The Tricity sits between a forested ridge and the Baltic, so forest trails and wild beaches start close to town. Kids can follow a stream to a waterfall, climb a hilltop tower for a view of the bay, walk out under a crumbling cliff, or watch wild seals on the Vistula sandbanks. Here's what we checked, from the Oliwa woods to the moving dunes at Łeba.
Dolina Radości is a wooded valley in the Oliwa Forest, part of the Tricity Landscape Park. The Oliwa Stream runs along its floor past ponds and a small waterfall, and large glacial boulders lie beside the paths.
A marked nature trail runs through the valley, and the yellow Eight Views trail leads to it from Oliwa, so a walk can start in town and end deep in the woods.
A 50-hectare garden, mostly beech and oak-hornbeam forest, with 31 plant collections in a fenced center: a pond, a heath, an old-variety orchard and a sensory maze. Outside the fence, two marked forest trails, the Alice in the Enchanted Forest trail and the Roots Trail, stay open all week. Sculptures from an art festival stand among the trees, and Garden Sundays bring workshops led by foresters and botanists.
A 15-meter steel viewing tower tops Pachołek, a 100-meter hill in the Oliwa forest at the edge of the Tricity Landscape Park. A short walk and a flight of stairs lead up to the platform, which looks over Oliwa, Przymorze, Wrzeszcz and the Main Town, and out to Gdańsk Bay. To the west the view is all forest. It suits kids who like spotting landmarks from up high.
Polanka Redłowska is a wide, open meadow by the sea, next to the Kępa Redłowska nature reserve, a protected beech forest with views over Gdynia. Families spread picnic blankets on the grass, and the city runs two bonfire spots and three grill spots on the meadow.
Forest paths lead into the reserve, and Redłowo Beach is right beside it, with a playground and an outdoor gym nearby.
A wooden pier, a beach and a steep cliff where the Kępa Redłowska forest reserve meets the Bay of Gdańsk in Gdynia. The 180-meter pier gives views back to the cliff and south to Sopot's pier.
The cliff rises up to 40 meters, with rust-colored iron streaks and brown coal in its face. By the pier entrance, a statue of marine painter Antoni Suchanek sits on a bench.
Sobieszewo Island is the city's greenest and wildest corner: wide sandy Baltic beaches backed by forest trails, with two nature reserves. At Mewia Łacha, by the Vistula mouth, wild Baltic seals rest on the sandbanks and can be watched from an observation tower.
Ptasi Raj draws flocks of migrating birds to two coastal lakes, and the beaches are good for amber hunting, especially near the river mouth.
Oliwa Park is an 11-hectare historic garden beside Oliwa Cathedral, laid out in the 18th century in a formal French style with an English landscape section. The Oliwa Stream runs through it, with two large ponds, a cascade and four footbridges to cross. Kids can test the two whispering grottoes near the palm house, look for the lantern and gate in the Japanese-style garden, and walk the clipped lime avenues.
The moving dunes on the Łeba Spit are bare sand hills up to 40 meters high, pushed along by the wind at 3 to 10 meters a year. As they travel they bury pine forest, and years later the wind uncovers the dead tree stumps.
Łącka Dune is the most visited, with viewpoints across the spit, and nearly half of the loop trail from Łeba runs along the Baltic beach.
The Tricity sits between a forested ridge and the Baltic, so forest trails and wild beaches start close to town. Kids can follow a stream to a waterfall, climb a hilltop tower for a view of the bay, walk out under a crumbling cliff, or watch wild seals on the Vistula sandbanks. Here's what we checked, from the Oliwa woods to the moving dunes at Łeba.
Dolina Radości is a wooded valley in the Oliwa Forest, part of the Tricity Landscape Park. The Oliwa Stream runs along its floor past ponds and a small waterfall, and large glacial boulders lie beside the paths.
A marked nature trail runs through the valley, and the yellow Eight Views trail leads to it from Oliwa, so a walk can start in town and end deep in the woods.
A 50-hectare garden, mostly beech and oak-hornbeam forest, with 31 plant collections in a fenced center: a pond, a heath, an old-variety orchard and a sensory maze. Outside the fence, two marked forest trails, the Alice in the Enchanted Forest trail and the Roots Trail, stay open all week. Sculptures from an art festival stand among the trees, and Garden Sundays bring workshops led by foresters and botanists.
A 15-meter steel viewing tower tops Pachołek, a 100-meter hill in the Oliwa forest at the edge of the Tricity Landscape Park. A short walk and a flight of stairs lead up to the platform, which looks over Oliwa, Przymorze, Wrzeszcz and the Main Town, and out to Gdańsk Bay. To the west the view is all forest. It suits kids who like spotting landmarks from up high.
Polanka Redłowska is a wide, open meadow by the sea, next to the Kępa Redłowska nature reserve, a protected beech forest with views over Gdynia. Families spread picnic blankets on the grass, and the city runs two bonfire spots and three grill spots on the meadow.
Forest paths lead into the reserve, and Redłowo Beach is right beside it, with a playground and an outdoor gym nearby.
A wooden pier, a beach and a steep cliff where the Kępa Redłowska forest reserve meets the Bay of Gdańsk in Gdynia. The 180-meter pier gives views back to the cliff and south to Sopot's pier.
The cliff rises up to 40 meters, with rust-colored iron streaks and brown coal in its face. By the pier entrance, a statue of marine painter Antoni Suchanek sits on a bench.
Sobieszewo Island is the city's greenest and wildest corner: wide sandy Baltic beaches backed by forest trails, with two nature reserves. At Mewia Łacha, by the Vistula mouth, wild Baltic seals rest on the sandbanks and can be watched from an observation tower.
Ptasi Raj draws flocks of migrating birds to two coastal lakes, and the beaches are good for amber hunting, especially near the river mouth.
Oliwa Park is an 11-hectare historic garden beside Oliwa Cathedral, laid out in the 18th century in a formal French style with an English landscape section. The Oliwa Stream runs through it, with two large ponds, a cascade and four footbridges to cross. Kids can test the two whispering grottoes near the palm house, look for the lantern and gate in the Japanese-style garden, and walk the clipped lime avenues.
The moving dunes on the Łeba Spit are bare sand hills up to 40 meters high, pushed along by the wind at 3 to 10 meters a year. As they travel they bury pine forest, and years later the wind uncovers the dead tree stumps.
Łącka Dune is the most visited, with viewpoints across the spit, and nearly half of the loop trail from Łeba runs along the Baltic beach.
