Baborów Observation Tower

On the edge of Baborów, on ul. Wiejska, stands a small observation tower opened in September 2019. Its deck looks out over the farmland of the Głubczyce Plateau, with fields, clumps of trees and the surrounding villages. It's a short, free stop for anyone driving through southern Opole Voivodeship or collecting sites along the Polish-Czech tower trail.

A tower on a Polish-Czech trail

The Baborów tower belongs to Silesianka, a cross-border trail of observation towers and viewpoints in the Silesia Euroregion. The trail was created in 2021 by linking 34 sites: 23 on the Czech side and 11 on the Polish side. Fourteen of them were newly built with support from the Interreg V-A Czech Republic – Poland programme, including its micro-project fund, and the Baborów tower is one of these new structures. The same list includes the viewpoint in Grabówka and a tower above the meanders of the border Oder, so the Baborów deck combines easily with other stops on both sides of the border.

Baborów: a small town on the Psina

Baborów lies on the Psina, a river that became the border between Poland and Moravia back in the 12th century. The town's name comes from the personal name Bawor – its first known owner is thought to be the Czech magnate Bavor II of Strakonice, who died in 1291. Baborów received town rights before 1340, lost them before 1575 and regained them in 1718. According to Statistics Poland, it had 2,823 inhabitants at the start of 2024.

Tripto tips

15–20 minutes is enough for the tower itself; the view is clearest on cool, dry days. In town, look into the wooden Baroque cemetery church of St Joseph, built 1700–1702. Baborów is in Głubczyce County, right by national road 38 between Kędzierzyn-Koźle and Głubczyce, so the tower fits easily into a drive round the Głubczyce Plateau.