A mountain town, a short walk down the hill

The centre of Szczyrk, opened in spring 2012 where the old bus station stood: benches, a stream and a fountain shaped like a ball, green lawns and things for children close by. It joins the main street to the Żylica walk. The mountain-rescue monument stands here: two sandstone boulders with bronze skis, an ice axe and a rope, unveiled in October 2018 for the founders of mountain rescue in the Beskidy (organised rescue began here in 1952).

A path for walkers and cyclists along the river Żylica, used all year, and by cross-country skiers when there is snow. It starts at the town hall, runs to St James’ Square, on to the Skalite amphitheatre, past the ski jumps and the Olympic centre to Skalite, and joins the cycle route through Buczkowice and Rybarzowice: about 20 km there and back.

The long main street through the valley, with the town hall at no. 4 and the tourist information at no. 41. At the town hall an obelisk of two boulders from Skrzyczne (2009) remembers a local hiking leader, and the 28.5 km trail round Szczyrk named after him starts here. Further along the street stand two old wayside chapels: one of 1830 at the crossing of Beskidzka, Górska and Myśliwska, where the Jesuits held the first mission in 1730 (its mission cross is inside), and one of 1829 at Skalite, by the bus stop “Szczyrk Skalite”, with a painted vault and a classicist altar.

Independence Square in Park Zwierzyniec: a quiet green corner with the memorial, unveiled on 2 October 1948, to the ten Auschwitz prisoners hanged here by the Germans in 1943 and 1944, and, since 2021, an obelisk for the people of Szczyrk who fought and died in both world wars. A place for a pause, not a playground.

The largest private gallery of contemporary art in the south of Poland, founded in 1995: works by more than a hundred artists, with exhibitions, concerts, author meetings and workshops every year; on the regional cultural route. A good idea for a rainy day.

A little historyOn 25 July 1894 twelve-year-old Julianna Pezda, out picking mushrooms, said she saw a lady under a beech tree; for several months she and other girls reported apparitions calling people to prayer. Pilgrims came in such crowds that the chronicles say the earth grew heavy. A wooden chapel went up round the beech, then a brick one; the present church was built in 1948–1953 by the Salesians, the local people and pilgrims, who carried the bricks up the hill on their backs. It became a sanctuary on 3 May 1994, the hundredth anniversary, and its image of Our Lady was crowned with papal crowns on 21 September 2008. The grotto with a spring is part of the place; the apparition chapel with the trunk of the beech was restored in July 2026.

A little historyThe parish was founded by a decree of the imperial court in Vienna on 14 April 1787, when Szczyrk lay in Austrian Galicia; the church was built from 1797 and finished in 1800, with St James the Apostle as its patron. Most of its late-baroque furnishings came from the Norbertine monastery in Nowy Sącz: three altars, a pulpit carved with the four Evangelists, a painting of St John of Nepomuk from the first half of the 17th century, fourteen baroque Stations of the Cross (1814), a stone font and three stone stoups of 1800 and, in the tower, a bell of 1691. It was enlarged in 1937–1939 and became a sanctuary on 24 April 2011. The square in the centre and the town’s summer feast carry his name.

The new parish church in the centre. Every day around noon a bugle call, played on trombitas, the long wooden horns of the highlanders, sounds from its tower: written by a father and son from Szczyrk and first played on 29 June 2014.

A little historyAfter years of delegations the parish won permission to build in February 1981. The cornerstone, taken from the foundations of Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, was blessed by Pope John Paul II in Wadowice in 1991 and laid in 1999; the first Mass in the new church was said in 2000.

Three all-year ski jumps of the Central Sports Centre’s Olympic training centre (COS OPO Szczyrk), named after the Beskid Olympians: a normal hill K-95 (HS 104), a medium hill K-70 (HS 77) and a small hill K-40 (HS 44), with judges’ towers, a two-seat chairlift for the jumpers (95 m of height), and stands for 1,472 spectators. Polish teams, local clubs and a sports school train here all year.

A little historyThe first Skalite jump was built in 1937, for jumps of up to 40 m. Rebuilt after the Second World War, it allowed 70 m; the sports centre took it over in 1973. In 2007–2008 it became today’s K-95 and K-70, and the K-40 followed by 2010. Polish Championships, youth contests and memorial competitions are held here, and in August 2023 the FIS Grand Prix. In August 2026 the board of Beskid Olympians at the jumps was updated with the medallists of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The open-air stage beside the jumps: the home of the Beskid Culture Week every summer and of SnowFest in winter (step 6). The Mountain Museum, in the grandstand building, tells the story of Szczyrk as a resort: winter sports in the Beskidy, the Beskid Olympians and the folk culture of the region.

A little historyThe Beskid Culture Week first came to Szczyrk in 1966, with three days of concerts on a stage of planks at the foot of the Skalite jump. The amphitheatre was renovated in 2012 and has hosted the festival again since 2013.

For a rainy day, next to the jumps. A 25 m pool with five lanes 1.6–1.8 m deep and one shallow lane of 90 cm for learning, with a jacuzzi included in the ticket; swimming lessons with instructors. In the same building, a crystal salt chamber built of rock-salt crystals, for a quiet 45 minutes.

A small outdoor park in the centre, “the cone park”: Adventure Golf, 17 mountain-style mini-golf holes for all ages; the Rope Village, a rope park wrapped in safety nets, from the age of 3 (under 6 only with an adult); a carousel shaped like a tree; a big sandpit with a digger; and a chill zone with deckchairs, food and ice cream.

A rope park among the trees in the centre, run since 2022 by Base Camp of Istebna: three routes for children and adults, about 300 m in all, one of them a mini park for children aged 3 to 13. Every route has a continuous safety line: you clip in once at the start and cannot unclip by mistake.

An indoor play room with a climbing wall for children aged 3 to 12, cleaned and ozonised every day. Children stay with an adult and play in socks, even in summer. For a rainy day.

The start of the summer season. In 2026: the opening of the bike season and a kite festival at Szczyrk Mountain Resort, a grill picnic on St James’ Square, a mountain marathon from the amphitheatre and highland music, as announced by the tourist information.