The Dr. Bronisław Turoń Trail Around Wrocław is a 141-km yellow-marked hiking trail, with most sections also suitable for cycling, located in the Silesian Lowlands of Poland. It passes through villages near Wrocław and some of its peripheral districts. The trail, divided into 10 stages, consists of northern and southern sections due to the absence of permanent pedestrian crossings over the Oder river above and below the city at the time of its design. A 14.6-km partially marked connector section links the northern section's end at Chrząstawa Wielka to the southern section's start at , passing through the . The Wrocław-Fabryczna Branch of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society awards a badge for completing each stage.
History The concept for a hiking trail around Wrocław was proposed in 1967 by Zbigniew Szkolnicki, a member of the Wrocław Branch of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society. The trail was marked in 1975 by the Skrzaty School Tourism and Sightseeing Club at Primary School No. 46, under the supervision of Maria Balkowska. In 1986, the trail was named in honour of Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society activist .
Landmarks The trail features numerous historical sites listed in the National Institute of Cultural Heritage's register: Uraz: , Kotowice: Widawa: Pawłowice: Pruszowice: Manor Domaszczyn: , Szczodre: Sibyllenort Palace Długołęka: Chrząstawa Wielka: Wojnowice: Ratowice: Święta Katarzyna: Church of St. Catherine Biestrzyków: Knights' residential tower Ślęza: () Bielany Wrocławskie: Tyniec Mały: Jaszkotle: Skałka:
Leśnica: , Lutynia: Mrozów: Wojnowice: Brzezina:
Route The trail encircles Wrocław, spanning three counties: Trzebnica, Wrocław, and Środa. It enters the city's administrative boundaries in two peripheral districts. The division into northern and southern sections results from the lack of permanent pedestrian crossings over the Oder river at the time of its creation.
Northern section Sources: Distance Attractions Location Trail intersections Transport 0.0 km Castle, church Uraz Uraz–Kąty Wrocławskie Trail (green)Uraz–Lubiąż Archaeological Trail (blue)Trzebnica Cycling Loop (red) PKS Wołów bus: Oborniki Śląskie, Wrocław 6.7 km Church Kotowice Trzebnica Cycling Loop (red, from Uraz via different route) PKS Wołów bus: Oborniki Śląskie, Wrocław 9.4 km Church Paniowice Trzebnica Cycling Loop (red) PKS Wołów bus: Wołów, Wrocław 12.2 km Railway Trzebnica Cycling Loop (red, to Strzeszów) Polregio train: Jelenia Góra, Leszno, Olsztyn, Poznań, Rawicz, Wrocław 14.3 km Manor, church, railway Świniary MPK Wrocław bus: lines 105, 246Polregio train: Jelenia Góra, Leszno, Olsztyn, Poznań, Rawicz, Wrocław 18.5 km Fortified site, church Widawa Wrocław–Oborniki Śląskie Cycling Trail (green) MPK Wrocław bus: lines 308, 908 20.5 km Krzyżanowice Wrocław–Trzebnica Cycling Trail (green) MPK Wrocław bus: line 130 26.8 km Manor, park, natural monument, railway Pawłowice Baltic–Adriatic (from Trzebnica) MPK Wrocław bus: line 130 28.0 km Railway Baltic–Adriatic (to Wrocław centre) MPK Wrocław bus: line 128 31.9 km Church, manor Pruszowice bus: line 934 34.6 km Church, manor Domaszczyn Sevibus bus: lines 914, 934 37.2 km Manor, natural monument Szczodre Długołęka–Krotoszyn Trail (green, from Łozina) Sevibus bus: lines 904, 914, 914a 38.9 km Church, railway Długołęka Długołęka–Krotoszyn Trail (green) Sevibus bus: lines 904, 914, 914aPolregio train: Kluczbork, Krotoszyn, Lubliniec, Łódź Kaliska, Oleśnica, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Wrocław 41.7 km Manor Kamień Sevibus bus: lines 914, 914a, 944 47.0 km Chapel Raków Sevibus bus: lines 914a, 921, 944 49.5 km Oleśniczka Sevibus bus: line 921 61.6 km Church Chrząstawa Wielka Sevibus bus: line 845
The northern section loops around Wrocław's north and east, primarily through undeveloped areas (along the embankments of the Oder and Widawa rivers, and later between ponds near Raków), and is partially inaccessible to cyclists.
The National Institute of Cultural Heritage's register lists the following sites along this section:
Uraz – a 13th-century castellan seat, a town from 1288 to 1945, destroyed in 1945, now a village. – built after 1319 on a small elevation above the Oder, a typical lowland castle. Originally two storeys, constructed on a triangular plan with a hall featuring cross-vaulting supported by a single pillar; a tower was added in 1630. Rebuilt in the 19th century, destroyed in 1945, and collapsed in the 1950s. Now in ruins, privately owned, fenced, under reconstruction, and open to visitors by arrangement with the owner. – Baroque, oriented, single-nave, with a distinct chancel and a square western tower. The interior includes items brought by repatriates from Navariia in 1945: a 16th-century painting of Our Lady with Child funded by for Lviv Cathedral, a collection of Rococo Lviv sculptures (including four cardinal virtues, four evangelists, a crucifix, and a processional banner), and a reliquary of St. Valentine.
Kotowice – a linear settlement mentioned in 1203, with a 14th-century knightly estate referred to as a castle in a 1358 document, no longer extant. – Gothic Revival, repeatedly damaged by fires (1832, 1931, 1978), with the current structure from 1911. Its historic furnishings were destroyed in a fire on 1 January 1978, when the Wrocław fire brigade mistakenly responded to another Kotowice.
Widawa – a Wrocław district since 1973, previously a village, first mentioned in 1193. – early Classicist with Gothic origins and Baroque interior. It features three Baroque altars, wooden sculptures from 1760 of St. James the Apostle and St. John Nepomuk, a Mannerist pulpit, a Gothic sandstone alms box with a St. Catherine relief, and Rococo confessionals. Outside, an 18th-century statue of St. John Nepomuk.
Pawłowice – a Wrocław district since 1970, previously a village, first mentioned in 1245. – originally a farmstead of St. Vincent's Monastery in Wrocław, acquired by Henryk Korn in 1891 and converted into a family seat. The palace's facade retains the coats of arms of Heinrich von Korn and Helena von Eichborn. Surrounding it is a 7.2-ha park with a 0.4-ha pond, an arched stone bridge, and a gloriette. The palace and park are now owned by the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences.
Pruszowice – a linear settlement, mentioned in the 14th century as owned by Hans von Graffon. Manor – an early 18th-century half-timbered structure, currently partially extant and in poor condition.
Domaszczyn – formerly a linear settlement, now with a blurred layout, mentioned in 1250; parts belonged to the ducal estate in Szczodre until 1945. – a 19th-century Gothic Revival hunting lodge in English style, surrounded by a well-kept manor park with an oak natural monument. Privately owned, not open to visitors. – late Gothic, oriented, single-nave, with a c. 1520 Gothic sculpture of St. Anne.
Szczodre – a village formed from two settlements, Raztelwitz (13th century) and Neudorf (1516). Former Swedish consulate building – a quarantine centre and epidemic hospital during the 1963 Wrocław smallpox epidemic, located in the former Swedish consulate. Now a men's shelter operated by the . Sibyllenort Palace – built from 1685 to 1692, dubbed "Silesian Windsor", where Albert and Frederick Augustus III died. Abandoned in 1932, burned in 1945, and dismantled in the 1950s. Two outbuildings from between 1851 and 1867, a 642-cm oak natural monument, a 9.75-ha palace park, and a 120-ha landscape-botanical garden remain. The outbuildings are privately owned and not open to visitors, while the garden serves as a village park.
Długołęka – a municipal village, mentioned in 1305, a pilgrimage destination since 1454 for Silesia, Bohemia, and Poland. – Baroque, oriented, single-nave. It houses a painting and pulpit with a relief commemorating a Polish noble's discovery of a host, linked to tragic events in 1453 involving the execution of a peasant and dozens of Wrocław Jews accused of host desecration.
Chrząstawa Wielka – a multi-road village, mentioned in 1327, owned by Henry Probus and Henry V. – Gothic Revival, single-nave, designed by . The main altar features paintings of Our Lady Immaculate, St. Hedwig of Silesia, and St. Bernard; a side altar includes paintings of St. John Nepomuk and St. Philomena by , c. 1864.
Connector section Sources: Distance Attractions Location Trail intersections Notes Transport 0.0 km Castle, church Chrząstawa Wielka Yellow-marked section Sevibus Wrocław bus: line 845 3.0 km Church, chapel, manor Wojnowice Yellow-marked section Sevibus bus: line 855 6.8 km Chapel, fortified site Czernica Yellow-marked section Sevibus bus: line 855Polregio train: Jelcz-Laskowice, Wrocław 10.3 km Church, technical monument Ratowice Unmarked Sevibus bus: line 855 12.5 km Church, viewpoint Kotowice (blue) Unmarked PKS Wrocław bus: WrocławPKS Oława bus: Oława, Wrocław 14.6 km Railway Unmarked Polregio train: Jelcz-Laskowice, Wrocław
The National Institute of Cultural Heritage's register lists the following sites along this section:
Wojnowice – a village mentioned in 1286, granted German law status in 1341, inhabited in 1826 by 18 Polish and one German family. – Gothic Revival, a deanery sanctuary. It houses an 1804 painting of The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence by Karl Sigismund and St. Lawrence's relics installed in 1999. Outside, a likely late-medieval granite stone cross, often misidentified as a conciliation cross, though no evidence supports this. The assumption that all old monolithic stone crosses are penitential lacks substantiation, as their origins could vary. This hypothesis has become popular but is often presented without noting its speculative nature.
Ratowice – a village mentioned in 1245, awarded in 1444 to Konrad IV the Elder as compensation for renouncing his bishopric. – a lock, weir, control building, and masonry-steel road bridge built in 1906 after the 1903 flood, with a lockkeeper's house added in 1909. Repaired after the 1997 Central European flood.
Kotowice – a village mentioned in 1208, site of the 6 December 1972 discovery of the , comprising at least 1,090 coins and 300 silver ornaments. Oxbow lakes, where snowdrops bloom in spring. A 40-m viewing tower opened in 2012.
Southern section Sources: