Silesia Overview

Silesian Voivodeship (also known as Silesian Province or by its Polish name of województwo śląskie) is situated in the South of Poland and boarders Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is the only province which has more city counties (powiaty grodzkie) than land counties (powiaty ziemskie) - as much as 19 cities are... Full Overview

Silesian Voivodeship (also known as Silesian Province or by its Polish name of województwo śląskie) is situated in the South of Poland and boarders Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is the only province which has more city counties (powiaty grodzkie) than land counties (powiaty ziemskie) - as much as 19 cities are with the rights of county. The biggest are Częstochowa, Sosnowiec, Gliwice, Zabrze, Bytom, Bielsko-Biała and Katowice, which is the place of residence for the local government. International airport of the region is located in Pyrzowice (30 km away from Katowice). Silesia is the most industrialized region in Poland.

Silesia was once one of the main ski regions in Poland, but in XXI century it was left behind. Now the ski base is being modernized. The most winter sports are concentrated around Silesian Beskids (Polish: Beskid Śląski). You can find there two from three biggest ski resorts in Poland: “Pilsko” and “Czyrna-Solisko”. There were also many little resorts with single lifts created. Accommodation base in Silesia is well- developed. Silesian Voivodeship has a lot of touristic routes to offer.

In the last years new initiative was taken- “Beskidzka 5”, which connects five Silesian cities and counties. These are: Ustroń, Brenna, Istebna, Szczyrk and Wisła. In all of these places you can find attractive places to practise winter sports.
The enthusiasts of ski jumping should visit Wisła- the hometown of Adam Małysz, where you can find ski jump named after him. Its critical point is 120m which makes it the second biggest object like this in Poland. The other, smaller ski jump is in Szczyrk.

The next interesting place is a ski resort ”Pilsko” situated in Żywiec Beskids (Polish: Beskid Żywiecki), close to Korbielów. There is the second longest route in Silesia located: Pilsko –Hala Szczawiny - Korbielów Kamienna. It is 4500m long, and the difference of hills is 772m.
Exceptionally good conditions cause that the resort is opened longer than other objects of the region, the need of artificial snowing is also very rare.

Skiers which would like to try other sports can go to Dolomity Sportowa Dolina Complex, set up in old mine working close to Bytom. There are a lot of sporting attractions, in the winter as well as in the summer. In the Complex there are 3 ski routes, from which one is yearlong, snowpark for snowboarders, and also tracks for quads, pools and tennis courts. The resort is opened year-round.
The enthusiasts of cross-country skiing will find in Silesia a lot of convenient routes. One of the most interesting is located in Kubalonka. The routes were rebuilt and broadened within the frameworks of organization of European Junior Championships. Now there are perfect conditions there. It is worth to visit the neighborhood of Ustronie- apart from interesting routes you can find there cross-country skiing school.
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