Szczawno-Zdrój — a spa quarter beside Wałbrzych, in the shadow of Książ Castle

A village of 1221 and its salt springs

The place turns up in documents as early as 1221, under the name Salzborn. The names are informative: the German Salzbrunn means literally „salt spring”, while the Polish one derives from szczawa, a carbonated mineral water. A healing spring in the upper part of the village is recorded from the late fourteenth century.

From the late Middle Ages the area belonged to the estate of Książ Castle, and after 1368 it came under the overlordship of the Bohemian crown, whose governors resided at that very castle. In 1509 the Hochberg family acquired Książ and its lands, holding them for the next four centuries. After the First Silesian War, in 1742, the whole region passed to Prussia.

Names changed along with borders. Until 1935 the town was called Ober Salzbrunn, then officially Bad Salzbrunn. After 1945 the German inhabitants were expelled, and in 1946 the present Polish name was introduced.

How the resort came about

Organised spa treatment began here in 1815. The defining figure of the early decades was the physician Zemplin, the first spa doctor, who enlarged the resort and added what a spa of that era required: a theatre and a park.

Through the nineteenth century Szczawno lived on the drinking cure. Water was drawn from several catchments in the valley and served in the pump room, and between glasses patients walked in the park and under the roof of the promenade hall. The present pump room dates from the late nineteenth century and forms, with the hall, the core of the spa quarter.

In the early twentieth century Prince Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg had a substantial hotel built here, later known as the Spa House; it went up in 1910–1911. In 1924 the Hochbergs opened a golf course alongside it, one of the first in what is now Poland, which says something about the clientele expected at the time.

What survives

The spa quarter has come through in unusually complete form. The spa park, with its nineteenth-century system of avenues, is a listed monument, as is the spa theatre — a small building of the type these resorts all had, where performances were given for guests during the season.

To that add the promenade hall, a covered walkway for the prescribed exercise in any weather, and a second, smaller park known as the Swedish Park. The whole ensemble can be walked round in an hour, and that density is what impresses: none of it is scattered across the town.

The town is small — barely fifteen square kilometres, with just over five thousand residents — and lies between four hundred and four hundred and thirty metres above sea level. In the official classification it counts as a sub-montane spa.

Książ and Wałbrzych next door

Three kilometres to the north stands Książ Castle, the largest residence in Lower Silesia and for centuries the seat of the same Hochbergs who developed the spa. The two places are best visited together, because each explains the other.

On the other side the town boundary meets Wałbrzych: the spa centre lies about three kilometres from the city's built-up area. Szczawno is therefore both an independent resort and the spa district of a large town, which makes transport and museums easy to reach without giving up the quiet of the park.

The setting in the Central Sudetes offers one more thing: the Owl Mountains and the approaches to the Kłodzko valley are both within reach, and the surrounding hills suit half-day walks that need no particular preparation.

Getting there

• By car — about sixty-six kilometres south-west of Wrocław; the resort sits directly against Wałbrzych, reached by a city artery.
• By train — the nearest stations serve Wałbrzych, from where local transport covers the remaining distance in a quarter of an hour.
• By local transport — buses from Wałbrzych run regularly and stop near the spa park.
• On foot — marked routes cross the town and the surrounding hills, including the approach towards Książ Castle.

Worth knowing

The spa quarter is compact and best taken on foot: from the pump room through the promenade hall into the park and on to the theatre. Whether individual buildings are open depends on the season and on treatment schedules, so it is worth checking before travelling.

Anyone coming mainly for Książ Castle does better to stay in Szczawno than in central Wałbrzych. The castle is only a few kilometres off, and the spa park is simply quieter in the evening.

The resort works all year and has no pronounced tourist season. Most of the traffic comes from people taking treatment, so the park can be busy midweek while weekends are calmer than in ordinary holiday towns.

How to get there and practical info

Location

Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Wałbrzych County, Central Sudetes, on the north-western edge of Wałbrzych

What it is

a statutory spa town, officially classed as sub-montane; spa treatment since 1815

First recorded

1221, as Salzborn; a healing spring is documented from the late fourteenth century

Spa quarter

a pump room from the late nineteenth century, the promenade hall, the spa theatre, the spa park and the Swedish Park

Elevation

400 to 430 m above sea level; town area just under 15 km²

Former names

Ober Salzbrunn until 1935, then Bad Salzbrunn; the Polish name since 1946

Nearby

Książ Castle (about 3 km), Wałbrzych, a golf course laid out in 1924, the Owl Mountains

Current hours and tickets

official website of the Szczawno-Zdrój commune

When to go