Szczawnica

Szczawnica is a small spa town in Lesser Poland with a population of about 5,200. It lies in the valley of the Grajcarek stream, on the border between the Pieniny and the Beskid Sądecki, at roughly 430–500 m above sea level. The name comes from the local word "szczawy", which highlanders used for mineral springs. The springs here are alkaline-saline waters with natural sodium, bromine and iodine compounds, and each has its own name: Jan, Józef, Józefina, Pitoniakówka, Wanda, Stefan, Szymon and Helena.

Szczawnica is first mentioned in writing in 1413. The spa grew up in the 19th century: in 1828 the estate was bought by Józefina Szalay, who with her husband Stefan began bottling and selling the local water. Their son Józef Szalay, who ran the estate from 1839, is regarded as the founder of the spa: he laid out the Upper Park, built the first guesthouses, restaurants and a chapel, built a road along the Dunajec and organised raft trips for guests. Polish aristocrats came here, as did Henryk Sienkiewicz, Maria Konopnicka, Jan Matejko and Bolesław Prus. After Szalay's death in 1876 the spa passed to the Academy of Learning in Kraków, and in 1909 it was bought by Count Adam Stadnicki, who built the Inhalatorium and Modrzewie sanatoria. The spa was nationalised in 1948, and in 1962 Szczawnica received town status.

What to see and do

• Dietl Square (Plac Dietla) — the heart of the spa quarter, with 19th-century wooden villas and the Dom nad Zdrojami building, which houses a mineral-water pump room.
• The Józef Szalay Pieniny Museum in the Pałac villa on Dietl Square — an ethnographic exhibition on Pieniny folk culture, the history of the spa and a room devoted to the writer Jan Wiktor.
• The Grajcarek promenade — a walkway about 1.8 km long from the lower station of the Palenica lift to the foot-and-cycle path along the Dunajec.
• Palenica (722 m) — the chairlift runs all year: in summer there are views of the Pieniny and the Tatras, a gravity slide and a playground; in winter, ski runs.
• The Pieniny Road — about 10 km on foot or by bike along the Dunajec to Červený Kláštor; roughly 80% of it runs along the Slovak bank. On the way you pass the Kotuńka rock with its highlander figure and "Jánošík's Leap" at the narrowest point of the gorge.
• Sokolica (747 m) — about an hour's climb from the ferry crossing over the Dunajec to a viewpoint crag with a relict pine.

Practical information

Szczawnica is linked by a local road to neighbouring Krościenko nad Dunajcem, through which the regional road Nowy Targ — Krościenko — Nowy Sącz passes. Buses and minibuses stop on Główna Street; minibuses run to Jaworki, Niedzica and the raft landings at Sromowce Niżne. The town is a good base for a holiday without mountain hiking: the centre, the promenade and Dietl Square are easy to explore on foot and accessible with a pushchair, and you can ride the lift up Palenica. Part of the surroundings belongs to Pieniny National Park, where park rules apply (no dogs or drones, marked trails only). In summer and during the autumn redyk — the festive return of the sheep flocks from the pastures — the town is packed, so book accommodation in advance.

Nearby

The Dunajec raft trip ends on the riverbank in Szczawnica. Trails lead from here to Trzy Korony, and a few kilometres away, in the village of Jaworki, begins the Homole Gorge. A little further are the castles of Niedzica and Czorsztyn.

Official website: szczawnica.pl

Photos: Anulaaab, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Mach240390, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Henryk Bielamowicz, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Grzegorz W. Tężycki, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Mateusz Giełczyński, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.