Things to do in Chęciny
Chęciny, 15 kilometres from Kielce, is a former royal town at the foot of a castle built around 1300, whose towers look out over the Holy Cross Mountains. In town are the Gothic St Bartholomew's Church with the Renaissance Chapel of the Three Kings and a Franciscan friary founded by Casimir the Great in 1368, while the Renaissance Niemczówka house holds the tourist information office. A few kilometres away are Raj Cave and the Tokarnia open-air museum. Chęciny is a good weekend destination for families and castle lovers.
Map of attractions in Chęciny
All 5 places on one map: see what is close together and plan your route.
All attractions (5)
Hidden gemCastles
Chęciny Castle
Chęciny
The two round towers on a limestone ridge above Chęciny are visible from the S7 expressway long before the exit. Chęciny Castle is a royal stronghold from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries that resisted capture for more than 250 year…
Mountains & peaks
Miedzianka Hill
Chęciny
Miedzianka (pronounced roughly "myeh-JAN-kah", from the Polish word for copper) is a rocky limestone ridge, 354 m (1,161 ft) high, in the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains of south-central Poland. Its summit offers a full 360-degree vi…
Free entry
Churches & monasteries
Franciscan Friary, Chęciny
Chęciny
The Franciscans came to Chęciny in 1368 at the invitation of King Casimir the Great and, with a long break, are still here. In between, their friary burned, served as a Protestant church, spent more than a century as a prison and, under co…
30–60 min
Churches & monasteries
St Bartholomew's Church, Chęciny
Chęciny
St Bartholomew's Church stands at the foot of the castle hill and can be seen clearly from the castle walls. It is the parish church of a royal town, linked with King Władysław the Short and Casimir the Great, and for several decades it wa…
20–40 min
Museums
Open-Air Museum of the Kielce Region in Tokarnia
Chęciny
The Tokarnia open-air museum (Tokarnia is pronounced roughly "toh-KAR-nyah"), officially the Ethnographic Park of the Museum of the Kielce Countryside, is one of the largest heritage villages in Poland. Spread over more than 65 hectares in…