Polanica Zdroj – Kudowa Zdroj – Duszniki Zdroj

It sounds like way too much traveling for one day, but all these little towns are very close to each other. They are all spa towns in Klodzko County, Lower Silesian. About 90 kilometers from Wroclaw. All these towns have a history spanning hundreds of years. Polanica Zdroj was first mentioned in documents in the 14th century.

We went to Polanica Zdroj to taste the spring water, which is famous for its health benefits. All these towns are well known for their health resorts, and all have their own distinct spring water. There are drinking stations in every town, where you can taste the healthy water, which is filled with good minerals. You can also buy the water. We brought big bottles so that we can fill them up in each town and bring the water back home so that the rest of the family could taste as well.

To be honest, if I wasn’t told by the staff that the water is safe, or even very healthy to drink, I probably would not have drunk it. That water actually had a taste. Unlike the tap water we all enjoy, this had a strange taste. These mineral waters are full of salts and minerals in very large quantities. All perfectly suitable for drinking. We enjoyed as much as we could.

The price of the water is 1.50 Zloty. Which is about 40 Cents for a large bottle. But you can drink as much as you want while inside the drinking station.

The towns still used as health resorts and we were able to see hundreds of people enjoying the spring weather outside on the lawns of the resorts and hospitals. The times slows down considerably there. Not for us, however. We had 3 towns to visit and we only had a day to do it.

Luckily for us, Polanica Zdroj, Kudowa Zdroj, and Duszniki Zdroj are only about 10km away from each other, so we were able to easily see all of them with some time to spare to visit a local museum with some farm equipment and household items from generations past.

All these towns are much more popular in winter. Apparently one has to book accommodation in Polanica Zdroj a year ahead if one wants to spend New Year there. We saw towns that were full of greenery, but in winter they are covered with a thick layer of snow. Quite a wonderful sight, apparently. I may check it out one year if I spend winter in Europe.

Here are a few images from Polanica Zdroj, Duszniki Zdroj, and Kudowa Zdroj.