber. You will buy in all of the country; however, the biggest choice you will have at the seaside. Especially in Gdańsk, as the city is considered the world’s amber capital.
I worked in an international company, and we had quite many foreigners visiting Tricity on business trips. They usually asked to show them the best shops with jewellery with amber and bought it as presents, for example, for their wives.
Folk items
You can also buy souvenirs that contain folk patterns, like clothes or cups. The best known are probably Łowicz and Kashubian patterns.
Another idea is tablecloths and other things created based on Polish lace.
Cosmetics
Poland is not considered a country to go to when it comes to cosmetics. Although if you have time, you can visit one of the drugstores, as you may find good cosmetics at reasonable prices.
There are two widely known companies. Inglot, which has shops all over the world and sells makeup products, skincare and nail polish. It’s a Polish brand established in 1983 in Przemyśl by Wojciech Inglot, now known globally (they even had partnerships with Broadway productions).
Another one is cosmetics from Irena Eris. It’s skincare products, different lines and types.
Regional souvenirs
Souvenir choice is also dependent on the region you visit.
You will find variations in typical souvenirs related to the region, like magnets, cups, or bags. They might be related to legends or landmarks from the place (like the dragon in Kraków, salt in Wieliczka or Neptune in Gdańsk), but also to the culture.
In the Podhale region (Tatra mountains) you can buy wool products and wooden cravings, for example, shepherd’s axes or leather boots. At the seaside, you will find amber products everywhere.
As you can see, the choice for interesting souvenirs to bring back home from Poland is big. Hopefully, this blog post helped you choose the ones you liked the most.
Just remember to check your country requirements: if you can bring food from the EU and how much alcohol you can bring. And remember about the rule of not having liquids over 100 ml (3,4 fl) in your hand luggage-it still exists at most of the Polish airports.
Here, you can read more generic tips about travel to Poland.
