Trip of the week: the timeless charm of Poland’s Lower Silesia
Arriving here from the dull plains around Warsaw is like entering a different world

With its forested hills, its castles and “Swiss-style” villas, and its medieval towns, Lower Silesia feels like a fairytale corner of old Germany “hiding in plain sight” in the heart of modern Europe, says Magdalena Miecznicka in the FT.
Its quaint charm and quiet beauty are the result of a complex history. Largely German and Austrian since the late Middle Ages, it was incorporated into Prussia in 1742, then ceded to Poland in 1945. Decades of relative poverty and neglect followed – which helped preserve its old buildings and wild places. Lately, arty types from Warsaw and Berlin have moved in or snapped up second homes here, but it is still little visited, and more enchanting for that.
Arriving here from the dull plains around Warsaw is like entering a different world. First comes the beautiful old regional capital, Wrocław, and then south of the River Oder, the landscape starts to crumple and settlement becomes sparse.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Your first stop might be Sokołowsko – or Görbersdorf, as it used to be known – a village of “rare beauty” where tall early Modernist villas are overshadowed by the neo-Gothic towers of a 19th century tuberculosis sanatorium, the first in Europe. The film director Krzysztof Kieslowski grew up here, and his archive is housed in Villa Rosa, now a boutique hotel and a meeting place for artists.
From there, it’s an easy hop across the Czech border to Adršpach – a municipality famed for its turquoise lake and thousands of spectacular natural sandstone spires; from there you can travel back into Poland, to the mountain spa town of Miedzygórze, where there are several Arts and Crafts guest houses, including the pleasant Villa Titina.
Nearby is Kłodzko, a “stunning” medieval hilltown; you might visit the 16th century Sarny Castle, now a hotel that hosts concerts and literary events; and Osówka, where you can see the remains of Project Riese, a vast tunnel network constructed by the Nazis, its intended purpose lost to history.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
6 sun-drenched homes by the sea
Feature Featuring a large patio overlooking the ocean in Laguna Beach and a marble rainfall shower in Norwalk
-
Garsington Opera opens its summer festival with two 'very different productions'
The Week Recommends A 'fabulous' new staging of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Donizetti's fake-love-potion comedy L'elisir d'amore
-
The Rehearsal series two: Nathan Fielder's docu-comedy is 'laugh-out-loud funny'
The Week Recommends Television's 'great illusionist' has turned his attention to commercial airline safety
-
The Ballad of Wallis Island: bittersweet British comedy is a 'delight'
The Week Recommends A reclusive millionaire lures his favourite folk duo to an island for an 'awkward reunion'
-
Aston Martin Vantage Roadster: 'a rare treat indeed'
The Week Recommends The Roadster version of Aston Martin's new Vantage coupé makes even 'the most mundane journey feel special'
-
Bad Friend: Tiffany Watt Smith explores why women abandon friendships
The Week Recommends A 'deeply researched' account of female friendship through history
-
Film reviews: The Phoenician Scheme, Bring Her Back, and Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
Feature A despised mogul seeks a fresh triumph, orphaned siblings land with a nightmare foster mother, and a Jane fan finds herself in a love triangle
-
Music reviews: Tune-Yards and PinkPantheress
Feature "Better Dreaming" and "Fancy That"