Easter is big in Poland: kids decorate pisanki, take a food basket to church for a blessing on Holy Saturday, and soak each other with water on Easter Monday (Śmigus-dyngus). Schools close from Thursday, March 25 to Tuesday, March 30, so we gathered folk Easter traditions and outings for chilly spring days. Here's what we checked, from a Kashubian open-air village to a hilltop science fort.
A seasonal craft market at the Oliwa ethnography branch of the National Museum, where folk artists and makers sell handmade Easter goods: regional embroidery, lace, wicker baskets, carved figures, ceramics and amber jewelry.
It is a browsing fair, so it suits kids who enjoy looking over stalls and picking out a small Easter treasure. Kids who need something hands-on may lose interest fast.
Poland's first open-air museum, founded in 1906, spreads across 22 hectares on the shore of Gołuń lake. Kids walk between more than 50 wooden buildings moved here from Kashubia and Kociewie: cottages, manor houses, a village school, a smithy, windmills and an 18th-century church, many with furnished interiors.
From May to September, staff run hands-on workshops in old crafts such as spinning, weaving, grain milling and basket plaiting.
Hevelianum fills the barracks and casemates of a 19th-century fort on Góra Gradowa, the hill above the Main Town. Around the World crosses seven continents, With Energy! is hands-on energy experiments, and Puzzle is logic and math challenges. In Playing with History, kids try on old uniforms and fire a virtual cannon by gesture. Outside, 20 hectares of paths lead to a playground and lookouts over the old city.
A hands-on science center in Gdynia where kids test the exhibits instead of reading about them. Magnesto has 10 magnetism stations, including an electromagnetic accelerator and magnet races. Tajemnice głębin shows over 40 models of deep-sea creatures, from vampire squid to glowing jellyfish. Other halls cover the human body, water, health, physics and nature, and family workshops run alongside the exhibitions.
Gdańsk Zoo covers 124 hectares in Oliwa, with nearly 900 animals from 144 species, including elephants, giraffes, lions, cheetahs, orangutans and red pandas. Keepers feed the African penguins and gray seals in front of visitors most days.
At the Children's Zoo, kids pet and feed goats, rabbits and alpacas. The ZOOlandia rope park inside the grounds has 15 tree obstacles and a 26-meter zip line.
Malbork Castle is the red-brick fortress the Teutonic Knights built from 1280 on the Nogat river, and by land area the largest castle in the world. Kids walk the moat, gate passages and garden terraces, then the courtyards of the High and Middle Castle. The full route goes inside to the Grand Refectory and the Grand Masters' Palace, with an English audio guide included.
Easter is big in Poland: kids decorate pisanki, take a food basket to church for a blessing on Holy Saturday, and soak each other with water on Easter Monday (Śmigus-dyngus). Schools close from Thursday, March 25 to Tuesday, March 30, so we gathered folk Easter traditions and outings for chilly spring days. Here's what we checked, from a Kashubian open-air village to a hilltop science fort.
A seasonal craft market at the Oliwa ethnography branch of the National Museum, where folk artists and makers sell handmade Easter goods: regional embroidery, lace, wicker baskets, carved figures, ceramics and amber jewelry.
It is a browsing fair, so it suits kids who enjoy looking over stalls and picking out a small Easter treasure. Kids who need something hands-on may lose interest fast.
Poland's first open-air museum, founded in 1906, spreads across 22 hectares on the shore of Gołuń lake. Kids walk between more than 50 wooden buildings moved here from Kashubia and Kociewie: cottages, manor houses, a village school, a smithy, windmills and an 18th-century church, many with furnished interiors.
From May to September, staff run hands-on workshops in old crafts such as spinning, weaving, grain milling and basket plaiting.
Hevelianum fills the barracks and casemates of a 19th-century fort on Góra Gradowa, the hill above the Main Town. Around the World crosses seven continents, With Energy! is hands-on energy experiments, and Puzzle is logic and math challenges. In Playing with History, kids try on old uniforms and fire a virtual cannon by gesture. Outside, 20 hectares of paths lead to a playground and lookouts over the old city.
A hands-on science center in Gdynia where kids test the exhibits instead of reading about them. Magnesto has 10 magnetism stations, including an electromagnetic accelerator and magnet races. Tajemnice głębin shows over 40 models of deep-sea creatures, from vampire squid to glowing jellyfish. Other halls cover the human body, water, health, physics and nature, and family workshops run alongside the exhibitions.
Gdańsk Zoo covers 124 hectares in Oliwa, with nearly 900 animals from 144 species, including elephants, giraffes, lions, cheetahs, orangutans and red pandas. Keepers feed the African penguins and gray seals in front of visitors most days.
At the Children's Zoo, kids pet and feed goats, rabbits and alpacas. The ZOOlandia rope park inside the grounds has 15 tree obstacles and a 26-meter zip line.
Malbork Castle is the red-brick fortress the Teutonic Knights built from 1280 on the Nogat river, and by land area the largest castle in the world. Kids walk the moat, gate passages and garden terraces, then the courtyards of the High and Middle Castle. The full route goes inside to the Grand Refectory and the Grand Masters' Palace, with an English audio guide included.
