Spa towns

Spa towns in Silesia are Goczałkowice-Zdrój and Ustroń, with spa parks and brine graduation towers in several cities. See where to stroll and breathe brine air.

Two places in the Silesian Voivodeship have spa-town status: Goczałkowice-Zdrój and Ustroń. Beside them, Jastrzębie-Zdrój and Jaworze keep a spa tradition, and brine graduation towers have also appeared in industrial cities. What they share are calm walks, greenery and a short rest in air saturated with brine. The spa addresses of Goczałkowice are gathered separately on the page for Goczałkowice-Zdrój.

Where are the real spa towns in Silesia?

In Goczałkowice-Zdrój the spa grew around a borehole that struck brine in 1856; the first treatment season began in June 1862. The historic spa park from the second half of the nineteenth century, revitalised in 2010-2015, has a graduation tower and gazebos, and in the same park stands the wooden pump room from 1862, now a park pavilion. The greenery by the spa, the Spa Park, was counted by the spa's co-founder among the amenities for patients.

In Ustroń the spa district of Zawodzie lies on the slope of Równica. There stands the pump room among sanatoriums and seventeen modernist holiday buildings from 1967-1990 known as pyramid blocks.

What to see in Jastrzębie-Zdrój and Jaworze?

Jastrzębie-Zdrój is known for its mines, but it began as a spa with brine, as a text on the way from spa to the city of the Jastrzębie Agreement tells. In the Zdrój district lies the largest park in the city, eighteen hectares, entered in the register of monuments in 1993. Inside stands the wooden Spa House from 1862 in the Swiss style; it once held treatment cabins, a cafe and a casino, and today it houses a cafe and cultural institutions.

In Jaworze the park by the former palace of the Saint Genois barons, about six hectares with a pond, became part of the spa that an office in Opava approved in 1862. In Jaworze there is also a rotunda-shaped graduation tower from 2014, with iodine-rich brine from Zabłocie.

Where to find a brine graduation tower?

Graduation towers are wooden structures over which brine trickles; humid, salty air hangs around them. Several have the same name, so tell them apart by the city.

• Radlin, on Wypandów Street right by the border with Rybnik: a wooden structure of about four by twenty-four metres.
• Rybnik, in the Paruszowiec-Piaski district, made of blackthorn branches in 2018, beside a pond and walking and cycling paths.
• Zawiercie, in the Sport and Recreation Centre on Sienkiewicza Street, opened in 2021.
• Chorzów, on Hutników Square, next to the von Reden monument.
• Mikołów, on Małe Planty in the centre, chosen by residents in the civic budget.
• Sól near Rajcza, as Solankowa Kraina, with a sauna.

How a graduation tower works and where to look for the region's spa tradition is explained in an article on graduation towers and pump rooms.

Frequently asked questions

Which places in Silesia have spa status?

Goczałkowice-Zdrój and Ustroń. Jastrzębie-Zdrój and Jaworze have a spa tradition and historic parks.

Where is it easiest to breathe brine air in a city?

At the graduation towers in Radlin, Rybnik, Chorzów, Mikołów and Zawiercie. They stand in parks or on squares, and you do not have to travel to a spa.

What can I see in Goczałkowice-Zdrój?

A historic landscape park with gazebos and a brine graduation tower, and a wooden pump room from 1862, now a park pavilion.

Can I see the former spa in Jastrzębie-Zdrój?

Yes. In the Spa Park stands the Spa House from 1862 with former treatment cabins and a casino, and the park is on the register of monuments.