Jelenia Góra. Attractions worth seeing. Practical information

Jelenia Góra, called the pearl of the Sudetes, is a princely town founded in 1108. A long history means that the city is dotted with unique architectural monuments in many places, representing all styles, including Gothic. Hauptmann's phenomenal villa, the spa park in Cieplice, the charming Market Square and finally the age-old rectory. I am convinced that you do not expect how pretty Jelenia Góra is, because its beauty far exceeds its popularity. Just one day is enough to get to know the most beautiful places and be enchanted by this city, but we recommend going here for a longer time to escape to the mountains or relax in the Valley of Palaces and Gardens. Check out our guide to Jelenia Góra and its surrounding attractions!

Location & Directions

Jelenia Góra is located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in the picturesque Jelenia Góra Valley. From the west, it is surrounded by the Jizera Mountains, from the north by the Kaczawskie Mountains, from the east by the Janowice Ore Mountains, and from the south by the highest range of the Sudetes, the Karkonosze and Śnieżka Mountains. It's a beautiful corner of Lower Silesia!

From Wrocław to Jelenia Góra, the route leads along the A4 motorway and road 367. From Upper Silesia, e.g. from Katowice to Jelenia Góra, the fastest way to get there is by car via the A4 motorway through Gliwice, Opole and Wrocław. At the Wrocław Południe junction, turn into DK5 and through Strzegom and Bolków you will reach Jelenia Góra. The entire route from Upper Silesia takes about 3.5 hours. Paid parking lots are available on site, e.g. at Grodzka Street.

Attractions in Jelenia Góra. What is worth exploring? Map of tourist attractions

Jelenia Góra, as well as its surroundings, is a very attractive area for tourists. The most beautiful place in the old town is the Market Square with the magnificent Town Hall and historic tenement houses. Interestingly, there is a historic tram that has become an unusual souvenir shop. A valuable trace of the past is the Paulinum Hunting Palace towering on a hill of the same name. An incredible gem is the Municipal Museum in a beautiful villa decorated with paintings. Going to it, it is worth visiting Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój, which is a district of the city. Here are the best attractions of Jelenia Góra!

Gerhart Hauptmann House Municipal Museum in Jagniatkowo, Jelenia Góra district

Did you know that an outstanding writer lived in the area of today's Jelenia Góra? He lived in Jagniakowo, in a beautiful villa called Meadow Stone (formerly Wiesenstein). Today, it is a district of Jelenia Góra, located at the end of the world, or so it seems. However, it is worth visiting here to admire the unprecedented beauty of the villa of Gerhart Hauptmann, a German playwright and Nobel Prize winner from 1912. He built this house in 1900 and lived here almost the entire first half of the 20th century, until his death in 1946. He called this place a renewal of the soul and one can agree with this, especially when, on his 60th birthday, in 1922, his friend wonderfully painted a staircase, the so-called "Paradise Hall" (Paradieshalle). This is the work of Johannes Maximilian Avenarius. He devoted about 8 months of his life to these paintings. He created frescoes with biblical and plant motifs, with figures from Hauptmann's mythologies and dramas, as well as portraits of family members, including the writer's wife Margarethe Marschalk and son Benvenut. The polychrome makes it the most beautiful interior in Jelenia Góra. In the remaining rooms, there were exhibitions devoted to the Nobel Prize winner. After World War II, until 1998, children and young people were admitted here for ferry stays and green schools. It is a miracle that these beautiful paintings survived.
Address: ul. Michałowicka 32

Town Hall Square: town hall, tenement houses and Neptune

The city is distinguished by a wonderful market square, the Town Hall Square. We were enchanted by the long strings of arcaded houses. Although the city did not suffer during World War II, these are not the originals. Communist authorities in the 1960s Decided to demolish old tenement houses in the name of "modern" buildings, leaving only a few original facades. The town hall from the 18th century, standing in the middle, protected itself from this unpleasant fate. The most interesting are the cellars, which have preserved Gothic and Renaissance fragments of earlier buildings. The first seat of the authorities stood here as early as in the fourteenth century.

Trams on the market

Not everyone knows that in Jelenia Góra from the end of the 19th century to the 1960s Trams operated in the twentieth century. A trace of this can be seen on the market in the form of a historic trolley with a souvenir shop and a preserved part of the tracks. At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1910, the seat of the authorities - the Town Hall, was connected with seven tenement houses standing next to it. This was not possible in a standard way due to the trackbed running between them, so a gallery was created above it, which connected these objects. In this way, the municipality gained additional offices, and the market an interesting element. 

In a straight line from Jelenia Góra to the sea there is about 350 km, but still on the main square there is a statue of Neptune. Why? He reminds us that local merchants also traded with distant seaports. The fountain stood in the place of the former city well in the 19th century, but the sculpture of the god of the seas is older, Baroque.

Basilica Minor of Saints Erasmus and Pancratius - the oldest church in the city

Almost at the market square, a lofty basilica found its place in the Middle Ages. The church of St. Erasmus and Pankracy is the oldest and most important temple of Jelenia Góra, dedicated to the patrons of the city. The first mention of the temple comes from 1228, but more often it is recalled in 1303, when the first wooden building burned down. The interior today has Renaissance elements, but first and foremost Baroque. It is dominated by a monumental main altar with a colonnade and figures of fourteen saints, carved at the beginning of the 18th century. Valuable steels also attract attention. On the façade of the Minor Basilica, you can unusually see the municipal pulpit. This is the priest's way out to the people. The temple was too small for large ceremonies and did not house all the faithful, so the priest preached outside. It's a unique architectural detail.
Address: ul. Boczna, Pl. Kościelny

Defensive walls: Wojanowska Gate, Town Tower and Castle Tower with a viewpoint

The Jelenia Góra pedestrianstreet, Konopnicka Street, is a pleasant place to walk, full of cafes and restaurants. It reminds us a little of the Italian style, especially since it leads to the old gate and the Wojanowska tower, and in this medieval bastion in 1514 the chapel of St. Anna was placed. It is such a real one-of-a-kind in Poland. This is where the historic city ends. There is not much left of the old, double city walls. At the opposite end of the city, you can admire the Grodzka Tower, which has been converted into a residential building. The city used to have 36 of them. Next to it, there is the Castle Gate. However, it did not belong to the castle, but only led towards the Crooked Hill, where its stronghold and stronghold once stood. The current tower was erected in 1584 on the site of an older, fourteenth-century building destroyed by fire. At the top of this tower there is a free terrace with a viewpoint from which you can admire the soaring towers rising above the buildings.
Address: Konopnicka Street, Grodzka Street, Jasna Street

Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

The church in Jelenia Góra is an inconspicuous, but also unusual temple. Penitential crosses, now called crosses of reconciliation, were melted into its northern wall. They date back to the 16th century and are unusual because they show engraved murder weapons. There is a bow and a sword on one of them, which may mean that someone was shot with a bow and later killed with a sword. On the smaller one, however, you can probably see the rite of the ladder and here the imagination must suggest ideas.
Address: ul. 1 Maja

Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, former Evangelical Church of Grace

The Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross or the garrison church is the former evangelical church of grace under the Cross of Christ. After World War II and the displacement of the German population, it was taken over by the state and handed over to Catholics. And what does the church of grace mean?

Just as after the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) between the Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Habsburg dynasty and the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, Lutherans were allowed to build three Churches of Peace in Silesia (while restoring Catholicism and taking 656 churches from Protestants in Silesia), under the Altranstadt settlement and the so-called "execution recession" of 1709, 104 temples were returned to Protestants and the construction of six new ones, called Churches of Grace, was allowed. Churches of imperial grace were evangelical churches in Żagań, Kożuchów, Jelenia Góra, Kamienna Góra, Milicz and Cieszyn. As an evangelical church, only the Church of Jesus in Cieszyn has survived to this day. The temples in Jelenia Góra, Kamienna Góra and Milicz were taken over by Catholics after the displacement of the German population after World War II. Those in Żagań and Kożuchów were demolished and only their towers survived.
Address: ul. 1 Maja

The Giant Mountains Museum in Jelenia Góra. History, Ethnicity and Glass

The Giant Mountains Museum, located slightly outside the center of Jelenia Góra, offers various exhibitions, including an ethnographic one in the form of an authentic Giant Mountains Cottage, which stood in the middle of the museum building. Just for its interior, it is worth visiting this museum, because it is beautiful. The interior is equipped with furniture and equipment from even the 18th century. Perhaps the most magnificent is the extremely decorative canopy bed. It was founded in 1823, and next to it stands a charming cradle. An interesting feature is the layout of the room, in which everything revolved around the furnace, and a small space served the entire multigenerational family. In other rooms, you will learn about the history of the region, including the oldest one. The room depicting the decor of the baroque bourgeois tenement house of a significant merchant from Jelenia Góra is also nice. The facility boasts an exhibition of artistic glass. It is the largest collection in the country and one of the largest in Europe. There are copies from the best studios in Silesia, including Baroque glass from around 1730. You will learn, among others, the techniques of filigree or millefiori (a thousand flowers) taken from Venice, but Silesian artists, such as Franz Pohl, perfected them. The glass looks as if delicate threads or meadows of buds have been sunk into it. Unusual art.
Address: ul. Matejki 28

Paulinum Palace - Valley of Palaces and Gardens in Jelenia Góra Valley

On the Paulinum hill, above Jelenia Góra, there is a Palace of the same name, one of the nicest monuments of the city and the Valley of Palaces and Gardens of the Jelenia Góra Valley. These areas had been monastic property since 1655, but they did not belong, as one would suppose, to the Paulines, but to the Jesuits, and the name of the place took such a name from the first superior of the order, Paul Kotting. After secularization in the mid-nineteenth century, it was bought by a rich flax manufacturer, Richard von Kramst, who in the 1970s The beautiful Paulinum Palace was built here in the 19th century.

There are 2 curiosities associated with it. First of all, it was modernized at the beginning of the 20th century by Oscar Caro, a Silesian industrial tycoon from Katowice, whose villa is also located in nearby Gliwice. The second is the fact that after the war, from 1945, a repository of found works of art was located here and the director of this repository was Barbara Tyszkiewicz, the mother of the famous actress. As a little girl, Mrs. Beatka ran around the palace interiors among these works of art. Today, there is a hotel with a restaurant. We stopped here for a good apple pie with ice cream and nice views.
Address:  Nowowiejska 62

Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój health resort. Schaffgotsch Palace, Long House and Spa Park

There are hot thermal springs, the hottest in Poland, measuring 90 degrees Celsius! This is because it is Cieplice, or more precisely Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój. Once an independent town, today it is a district of Jelenia Góra. The spa is one of the oldest in Poland, competing for this title with Lądek-Zdrój. This has been used in the past by kings, aristocracy and artists. It was ruled by the Schaffgotschs for 600 years, creating their private kingdom here!

The discovery of warm springs is attributed to the Silesian prince of the Piast dynasty, Bolesław the High, but the history of the place is associated with the descendants of Gocz, who bought the town. He was the historical ancestor of the Schaffgotsch family, one of the richest in Silesia and significant for Cieplice. The descendant of Gocz, Johann Nepomucen, in 1784 built the magnificent Schaffgotsch palace, which today belongs to the polytechnic. Thus, the mighty Palace cannot be visited. But before this happened, in 1403 Gocz brought the Cistercians here, which initiated the healing career of the place. Over time, swimming pools and spa buildings were created at the monastery, including the Long House (Langes Haus) from 1693, created as a guest house for patients. And among the guests were such famous ones as: Radziwiłł, Czartoryska, Goethe, Kołłątaj or King Frederick William III of Prussia.

It is worth paying attention to the Latin inscription on the wall of the long house, which in translation reads: "These sources that bring healing to diseases, may the Great God change into grace for us". Queen Marysieńka, wife of King Jan III Sobieski, also repaired her health here. She came to Cieplice at the age of 46 with her entire court. In addition to being treated, she was also working and dancing. There were rumors that she even had affairs. These rumors apparently reached the king, because he sent her a letter that he was ill and was to return urgently. When she returned, it turned out that he had miraculously recovered and left for the war.

An interesting fact is that Cieplice has its Hollywood accent! It was here, in the Spa Park, that the scenes for the film "The Zone of Interest" were shot, which won two Oscars in 2024! The scenes for the series "Doll" or the film "Fears" were also filmed here.

Cieplice Natural History Museum in Jelenia Góra

The Natural History Museum is located in the former post-Cistercian complex, in the Prepository building. That is why we wanted to go inside, not only because of the goodness of nature, but also because such interiors are already valuable in themselves. You can see beautiful paintings around. And how did the museum come to be here? After the dissolution of the monastery in 1810, the building was bought by Leopold Gotard Schaffgotsch. The family created a huge library here with a lot of books. There is talk of 50,000 or even 80,000. As stated by Wincenty Pol, it was for Silesia what the Ossoliński Library was for historical Poland. After World War II, the book collection of the Majorca library was dispersed and today its elements can be found in dozens of institutions in our country, as well as in private collections. Today, however, the natural collections, which were also initiated by the Schaffgotschs, delight here. Not only were they avid hunters, but they collected various trivia from around the world, and they loved to boast about their achievements. They prepared birds, mammals and hunting trophies, which they showed in their residences. Over time, they moved their gigantic collections here, creating one of the largest private collections in this part of Europe. The museum behind the tickets was opened here in 1920. In the collection you will find antlers, also deformed, as well as skulls of exotic animals from Asia and Africa, which the counts brought from distant expeditions. It also houses one of the largest ornithological collections in Poland. Birds are presented in dioramas imitating their natural environment, which was very innovative when the collection was created. Even today's dioramas present some of their works.
Address: ul. Cieplicka 11A

Deer sculptures - interesting attractions for children

Referring to the name of the city and the legend of its creation, deer figurines stood in the city. The most famous representation of the urban deer stands on the pedestrian street, at 1 Street. Maya, opposite nice tenement houses from the 18th century (one of them houses PizzaHut). Another deer is at the Wojanowska Gate. On the market square, small figurines stood in front of the town hall, as well as arcades from the basilica side. The red deer on the market is also impressive. We also found a charming, in love pair of deer in front of the palace in Cieplice. This is a cool urban accent that allows you to activate children and get to know the sights of the city in a very pleasant way.
Address: Rynek, ul. 1 Maja, ul. Konopnicka

Lomnica Palace

Somewhat in the shadow of Jelenia stands the amazing complex of the Lomnica Palace. It is a beautiful and very hospitable element of the Valley of Palaces and Gardensof It is worth crossing the threshold of this estate to get to know the unusual museum, taste the specialties of the old cuisine in a new form and relax in the local hotel to feel harmony with culture and nature. Lomnica Palace is the perfect place to travel through time in a beautiful edition! It is a former farmhouse, where 2 splendidly arranged palaces and revitalized farm buildings invite you. As many as 18 halls of the Museum are waiting in the Big Palace, the richness of stories and equipment that tell the history of this estate is breathtaking. In the smaller Palace, the so-called Widows' House, you will relax in the wonderful scenery, caressing the palate and resting in the guest rooms. And around you can walk and visit unusual farm shops.
Address: ul. Karpnicka 3, Łomnica

What else is there to see in the city? Murals and sculptures

• Mural "Street Theater Festival", Town Hall Square 30
• Bench of Freedom on the market
• Mural "Post-tribal graffiti", ul. Jelenia
• Sculpture "The Abduction of Europe", Pocztowa Street - bull sculpture with winged Europe at the promenade
• Geographical centre of the city, ul. 1 Maja, next to the Church of Grace
• Karkonoska Informacja Turystyczna, ul. Jasna 11
• Monument to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Jasna Street
• Warsaw Uprising Mural, Pijarska Street
• Mural by Captain Witold Pilecki, Korczak Street
• Ludomir Różycki Lower Silesian Philharmonic, 60 Piłsudskiego Street
• Norwegian Park in Cieplice - with a wooden Norwegian Pavilion, which used to be the seat of the museum
• Czarne Manor - today it lies in the area of Jelenia Góra, but formerly it was the village of Czarne. It resembles a Renaissance castle with its shape and building material, because it was built in the middle of the 16th century and was named Blackwater Castle in translation. It was built by Casper Schaffgotsch. The facility was recently a place of cultural events, but now there are disputes over ownership and the manor is inaccessible

Attractions in the vicinity of Jelenia Góra. Lomnica Palace, Chojnik Castle, Giant Mountains and trails

Beautiful landscapes, the proximity of the Karkonosze Mountains to Śnieżka and the Karkonosze National Park, as well as other mountain ranges, such as Rudawy Janowickie with Skalnik, Sokoliki or the Colorful Lakes are undoubted advantages for mountain lovers. If you prefer quieter walks in romantic and elegant sceneries, the magnificent Valley of Palaces and Gardens with hospitable and wonderful Palaces of Łomnica, Karpniki, Staniszów, Wojanów and Bukowiec is recommended here. The nearby Chojnik Castle is also popular among tourists. The multitude of monuments, interesting places and hiking and cycling trails makes this area very popular in both summer and winter.

Where did the name Jelenia Góra come from? Legend of Bolesław Krzywousty

Why Jelenia Góra? Word is that in the 12th century Bolesław the Wrymouth hunted here and met a giant deer. In pursuit of him, he reached the top of a hill with a beautiful view. Instead of killing a deer, he decided to build a castle here. And so Jelenia Góra was created, on the Wrymouth Hill.

Where to eat and sleep? Accommodation in Jelenia Góra

In Jelenia Góra itself, we did not sleep or eat in the center, but there are a lot of restaurants and cafes on the promenade and on the market square. The Paulinum Palace is also recommended for coffee, food or accommodation in Jelenia Góra. We, on the other hand, stayed in the guest rooms of the Łomnica Palace, and more specifically in the Widows' House. It is about 10 km southeast of Jelenia Góra. There are guest rooms and a delicious restaurant. I will say right away that the prices are adequate to the place, so they are not cheap, but the food is wonderfully delicious and beautifully served. Perfect for special occasions. If you like the palace style, you will definitely like it. We prefer more modern interiors every day, but from time to time I like to experience something completely different.

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What's worth seeing in the area?

If you are looking for more ideas for interesting places to visit, we have it for you some options in the area. There are several attractions within a radius of 100 kilometers, that are worth adding to your travel plan.

• Sky Walk Tower in Świeradów Zdrój, distance: 27.9  km
• Czocha Castle, distance: 33.3  km
• Książ Castle, distance: 39.7  km
• Grodno Castle in Zagórze Śląskie, distance: 50.5  km
• Church of Peace in Świdnica, distance: 53.5  km
• Szczeliniec Wielki, distance: 63.2  km
• Kłodzko Fortress, distance: 82.8  km
• Ostrów Tumski in Wrocław, distance: 94.7  km
• Wrocław Zoo with Afrkarium, distance: 96.6  km
• Mużakowa Arch Geopark, distance: 97.5  km