- Joining the walking trails
- St Anne's Church in Szczawienko, 900 m: red trail, red walking path, end of the Hochberg Path; green and blue from the palm house, a 15-minute walk
- Hochberg Path
- about 5 km through the Pełcznica gorge, Świebodzice-Pełcznica – Książ Castle – Szczawienko; difficult in places, daylight only, no bikes, not for pushchairs
- By bike
- green MTB loop around the Książ Landscape Park, about 18.5 km, gravel and forest tracks, one technical section; 0.5 km from the house to join it
- Bike hire
- MOSiR Szczawno-Zdrój (mountain bikes and e-bikes, April–October), eBicykle Jedlina-Zdrój (electric MTBs, kit for children)
- Before you set off
- check for closures in the gorge; no entry to the path in snow, gales, downpours or thunderstorms; dogs on a lead
The Hochberg Path: a princely promenade along the gorge floor
Around 1800 Hans Heinrich VI von Hochberg laid out the Pełcznica gorge below the castle as a park: a nineteenth-century description lists footbridges from bank to bank, pavilions, “curious passages through the rocks”, a hermitage and Caroline's Temple. After the war it all became overgrown; in 2011 the forestry office, the landscape park, the municipalities of Wałbrzych and Świebodzice, and Książ Castle put up the first boards of a joint nature trail meant to give the gorge back its old character. It runs for about 5 km, from one St Anne's to another — from the ruined church of St Anne in Pełcznica to St Anne's Church in Szczawienko, 900 metres from our door. Along the way you pass the Bolko Yew (Cis Bolko), one of the oldest yews in the Sudetes, and the former Swan Pond (Łabędzi Staw): the pond has gone and there is usually just a dry reed bed, but on what was once its island you can still see the remains of a monument that Tischbein designed for two baby sons of Hans Heinrich VI who died shortly after birth. Then there are the wooden walkways above the drop, 136 steps and a rock tunnel below the ruins of Stary Książ. The walls of the gorge are almost 100 metres high, and the reserve's old beech forest is home to eagle owls, mouflon and fire salamanders. For the whole path to Pełcznica and back along the top via the castle, allow half a day.
When the path is closed, and what is not allowed
This is a rough trail with no special safety measures: steep sections, narrow passages above the drop, stretches without railings. The forestry office's rules allow walking here only from dawn to dusk and ban entry when there is snow on the ground, in strong wind, heavy rain or a thunderstorm. In September 2023 part of the path collapsed; the forestry office began repairs in November 2025 and closed the section from Stary Książ to the Swan Pond for the duration of the work. Before you set off, check the forestry office's news page to see whether the whole route is open, and on the spot follow the boards and waymarks. In the reserve you stay on the path, dogs are kept on a lead, and bikes and other wheeled vehicles are strictly banned — you could not get a pushchair over the steps and narrow walkways anyway. With small children, or if you have no head for heights, take the route along the top to the ruins and back. After rain and once the leaves are down, the walkways are slippery: walking boots, not trainers.
Waymarked trails to Książ Castle: two starting points near the house
The first is the Gothic church of St Anne in Szczawienko, 900 metres from the door. Fifty metres away runs the red trail from Szczawno-Zdrój to Książ Castle (about 9 km): via Stary Książ, past the former Swan Pond and the Bolko Yew up to the castle, and from there on through Świebodzice to Bystrzyca Górna. A hundred metres from the church you can pick up the local red walking path, which leads through the woods straight to the ruins of Stary Książ. Take a look round the churchyard: General Józef Benedykt Łączyński, brother of Maria Walewska, Napoleon's great love, is buried here — it was he who arranged his sister's marriage to the much older chamberlain Walewski; he died in 1820 while taking the cure in Szczawno. The second starting point is the palm house, a quarter of an hour from us: here you join the green Piast Castles Trail (Szlak Zamków Piastowskich, about 150 km long) — one way to Daisy Lake, the other via Stary Książ to the castle — and the blue trail from Witoszów, which reaches the castle past the Hochberg Mausoleum. The black trail leads to the castle from Świebodzice station, and the yellow one drops from Stary Książ into the gorge. Regional trails are marked with a coloured stripe between two white ones, local walking paths with a coloured square with one white corner. Our map below shows these trails and our routes to them from the house — all except the green one, which you can trace on mapa-turystyczna.pl.
Cycling and MTB routes from the door
The nearest MTB route, the green “Around the Książ Landscape Park” (Wokół Książańskiego Parku Krajobrazowego), passes half a kilometre from the house. It is a loop of about 18.5 km (that is what our GPX file measures), almost entirely on gravel, farm and forest tracks, with one technical section that is a descent or a climb depending on which way round you ride — no shame in pushing the bike there. On the way: the castle and the stud farm, the Bolko Yew, the ruined church in Pełcznica and the ruins of Cisy Castle, and by the time you reach St Anne's Church in Szczawienko you are only a few minutes from the house. The waymarking within Wałbrzych has gaps, so load our GPX file. If you have strong legs, take the blue “Route up Chełmiec” (Trasa na Chełmiec): about 16 km, starting in Biały Kamień (8.5 km from the house), with a long gravel climb — several hundred metres of ascent — to the stone lookout tower and the Millennium Cross at 850 metres; take care on the loose gravel on the way down. Shorter is the blue loop “Around Ptasia Kopa” (Wokół Ptasiej Kopy), about 10 km. Bikes are strictly banned from the Hochberg Path by its rules; within the castle complex, including the Courtyard of Honour and the Ida Gardens (Ogrody Idy), cycling is not allowed, and bikes may not be taken indoors or onto the terraces.
Practicalities: bikes, the main road, dogs
You can hire bikes from MOSiR Szczawno-Zdrój at ul. Słoneczna 1A: six mountain bikes and six e-bikes, helmet and lock included, plus a trailer for two children. The season runs from April to October, and with only twelve bikes it is worth booking by phone. For full-suspension electric mountain bikes, children's e-bikes and guided rides, go to eBicykle in Jedlina-Zdrój. Ul. Wrocławska through Szczawienko and Lubiechów is a national road — there is a separate foot-and-cycle path alongside it, but keep children close. Dogs are welcome to stay with us if you let us know in advance, but animals are not allowed into the courtyard or the ticketed part of the castle unless they are assistance dogs — plan the day so that nobody is left waiting alone outside the gate.
