Viewpoints

Viewpoints in Silesia are towers in the Beskids and the Racibórz Basin, meadows, rocks and hills. See where to climb for a panorama and what you can see.

In the Silesian Voivodeship you can enjoy views from wooden towers above Lake Czerniańskie, from meadows in the Żywiec Beskids, from rock outcrops and from metal towers on the plains near Racibórz. Some viewpoints are by a cable car, others wait at the end of a trail. An overview of the towers is given in an article on observation towers and platforms of the region.

Where to climb in Silesia to see the region?

The easiest place is the Silesian Beskids, because towers and rocks are close to trails and roads. From the towers near Wisła you see Lake Czerniańskie, from Szyndzielnia in Bielsko-Biała the panorama around the summit, and from the Barania Góra Range the outcrop of Malinowska Skała. In the north, in the Racibórz Basin, views are lower but wide, with nature reserves and loops of the Oder.

What viewpoints are there in the Silesian Beskids?

On Szyndzielnia, by the upper station of the gondola from Bielsko-Biała, stands an eighteen-metre tower opened in 2015. The cable car itself has run since 1953, and just below the summit, at an altitude of 1,001 metres, there is a PTTK mountain hut. It is the most convenient way to get into the mountains and see a panorama without a long walk.

In Wisła there are two wooden towers looking at Lake Czerniańskie. Szarcula stands on a pass in the Silesian Beskids Landscape Park, and Kubalonka is a low structure with one platform reached by a ladder, so it is harder with small children or when the wood is wet. In Brenna, on the Stary Groń ridge, stands a twelve-metre tower below a summit 791 metres high; the ridge itself is almost three kilometres long and separates the valleys of the Leśnica and Hołcyna. On the meadows of this ridge grow the richest stands of purple foxglove in Poland.

In Lipowa, just below the summit in the main ridge of the Barania Góra and Skrzyczne range, Malinowska Skała lies by the trail. The name means both a summit 1,152 metres high and an outcrop of Upper Cretaceous conglomerate shaped like a dismembered pulpit, a natural monument since 1977. Few outcrops in the Beskids are as easy to recognise.

What to see in the Żywiec Beskids and on the border?

In Korbielów, in the Pilsko Group, lies Hala Malorka: a former pastoral meadow at about 1,054 metres, with views of Pilsko and Babia Góra. Of the grazing days only the ruins of a shepherd's hut remain in the lower part of the clearing. In Koniaków the treeless Koczy Zamek, 847 metres above sea level, is a few minutes from the car park, and its panorama is not much smaller than the view from nearby Ochodzita. The main watershed of Poland runs here, dividing the Vistula and Oder basins.

In Sopotnia Wielka, in the middle of the village, the waterfall on the Sopotnia stream is about ten metres high and is described as the largest in the Polish Beskids. Below the rock ledge the water has carved a pot several metres deep. It is a place to admire from the bank rather than to climb.

Where to find towers in the Racibórz Basin and the Wodzisław area?

The north-western part of the voivodeship has low but wide views. In Chałupki, in the municipality of Krzyżanowice, the Oder Border Meanders tower shows the loops of a river that marks the border with Czechia; two nature trails run nearby. In Pogrzebień, on a hill at 291 metres, stands a metal tower from 2019 shaped like a pyramid. It is almost twenty metres tall, has three platforms and is lit. From the terraces you can see Tworków and Bieńkowice nearby, and further away the Beskids with Szyndzielnia and Równica, the Sudetes and the Jeseníky.

In Racibórz the Markowice Panorama on the edge of the Moravian Gate Arboretum looks at Markowice, a village founded in the thirteenth century and since 1977 a district of Racibórz, dominated by the neo-Gothic church of St Hedwig of Silesia, and at the forests of the Łężczok reserve. In the reserve itself, above a pond, stands a wooden platform on Salm Duży from 2017, from which birds are observed; according to the reserve's description over one hundred and ninety species live here. Both can be combined in one trip.

In Wodzisław Śląski, in the woods on the Grodzisko, stands the Romantic Tower, a brick structure built in 1867-1868, rebuilt after a fire and open to visitors since 2021. In the Wodzisław district, on the fields between Syrynia, Grabówka and Lubomia, lies a historic boundary mound piled up anew in 1793-1794; at its foot is a stone dated 1822.

Is there a viewpoint on a hill near Cieszyn?

In Skoczów Kaplicówka hill rises to about 355 metres, and from the top you can see the town and the ranges of the Silesian Beskids. There stand the chapel of St John Sarkander from 1934 and a steel papal cross. Before 1825 another chapel stood here, dedicated to the Sorrowful Christ, and the present building was preceded by one consecrated in 1871.

How to choose a viewpoint?

The choice depends on your fitness and on what you want to see: mountains, a river, a reserve or a town. For families with small children the easiest are the places without a difficult approach: Koczy Zamek, the tower by the Szyndzielnia cable car and the waterfall in Sopotnia. Szarcula and Kubalonka suit a trip around Lake Czerniańskie, which is covered in the category Lakes. For walkers looking for trails the categories Mountains and Parks and nature will be useful.

Frequently asked questions

Where in Silesia are there the most observation towers?

In the Silesian Beskids, among others in Wisła, Brenna and Bielsko-Biała, and in the Racibórz Basin, in Chałupki, Pogrzebień and Racibórz.

Which tower to choose with a small child?

The tower on Szyndzielnia, because it stands by the upper station of the gondola. Kubalonka is reached by a ladder, so it is harder with little ones.

Where can you watch birds from a platform?

On Salm Duży in the Łężczok reserve near Racibórz. The platform stands over a pond, and more than one hundred and ninety species of birds live in the reserve.

What is Malinowska Skała?

It is both a summit in the main ridge of the Silesian Beskids and a rock outcrop by the trail just below it, recognised as a natural monument.