Right by the German/Polish border and the river Neisse is the small town of Bad Muskau, a sleepy little spa town with 4000 souls that goes back to the 13th century. Bad Muskau’s claim to fame is the Fürst Pückler Park, also named Muskauer Park, the biggest and one of the most famous English-style parks in Germany and Poland, once founded by Prince Herman von Pückler-Muskau in the beginning of the 19th century.

The park was covers 3.5 sqm in Poland and 2.1 in Germany and extends on both sides of the river so if you want to visit the entire park you better have your passport ready when the local border guard turns up behind the bushes at one of the bridges.

The centre of the park is the two castles - the New and the Old - together with stables, orangeries, sanatoriums and a “kurhouse” with healthy mud-baths and even a private railroad. Prince Pückler vision was to design a park as a “painting with plants”, using local plants to enhance the qualities of the landscape and his dream have certainly come true. So if you feel for a “walk in the park”, Bad Muskau is the place to head for.

I can recommend to stay at Am Wasserturm, a nice little B&B just on the outskirts of Bad Muskau - brilliant food and a nice atmosphere and its own water tower on the back yard.