Literally translated as “quiet nook”, Ciechocinek is the most famous little spa town in Poland. The town has always been a place for healthy living and there are health spas everywhere. You can take a swim in the natural salted waters that make the place famous, with a choice of modern facilities as well as communist-era relics where everything seems to be covered in a charming layer of rust. Despite its attractions, the town rarely has foreign visitors other than the odd German – here’s why you should break the trend!
The Teznie
The symbol of Ciechocinek is the three “Teznie”, massive graduation towers built in the 19th century. Constructed entirely from wood (as metal parts would end up rusting), the long wall-like windmills are used to remove water from the healing salted water of the area. This salt is used for all sorts of medicinal purposes and unsurprisingly the air around the towers has quite an unusual aroma – it’s said to be potent with healing qualities.
Arranged as a big “n”, the area between the three wooden beasts was mainly taken up by a forest in recent decades, but this has now been cleared to make way for a park with fountains and whimsical pathways. Unfortunately, plans for the old pool that was also in the forest, the largest outdoor saltwater swimming pool in Europe, have been halted and this art-deco marvel has been left overgrown and abandoned. Hopefully, the legal wrangles over its future will be fixed.
For more about the history of the healthy salt water, you can visit the old desalination building which still functions but also contains a museum. It’s a bargain at 4zl (around 80p) and you get to see old gym equipment from the 19th century which they also house.
Spectacular in summer
During winter, the mostly retired population hide in their homes, but in summer, Ciechocinek’s population nearly doubles as tourists flock to it. Outdoor beer gardens appear everywhere, with young people and families alike enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and healthy activities. The streets bloom with flowers, and outdoor concerts take place in the old wooden “muszla koncertowa”, or concert shell, almost every night. The parks are particularly beguiling with meticulously arranged flowerbeds, fountains and ponds.
Park Zdrojowy is home to the “pijalnia” (drinking hall), a large 19th century wooden pavilion where young folks back in the day used to imbibe healthy water and cut a rug or two. The hall is still open today and worth a visit to soak up the feeling of old-school Poland. The park also contains two of Ciechocinek’s cutest representatives: the fountain “Jas and Malgosia”.
Stay healthy
People come from all over Poland to try the various therapies the town offers, and on every corner you’ll find some building offering medicinal treatment of one kind of another. There are so many spas here, that even the President of Poland has one – he and his family visit on occasion but it’s mostly a ceremonial museum exhibiting a history of Polish presidents. The most luxurious facilities can be found in Klinika Uzdrowiskowa “Pod Tezniami”, which has indoor and outdoor heated pools and an enviable range of sauna and steam rooms. All over town though, you can find spas built in the 1960s when stripped-down practicality and modernist aesthetics were all that were wanted.
Life can seem extremely peaceful in Ciechocinek, with some of the more famous streets pedestrianised in recent years to accommodate tourists and the retired. Indeed, there is only one pedestrian crossing with an actual traffic light in the whole town – it’s near the graduation towers, before you get onto the pedestrianised street leading up to them.
How to get to Ciechocinek
Ciechocinek is a 20-minute bus ride from Torun so it’s a must-do if you’re visiting that medieval city. Unfortunately you can’t access it directly by train anymore. A couple of years ago, Ciechocinek’s station was shut down and most of the building is now used by bars and restaurants. You can get a train to nearby Aleksandrow-Kujawski though, a town that was once a very important meeting point between Russia and Prussia during the 19th century when Poland had been subsumed into the two empires (the name itself is a reference to the Russian Tsar Alexander II). Aleksandrow’s train station is a grand building that has fallen into disrepair, but is slowly but surely being restored. A short drive to Ciechocinek, you can reach Aleksandrow easily by train from Warsaw, Bydogoszcz and Gdansk.
Featured image by Adam Zulawski
