Sitkówka: Perła Water Park and Trails in Nowiny

Sitkówka combines water activities at Perła Water Park with opportunities to get active in the municipality of Nowiny. The park offers slides, pools and wellness facilities, as well as aqua aerobics and swimming lessons. In the surrounding area, marked trails in the municipality pass through a nature reserve, by a monument and over wooded hills. This makes it possible to include a range of activities in your plans without having to combine them into a single trip.

Slides, pools and wellness at Perła Water Park

Perła Water Park in Sitkówka has a 94-metre outdoor slide with light and sound effects and a 35-metre semi-enclosed indoor slide. The municipality of Nowiny also has a second pool for children. It is 0.4 to 0.8 metres deep and features a small elephant-shaped slide and a cascade that creates a curtain of water.

The park’s facilities include an infrared sauna, a Finnish sauna and a steam room. There are also whirlpools with peat and brine water, as well as water massages, which are available to children and older people too. The different areas offer a variety of experiences: slides and pools sit alongside facilities for warmth and relaxation. When planning a visit, it is worth checking current opening hours and availability.

Aqua aerobics and swimming lessons

Perła Water Park offers aqua aerobics classes for people of all ages. No swimming skills or special level of physical fitness are required. This is a different way to enjoy the water from using the slides or pools. One-to-one swimming lessons with one of the instructors who work there are also available. If you are planning to attend a class or swimming lesson, check availability in advance.

Hiking and cycling trails in the municipality of Nowiny

The blue Edmund Padechowicz Trail runs through the Góra Żakowa Nature Reserve in the municipality of Nowiny and passes the monument in Szewce. The Nowińska Tourist Trail is a seven-kilometre circular route in Chęcińsko-Kielecki Landscape Park. It starts and ends in Szewce. It is therefore described as a loop, while the blue trail is defined by its route through the nature reserve and its detour past the monument.

Another option is the 7.6-kilometre cycling trail in Nowiny. It crosses the hills of the Pasmo Zelejowskie range southeast of Kielce and runs mostly along forest tracks. The two stated distances can be compared directly: the walking loop is seven kilometres long, and the cycling route is 7.6 kilometres. Besides their length, the walking loop and cycling route differ in their mode of travel and the character of the paths. Check current trail conditions before setting out.

Culture in the wider destination of Kielce

Visitors who extend their search for cultural attractions beyond Sitkówka to the wider destination of Kielce will find a variety of historical themes. The Ethnographic Park in Tokarnia is an open-air museum covering more than 65 hectares, with over 80 historic buildings, including farmhouses, barns, windmills, churches and manor houses. The park aims to recreate typical settlement patterns from four subregions of the Kielecczyzna: the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, the Sandomierz Upland and the Nida Basin. Themed guided tours are available for groups and individual visitors; reservations are required.

The Święty Krzyż Monastery brings together the present and the past: it is an active religious institution. The Benedictine Order once served there; today, the monastery is home to missionaries of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Henryk Sienkiewicz’s manor house in Oblęgorek is another cultural and historical landmark in the wider destination of Kielce. Poland’s first museum dedicated to the life and work of the Nobel Prize laureate opened there in 1958. The historic ground-floor rooms recreate his living quarters, including a study, living room, dining room, smoking room and bedroom.

Another historical attraction in the wider destination of Kielce is the Royal Castle in Chęciny. In the Middle Ages, it was one of the Crown’s most important fortresses. Together, the museums, religious institutions and historic buildings show the variety of cultural attractions in this wider destination; they complement the water-based activities and trails in Sitkówka and the municipality of Nowiny with their own historical highlights.

Discover more destinations: Strawczyn, Chęciny, Piekoszów, Bodzentyn, Huta Nowa, Radlin, Mniów, Ciecierze.

See the wider travel guide: Kielce.