Chojnik Castle

Chojnik stands on a granite dome at 627 metres on the northern edge of the Karkonosze, with a hundred-and-fifty-metre cliff dropping from the walls on the south side, which made it hard to take and makes the view from the tower long. It was built in the fourteenth century by the Silesian Piasts, passed to the Schaffgotsch family, and burned after a lightning strike in 1675 - it has been a ruin ever since, which is why it looks the way it does: roofless courtyards, a tower, a well shaft, and grass. The legend attached to it concerns Kunegunda, a lady of the castle who required suitors to ride the wall parapet above the drop and watched them fall until one survived, rode away, and refused her. Access is on foot only, an hour up through beech and spruce from Sobieszow, and the cliff below the castle is a well-known climbing wall.

What you actually see

• A ruin on granite - roofless courtyards and a tower at 627 metres.
• A cliff on three sides - a hundred and fifty metres straight down from the walls.
• The Kunegunda legend - suitors sent to ride the parapet above the drop.
• Climbing routes - on the wall below the castle.

When to go

April to October. Half a day including the walk.

Honest expectations

There is no vehicle access - it is a steep hour on foot each way. The ruin has no roof and no shelter in bad weather. The tower stairs close in ice. Weekend crowds come up from Jelenia Gora.

Nearby

Karkonosze National Park begins above; Cieplice spa is in the valley.