Żywiec is a town on the River Soła in southern Poland with 31,194 inhabitants (2019). It is situated within the Silesian Voivodeship, near the Żywiec Lake and Żywiec Landscape Park, one of the eight protected areas in the voivodeship. Historically, the town has been part of the Lesser Poland region and is the capital of the Żywiecczyzna region, which is ethnically part of the Goral Lands.

Silesian Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia, with Katowice serving as its capital.