Nysa Kłodzka: the three faces of a river below Śnieżnik

Nysa Kłodzka - a river below Śnieżnik, three faces

The Nysa Kłodzka is one of Poland's most beautiful mountain rivers and a left-bank tributary of the Odra, about 182 km long. It rises high in the Śnieżnik Massif, on the slopes of Trójmorski Wierch and Puchacz - its highest source lies more than 1,000 m above sea level. From there it descends through the Kłodzko Valley, cuts through the Bardo Mountains in the picturesque Bardo Gorge, and then, ever more gently, crosses the Silesian Lowland on its way to the Odra, which it joins near the village of Kopanie, below Skorogoszcz.

Along the way the river changes beyond recognition and has, in effect, three faces. Up top it is a swift, stony mountain stream, the part paddlers love most. In its middle course it has been dammed by people - a chain of large retention reservoirs was built that protects the valley from floods but breaks the free-flowing current. At the end, beyond the reservoirs, the Nysa Kłodzka calms down and runs as a quiet lowland river all the way to its mouth. That is why you don't paddle it in one continuous run from the mountains to the Odra - and that is exactly where planning has to start. Let us follow it in order, from source to mouth. Before setting off it is worth checking the current water level.

Where you can really paddle - and mind the obstacles

The heart of the paddler's Nysa Kłodzka is the mountain stretch: from around Bystrzyca Kłodzka, through Kłodzko, on to Bardo and further towards Kamieniec Ząbkowicki. The most popular option runs from below Bystrzyca through Kłodzko to Bardo (about 37 km, usually over two or three days), and its jewel is the Bardo Gorge - the most "mountain" fragment of the whole route, best seen from the water. The river here is rather easy, but it is still a mountain current: you have to watch for rocks and shallows, and take care at the artificial weirs in several villages - some you clear with momentum, others you must portage. A weir also waits at Topola, where the kayak stretch ends, just short of the reservoirs; the PTTK records a weir there and a difficult rapid beyond the next bridge. Inspect every weir from the bank before you commit - after the 2024 flood the dimensions and condition of the structures may have changed.

Below Kamieniec Ząbkowicki a second reality begins: a chain of reservoirs with dams - first Topola and Kozielno, then the sprawling Lake Otmuchów and Lake Nysa. This stretch cannot be paddled like a river - these are large, still bodies of water ending in dams that a kayak cannot pass; they are more for sailors and beach-goers than for a paddling trip. Only beyond Nysa, below the dam of Lake Nysa, does the river return to a free, lowland flow and become paddleable again - though between Nysa and Lewin Brzeski it is still barred by mill weirs that have to be portaged. Easiest of all is the very finish: from Lewin Brzeski, through Skorogoszcz, all the way to the mouth at the Odra.

Two things to close the practical part. First, the water level: the Nysa Kłodzka can be shallow in summer, so it is best to paddle in early spring, soon after the thaw. Second, in September 2024 a catastrophic flood struck the Kłodzko Valley, hitting Kłodzko, Bystrzyca Kłodzka, Lądek-Zdrój and Stronie Śląskie hard, among others. Rebuilding is still under way, and some riverside infrastructure and conditions on the river may have changed - so before your trip be sure to check the current level and local notices.

Nature - from mountain gorge to lowland

Where it can be paddled, the Nysa Kłodzka shows itself as a mountain river at its best. In the Kłodzko Valley it flows down a broad valley framed by peaks, and in the Bardo Mountains it cuts into the rock to form the Bardo Gorge - one of the most beautiful and largest river gorges in the Sudetes. Steep, wooded slopes drop straight to the water here, and the river winds between them in meanders; from kayak level it makes a far greater impression than from the bank.

The clean, well-oxygenated water of the upper river suits fish that like cold and current - trout and grayling live here, among others, and above the water you can spot the dipper and the grey wagtail. The lower you go, the calmer the river: beyond the belt of reservoirs, on the Silesian Lowland, it turns into gentle water among meadows and riverside thickets. Along its whole course its valley remains an important wildlife corridor of the Eastern Sudetes and their foreland - and above almost every bend stands a castle, a monastery or an old town. So let us move downstream, town by town.

Bystrzyca Kłodzka - medieval walls and matchboxes

It is a good idea to begin the trip in Bystrzyca Kłodzka, one of the best-preserved medieval towns of the Kłodzko Valley - it is sometimes compared to Italian Nemi or German Rothenburg. To this day it is ringed by 14th-century town walls, with the surviving Water Gate, the Kłodzko Tower and the former Knights' Tower, converted into a bell tower. The town also has its curiosity: the Museum of Phillumeny, devoted to matches and matchbox labels - one of only a handful of its kind in Europe.

Kłodzko - fortress, Gothic bridge and capital of the Kłodzko region

A few meanders further down lies Kłodzko - the heart and capital of the whole Kłodzko Valley, a town with more than a thousand years of history. The fortified hill above the river was already mentioned in 981 by the Czech chronicler Cosmas, and from 1458, when the Czech king George of Poděbrady raised the Kłodzko region to the rank of an autonomous county, Kłodzko was its centre. The town is dominated by the mighty Kłodzko Fortress, raised on Fortress Hill on the site of a former castle and expanded in the 18th century by the Prussians, with its famous labyrinth of underground passages.

The town's real showpiece, though, is the Gothic bridge of St John over the Młynówka, built from the late 13th to the late 14th century and adorned with stone sculptures of saints. It is a striking likeness of Prague's Charles Bridge - and not for nothing is Kłodzko sometimes called "little Prague". For a paddler it is a natural stop: you can come off the water, climb up to the fortress and walk the streets of the old town.

Bardo - the Bardo Gorge and a town of miracles

Beyond Kłodzko the river enters the Bardo Mountains, and here, in the heart of the Bardo Gorge, lies Bardo - called the "Golden Gate of the Kłodzko Valley" and, for many paddlers, the climax of the trip. It is one of the most important Marian sanctuaries of Lower Silesia: in the Baroque Basilica of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is venerated the miraculous figure of Our Lady of Bardo, according to research the oldest wooden sculpture in Poland - the lime wood it was carved from is dated to around 1011. In 2008 Pope Benedict XVI granted the church the title of minor basilica.

Kamieniec Ząbkowicki - the palace of Marianne of the Netherlands

Below Bardo, already on the threshold of the reservoirs, lies Kamieniec Ząbkowicki - and above it, on a hill, one of the most extraordinary monuments of Lower Silesia: the Neo-Gothic palace of Marianne of the Netherlands. This monumental brick residence with terraced gardens was raised in the second half of the 19th century for the Dutch princess Marianne of the Netherlands, to a design linked with the eminent architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. In 2024 the palace, together with its surroundings and the former Cistercian abbey, was recognised as a Monument of History. It is a good place to end the river part of the trip - because further on, as we already know, the land of reservoirs begins.

Stretches of the Nysa Kłodzka trip: the Bardo Gorge

The most interesting for paddling is the upper Nysa Kłodzka, in the Kłodzko Valley. The Bystrzyca Kłodzka-Kłodzko stretch runs on a fast mountain current past the fortress in Kłodzko; further on, Kłodzko-Bardo is the hardest and most beautiful fragment - the Bardo Gorge, with rapids and boulders; the Bardo-Kamieniec Ząbkowicki stretch brings the river out of the mountains, near the palace of Marianne of the Netherlands. Below Kamieniec the river is barred by large reservoirs, which bring the kayak trail to an end. You can see all the stretches on the map below - in "Close to nature" mode, with facilities and water levels along the way. And if you'd rather plan the trip your own way, you can draw your own route in "Your own way" mode.

See the trail on the interactive map Click to load the map with the route drawn in

The land of reservoirs: Paczków, Otmuchów and Nysa

Beyond Kamieniec the river enters a chain of dammed lakes and, for a long stretch, ceases to be a kayak trail - but it passes top-class towns here, well worth getting to know from land. Paczków, "the Polish Carcassonne", is ringed by an exceptionally well-preserved oval belt of 14th-century defensive walls, some 1,200 m long and in places 7 m high. Otmuchów, a former town of the Wrocław bishops with a castle above Lake Otmuchów, is today best known for waterside recreation.

The crowning point of this part is Nysa - the "Silesian Rome", for centuries a residence of the Wrocław bishops and one of the most important religious centres of Silesia. The town is dominated by the monumental Gothic Basilica of St James and St Agnes, recognised as a Monument of History, and around it survive fragments of the extensive Nysa Fortress. And it is just beyond Nysa, below the dam of Lake Nysa, that the river regains its freedom - its third, lowland face begins.

The lower river and the mouth at the Odra

Released from the dams, the Nysa Kłodzka enters the Silesian Lowland, calms down and turns north towards the Odra. This final stretch can be paddled again, with one reservation: between Nysa and Lewin Brzeski the river is barred by mill weirs that have to be portaged. The very finish, though, is the gentlest of the whole route - quiet, lowland water from Lewin Brzeski, through Skorogoszcz, among meadows and riverside thickets.

The main town of this stretch is Lewin Brzeski, which received its town rights as early as 1333 by grant of the dukes of Opole. In the middle of the market square stands a Classicist town hall from 1838 (its timber-framed predecessor from the early 16th century burned down in 1799), and the town has also kept a Baroque palace from 1772. It is a quiet little Opole-region town right on the river and a convenient starting point for the last stage of the trip.

Beyond Lewin Brzeski the river passes Skorogoszcz and, after a dozen or so kilometres, gives up its waters to the Odra - the mouth lies near the village of Kopanie, at the 181st kilometre of the Odra. So closes the course of a river that began below Śnieżnik, more than a thousand metres higher: from a mountain, stony stream, through a rocky gorge and a chain of reservoirs, to quiet, lowland water at the threshold of the Odra.

The Nysa Kłodzka is, above all, a route for those who love the mountains: a swift current, a rocky gorge, and above the water a fortress, a monastery or medieval walls at every turn. Its heart beats in the upper, Kłodzko-Bardo run - and that is the part to seek first with a kayak. Leave the reservoirs to the sailors, and anyone who wants to know the river to its very end can add the calm, lowland finish from Lewin Brzeski all the way to the mouth at the Odra.