Żywiec

Żywiec is a town in the Silesian Voivodeship of southern Poland, 85 km south of Katowice. It's best known for its brewery and is a resort town, with a large lake, and winter and summer leisure activities in the nearby Beskids mountains. In 2019 its population was 31,000.

Understand

Brewed here since 1856

The original village, first documented in 1308, was 2-3 km north down the valley. This site was prone to flooding so in 1448 its inhabitants moved south - they'd be aghast to see it today, deep beneath the waters of Lake Żywiec along with three other villages. The new site acquired a castle and various churches, remaining a small market town with no great mining or textile industry. Swedish troops wrecked it in 1656 but from 1772 Austria was the power in this region, as Poland was carved up. Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895) founded the town's famous brewery in 1856. He also rendered the Austrian army useless by resisting every form of modernisation, laying the seeds of its humiliation in the First World War. This plus the collapse of Imperial Germany and Tsarist Russia created space for Poland to regain its independence in 1918, so toast the Archduke whenever you first sample the local beer - na zdrowie!

The mining and industrial cities to the north had large German populations, and at independence several voted to join Germany not Poland, and the border was re-drawn. No such mix in rural upland Żywiec, and when Germany seized all of Silesia at the onset of the Second World War, they found a 99% Polish population here. They reckoned to adjust that by deporting 95% of the population, exterminating the 4% who were Jewish or otherwise on their death list, and re-settling the area with Germans from further east. This "Action Saybusch" (their name for Żywiec) ran Sept-Dec 1940 and removed some 20,000 locals, who were stripped of their possessions then dumped elsewhere; deportations continued at lower intensity throughout the war. The inevitable post-war reprisal was the ousting of Germans from their long-established settlements across Poland and the Baltic.

The communists carpeted much of Silesia with factory blocks, slag heaps and drab high-rise apartments. The contribution of Żywiec was to power this workers' paradise, by damming the valley in 1966 for a reservoir and hydro-electric scheme. This has created a pleasant recreational lake. Winter sports also developed: the nearby mountains don't much exceed 1000 m so the skiing is beginner-to-nervous-intermediate level. You wouldn't travel far to experience them, but residents of the Katowice metropolis can readily hurl snowboards, children and big bouncy dogs into the back of the car and head off along the motorway.

Get in

By road from Katowice follow S1 motorway south past Bielsko-Biała. Exit onto Highway 946 spur for town centre, but for the brewery stay on S1 until the next interchange 3 km further south.

Hourly regional trains from Katowice take 1 hr 45 min via Tychy, Pszczyna, Czechowice-Dziedzice, Bielsko-Biała, Lodygowice and Pietrzykowice (for lakeside village). They continue south to Ciecina, Milowka, Rajcza and Zwardon, another 50 min. Four trains a day from Warsaw run direct to Katowice and Bielsko-Biała.

1 Żywiec railway station is 2 km southwest of town centre. It was renovated in 2018 but remains as tatty and broken-down as before.

JM Bus runs hourly from Bielsko-Biała, taking 50 min via Lipowa.

The bus station is next to the railway station.

Get around

Walk in town centre. Buses ply to the bus and railway stations and the brewery.

See

• 1 Rynek is the old market square, pedstrianised and surrounded by colourful low-rise.
• Ratusz the town hall is on the east side of Rynek, a neo-Renaissance townhouse of 1868. No entry unless on business.
• Plac Targowy is the modern marketplace a block north of Rynek. The architecture is drab and it's full of parked cars.
• Co-cathedral of the Birth of the Virgin Mary (Konkatedra Narodzenia NMP) is southwest corner of Rynek. It was built in the early 15th century but re-built in Baroque style after a fire in 1711.
• 2 City Museum - Old Castle (Muzeum Miejskie - Stary Zamek), Zamkowa 2, ☏ +48 338 612 124. Tu-Su 10:00-17:00. Built for defence in the early 15th century, the castle was made-over into a palace in the 18th. It was used as apartments and offices in the 20th century but re-opened as a museum in 2005. Adult 16 zł. (updated Jun 2024)
• New Castle or Hapsburg Palace next to the old castle was built in the 1890s in neo-classical style. A few of its rooms can be seen on the museum ticket, and the park is freely accessible.
• 3 Church of the Holy Cross (Kościół pw Św Krzyża) is 18th century Baroque over an earlier church.
• 4 Church of St Mark (Kościół pw Św Marka) was built in 1885, replacing a wooden medieval church.
• 5 Brewery Museum, Browarna 88, ☏ +48 33 861 2457. Historic brewery owned by Heineken. However in 2023 the group re-organised and sold off a similar brewery elsewhere; all this is still playing out and brewery tours are suspended. (updated Jun 2024)

Do

Courtyard of the Old Castle

• Koszarawa riverbank has a path for running and biking.
• Lake Żywiec is the main recreation area in summer, with swimming and hire of pedalos and kayaks. It was created in 1966 by a dam, flooding the valley.
• Aquapark Leśna is 2 km west of town.
• Skiing: Groniem ski area is 10 km south. There's a larger area west, accessed via Buczkowice.

Buy

• Galeria Lider is a shopping centre at the north end of Rynek, open M-Sa 09:00-20:00.
• Żabka convenience stores have two outlets near Rynek.

Eat

• U Meresa, Kościuszki 40 (west side of Old Castle), ☏ +48 504 062 104. M-Sa 10:00-18:00, Su 11:00-18:00. Serving good trad fare near Rynek. They have rooms, but these don't rate well. (updated Jun 2024)
• La Sorpresa is a pizzeria next to Galeria Lider, open Su-Th 10:00-22:00, F Sa 10:00-00:00.
• Żywiecki Food Truck is in Plac Targowy, open Tu-F 10:30-19:00, Sa 09:00-17:30.
• Fabryka Smaku is home-style cooking at Handlowa 5 west of the park, open daily 11:00-18:00.

Drink

• Krajcar is a micro-brewery at Świętokrzyska 8 near Old Castle, open Su-Th 13:00-22:00, F Sa 13:00-00:00. Food portions are large but quality is hit-and-miss.
• Żywiec beer remains widely available though brewery tours ae suspended.

Sleep

On Rzeczna Street

• 1 Zajazd Maxim, Piłsudskiego 20, ☏ +48 338 605 562. Grubby but acceptable for a short stay. B&B double 250 zł. (updated Jun 2024)
• 2 Hostel Żywiec, Wesoła 124, ☏ +48 888 716 663. Friendly and mostly clean hostel 1.5 km north of railway station. Adult 100 zł. (updated Jun 2024)
• 3 Holiday Resort Igor, Kwiatowa 24, Zarzecze, ☏ +48 666 649 966. Family-friendly apartment complex in the lakeside village. B&B double 700 zł. (updated Jun 2024)
• 4 Cubus-Beskidy, Handlowa 6, Łodygowice, ☏ +48 338 631 305. Good chain hotel west edge of lakeside village. B&B double 500 zł. (updated Jun 2024)
• 5 Dworek Góralski, Kasztanowa 108, ☏ +48 663 000 200. Smart modern hotel and restaurant in mock-rustic style, the name means "Highland Manor". It's at the S1 motorway junction 5 km west of town, a good base or stopover for motorists. B&B double 450 zł. (updated Jun 2024)

Connect

As of June 2024, Żywiec and its approach roads have 4G from Orange and Play, and 5G from Plus and T-Mobile.

Go next

• Bielsko-Biała was a textile town, whose mill-owners prettified its churches and mansions.
• Roads cross into Slovakia southwest at Zwardon, and south at Korbielów.