Natural thermal springs were known from time immemorial in the Polish part of the Sudetes Mts at Cieplice and Lqdek. Discharge temperatures of these springs are 44 and 29 degreesC, respectively, and bathing is their traditional use. Drilling performed during the last three decades in the above-mentioned and other localities revealed considerable amounts of thermal waters occurring in tectonically disturbed zones of Sudetic metamorphic rocks and granitoids. The existence of thermal waters may also be expected in numerous areas of the Sudetes where carbonated waters occur. CO2 connected with Tertiary and Pleistocene basic magmatism may be an indicator of regional rock heating. Another potential area of geothermal interest is the Fore-Sudetic block, where thermal carbonated water was discovered in the vicinity of a cluster of Tertiary basaltic cones and where hydrothermal activity of Tertiary to mid-Quaternary age took place. (C) 2002 CNR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.