It is located within the Nysa County of Opole Voivodeship (province), near the border with the Czech Republic, and is the administrative seat of Gmina Głuchołazy.

The town is located in the historic Lower Silesia region on the northern slopes of the Opawskie Mountains, in the valley of the Bělá River.

The settlement in the episcopal Duchy of Nysa within fragmented Poland was established about 1220 by Bishop Wawrzyniec of Wrocław, who invited German settlers to build up a stronghold against the threatening forces of the Přemyslid margrave Vladislaus III of Moravia, brother of King Ottokar I of Bohemia.

[2] After the First Silesian War and the 1742 Treaty of Breslau the Duchy of Nysa was partitioned and Głuchołazy became a Prussian bordertown, while the adjacent area around Zlaté Hory remained with Austrian Silesia.

[2] After the war the remaining German population was expelled and with the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line in 1945, the area was transferred to the Republic of Poland, all in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement.

[2] The first post-war mayor of Głuchołazy was Szymon Koszyk, pre-war Polish activist, writer and publicist in Upper Silesia and participant in the Silesian Uprisings.