Szklarska Poręba

A mountain town between the Karkonosze and the Jizera Mountains, with trails to waterfalls and to Szrenica, at the end of the railway from Wrocław through Jelenia Góra.

The Szklarki waterfall: a white cascade dropping through a cleft in mossy rock into a dark pool, with tall spruces all around and pale boulders in the foreground.

Mietax007 Wikimedia Commons Public domain

What it is

Szklarska Poręba is a town in Lower Silesia, between the Karkonosze and the Jizera Mountains. Visitors go for the walks in Karkonosze National Park.

For a ski day here, see ski trips from Wrocław.

Waterfalls and Szrenica

The Kamieńczyk and Szklarki waterfalls and the mountain Szrenica are on the national park’s list of its main sights, and trails lead to them from the town.

The Kamieńczyk falls in three cascades from a height of 27 m into the Kamieńczyk gorge. Behind the middle cascade is the Złota Jama, a cave partly cut by the Walloons, who dug amethysts there. Entry to the waterfall is paid separately from the park ticket.

White water pouring down a rock step and spreading over a broad slab of reddish rock, between green ferns and the bare grey branches of a dead spruce.

The Kamieńczyk waterfall.

Dominikosaurus Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

A narrow gorge between sheer, moss-streaked granite walls, with ferns and spruces along the top and a dark stream running along its floor.

The Kamieńczyk gorge below the waterfall.

Szymon Staniec Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0

The Szklarki waterfall, about 13 m high, lies in a detached part of the national park, set aside for the beech forest around it. The Kochanówka hut stands by the waterfall.

Szrenica (1,362 m) rises over the town, with a mountain hut on its summit and a mountain weather station just below it. On its slopes stand the rock groups Końskie Łby and Trzy Świnki.

Szrenica seen across a meadow: a rounded green summit covered in dwarf pine, with a pale field of granite boulders below the top and a dark-roofed stone hut on it, under a hazy sky.

Szrenica, with the mountain hut on its summit.

Jacek Halicki Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

A gravel path through dwarf pine leading towards Szrenica, with a straight trail climbing a slope to a rock outcrop on the left and the summit hut on the hill to the right.

A path through the dwarf pine below Szrenica.

Jacek Halicki Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

Hala Szrenicka from above: a wide upland of meadow and scattered spruce and dwarf pine, a winding path leading to a long hut in a clearing, and blue ranges of hills on the horizon under white clouds.

Hala Szrenicka and its hut, from above.

Szymon Staniec Wikimedia Commons CC BY 4.0

The ways to the waterfalls and Szrenica

The map follows the train from Wrocław through Jelenia Góra to Szklarska Poręba Górna (until 27 November 2026 buses replace the trains after Jelenia Góra, as the section below says), then draws four ways from the station one after another, each with its length: to the two waterfalls, to Szrenica on foot, and to Szrenica by the chairlift. The coloured lines underneath are the marked walking trails. The table under the map gives the times that are published, and where each comes from.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the ODbL: the rail line, roads, rivers, streets, paths, buildings, water, woods, the chairlift and the marked walking trails. The walks are routed with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data.

  1. Szklarska Poręba Górna station
  • Marked walking trails:
  • green
  • red
  • blue
  • yellow
  • black
The ways from the station, as drawn
WayLengthTimeSource of the time
To the Kamieńczyk waterfall, by the town centre and the red trail3.1 km, measured on the drawn routeno one-way time is published—
To the Szklarki waterfall, by the town centre and the green trail along the Kamienna4.3 km, measuredno one-way time is published; the town’s walk there and back by Złoty Widok takes about 3 hours for about 8.5 kmthe town’s tourism site
On foot to Szrenica, by the red trail, Kamieńczyk and Hala Szrenicka6.6 km, measuredno one-way time is published; the town’s loop up this way and back by Pod Łabskim Szczytem takes about 6 hours for about 16.5 kmthe town’s tourism site
By the chairlift to Szrenica: on foot to the lower station, the lift in two sections, then the black path to the summit hut2.1 km to the lift and 0.4 km from it, measuredthe lift about 40 minutes; from the top station to the summit hut about 15 minutesthe lift’s operator and the town

Checked 25 October 2026 The lift to Szrenica is a two-section chairlift with two-seat chairs, running since 1962; the ride takes about 40 minutes, and the summit hut is about 15 minutes’ walk from the top station. The lift ticket does not include the national park ticket. On the day this was checked the operator’s page showed the lifts closed; check it before you go, and note that lifts stop in strong wind and storms.

The transfer station of the chairlift seen from a passing chair: a white-roofed station building on a slope among spruces and a yellow-leaved tree, a paved path curving below it, and walkers with rucksacks queuing at a fence.

The transfer station between the lift's two sections.

krysi@ Wikimedia Commons CC BY 3.0

Checked 25 October 2026 Walking in the national park needs an entry ticket, sold online by the park and at ticket points. Some trails close in winter or after storms: the park’s trail notice is under Links.

Getting there from Wrocław

Trains of Koleje Dolnośląskie (KD) and PKP Intercity run from Wrocław Główny through Wałbrzych and Jelenia Góra to Szklarska Poręba Górna. Until 27 November 2026 buses replace the trains between Jelenia Góra and Szklarska Poręba Górna, for works on the line. More on regional trains is on the trains page.

Checked 25 October 2026 Lines, stops and times change with every timetable, so this page prints none. Check the operators’ timetables for the day you go, and look at the last connection back before you set out. After 27 November, check that trains run through again. Mountain trails can close: Karkonosze National Park’s page below lists the closed ones.

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