Jaskółka Dom i SPA – the swallow's nest of the Karkonosze

On a steep lane above Szklarska Poręba, in Poland's Giant Mountains, a pale 1894 villa looks out over pine forest and granite summits through a line of nineteenth-century glazed porches. Jaskółka Dom i SPA takes its name, Swallow, from the pointed cornets once worn by the Franciscan sisters who lived here; before them came Brothers of Mercy, and after the war the house passed to the state, serving in the 1960s as a retreat for Soviet cosmonauts and later Polish presidents. Years of conservation work have brought it back to something close to its original form, and it now holds just eight rooms, making it one of the smallest serious addresses in the region. The MICHELIN Guide gives it Two Keys, praising the ground-floor rooms, their coffered ceilings and Viennese chandelier, against interiors that are otherwise quietly contemporary. It is an adults-only house, built for slow mornings on a porch rather than for passing through.

01The house

The building's own history reads like a small chronicle of Central Europe. A doctor from nearby Görlitz gave the luxury guesthouse its first name, the Heather House, when it opened in 1894; later it sheltered Brothers of Mercy and then Franciscan sisters, whose pointed cornets gave the house its lasting name of Jaskółka. From the 1960s, Soviet cosmonauts rested here, and later Polish presidents. The landmark inn opened in 1894 and served a variety of purposes over the years — the building functioned as a convent and, later, in the 1960s, was put to use by the government — before undergoing extensive renovations and reopening as a luxury boutique accommodation.

Years of work by conservationists went into restoring Jaskółka to its state of a century ago. The ground level keeps its elegant living and drawing rooms, with high coffered ceilings, an ornate Viennese chandelier, and original woodwork, while the inn's old porches, furnished with rocking chairs, are framed by decorative stained glass panels. The MICHELIN Guide places the house in a two-hectare park on the slope of the Jizera Mountains, its old carpentry and stained glass set against a design-led renovation that keeps the bones of the building intact.

02Rooms and suites

There are only eight rooms, split between two houses: five suites in Jaskółka itself and three apartments in the adjoining Jerzyk. Each has its own character and its own name — Jaskółka No. 1 is a small suite tucked upstairs, No. 2 sits at what the house calls its fin-de-siècle bel-étage, while Nos. 3 to 5 are veranda suites, the smallest at roughly 45 square metres, built around the glazed porches with their mountain views. Rooms are more modern than the ground floor, though each keeps period elements like hand-carved wainscoting or an antique writing desk; the apartment-style rooms are light-filled and earthy, with pale linen and exposed beams, while the suites are sultrier, in moody midnight blue and charcoal grey.

Insider tip

Entrance is from a steep uphill road; the station is a kilometre's walk away.

Bathrooms are a quiet signature of the house: each is tiled in stone sourced from a different part of the world, with water drawn from a spring on site, and most have freestanding soaking tubs. All rooms have stylish stone bathrooms with freestanding soaking tubs, and a few have private patios with mountain views. The largest of the eight, Jerzyk No. 1, runs to around 50 square metres with a king bed facing the summit of the ridge.

03Where to eat

The kitchen works from fresh, seasonal produce turned into unpretentious dishes, served in the ground-floor dining room or, in the warmer months, on a terrace set among rhododendrons. The dining room is open from 8.30am to 9.30pm, with last orders at 9pm. For guests who book a day ahead, the house will light the outdoor fire and grill fish, meat and vegetables beside it — a barbecue night built around whatever is in season. Breakfast is served on a sunny terrace when weather permits, and an outdoor fire pit and cozy pub-style bar are especially inviting after cross-country skiing or hiking to nearby waterfalls.

04The bar

Upstairs in the drawing room, the house runs what it simply calls the pub, open from 2pm for a drink by the fireplace or out on the adjoining porch, where cigar smoke still drifts across the same view the original sanatorium patients once took their air cure in. It is a small, unfussy room rather than a cocktail bar — more Karkonosze parlour than hotel lounge, with the antique Viennese chandelier overhead and a fire lit through the colder months.

05Spa and wellbeing

The spa is run under the name of its founder, Jaskółka SPA by Joanna Popiół, built around face and body treatments that draw on the sound of Tibetan bowls, infusions, oils, herbs, candles and crystals rather than a conventional treatment menu. The sauna burns resin from exotic woods, and guests are sent out afterwards to a cold shower fed by a natural spring on the property. A 24-hour chill-out room, lit by candles, sits alongside it for guests who want quiet rather than treatment.

The gym takes the fitness side of the house seriously for a property of only eight rooms, with equipment from the Italian brand PENT — a Luxury Fitness multi-station, a WaterRower and a Woodway treadmill — set up to face the Karkonosze ridge through the window.

06The neighbourhood

Szklarska Poręba was once known as the "high lungs" of Berlin, with residents arriving by rail since 1902; previously known for its glassworks, it became a resort popular with the German capital's inhabitants thanks to its alpine air and landscapes. It was made famous by Gerhart Hauptmann, the writer and soon-to-be Nobel Prize winner, who moved from Berlin to the artists' colony he established around his home. The house itself stands at 750 metres above sea level on the slope of the Jizera Mountains, a kilometre's walk from the Szklarska Poręba Górna railway station, with the Szrenica ski area a short drive away and waterfalls and hiking trails reachable directly from the door.

07Making the most of a stay

Jaskółka is an adults-only house set in its own two-hectare park, which makes it better suited to a quiet few days than a family stopover. Guests arriving by car should expect the final approach directly off a steep uphill road, and the house suggests taking the train if the view matters — the ride in from Wrocław, roughly two hours away, passes through the same landscape that drew Berliners here a century ago. Order the fireside barbecue a day ahead, reserve a treatment at the spa before arriving in high season, and keep an evening free for the upstairs pub, which only opens from 2pm.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.