Hi there! It’s great that you’ve come. Bielsko-Biała is not exactly Kraków, Wrocław or Warsaw, but you could really get to love it. Apparently the people of Bielsko-Biała love their region more than other people in Poland love theirs. And that’s because our “BB” is a place where a person doesn’t feel as if they’re suffocating like you might in some larger cities. Where everywhere you go you meet people you know. And those people know other people you know. Where you can smell the mountains and see them from many houses and blocks of flats. A large number of young people who leave the town to continue their studies elsewhere return here to start a family.
Of course I’m not trying to persuade you to move here straight away, but I assure you it’s worth paying us a visit.

I don’t have much time to show you the capital of the Podbeskidzie region in all its glory, but I’ll try to make you come back as soon as possible and then we can continue our journey. We’ll start with a trip into the mountains because they’re probably Bielsko-Biała’s greatest asset. The town itself lies 300m above sea level. A little later on I’ll tell you about interesting cultural events, festivals and rallies well-known all over Poland, and about the most popular places with the people of Bielsko-Biała.

SMALL MOUNTAINS

Our mountains are kind to everyone. Both lovers of long, tiring treks and people who prefer a more sedentary life style can take advantage of their beauty. You can go up to Mount Szyndzielnia by cable car and once there climb up the recently constructed viewing tower to admire the panorama of the town. If you find you have enough energy you can follow a very easy trail and half an hour later find yourself on Mount Klimczok. At 1117m this is the highest mountain around Bielsko-Biała. If this is too high for you, you can take a fifteen minute walk or take the chairlift to Mount Dębowiec (686m). The view from here is also rather good. Here you’ll find some activities for the children – a playground and a dry toboggan run. If you’re a happy, although perhaps not a well-rested, parent, it’s a good idea to take a walk up to Kozia Góra (Goat Mountain). The walk takes a bit longer, about an hour, but there’s an interesting playground for children in the shape of a wooden cabin. An additional activity for older children and their parents is a natural dry toboggan run built on the slopes back in the ‘50s. It has 30 twists and turns and at 2200m was the longest natural dry toboggan run in Europe. It’s not open these days but you can still see the moss covered ruins if you take the Green trail from Błonie.

Golden autumn in the Beskids

BIG MOUNTAINS

If you’re absolutely not interested in hikes shorter than three hours, that’s all right! Pack your backpack and get going! Within the administrative borders of our town there are seventeen mountain peaks, so you can hike to your heart’s content. Still not enough for you? Go further afield and you’ll find dozens of hills and mountains. Magurka and Błatnia are among the most popular with the people of Bielsko-Biała. But they’re still quite short hikes. A seven-hour hike up to Salmopol in Szczyrk will prove to be a lot more interesting.

Pack your backpack and move!

THE BEST MOUNTAIN BIKE TRACK IN POLAND!

If you don’t like walking, you can ride. In the winter put on your skis or jump on a snowboard. The slopes of Mount Dębowiec are floodlit and have artificial snow machines, and also a very comfortable chair lift. From spring to autumn get on your bike and ride down the cycle tracks. Our neighbours from the Czech Republic and Slovakia are already great fans of these. At weekends they come in droves to ride down “Twister” or “Old Green”, names of singletracks down from Kozia Góra. Interesting fact – these tracks were constructed thanks to the efforts of the people of Bielsko-Biała who came up with the idea and received funding for it from the city budget.
So, shall we get going? Along the way I’ll tell you about how in September tanks roll along here. Right in the middle of the city. Yeah, I know. Incredible…

Enduro Trials