May fills up fast. Majówka, the long weekend around the May 1 and May 3 holidays, sends families out of town, and the outdoor spots that close all winter reopen in April. Later in the month come Night of Museums and a weekend of hands-on science. Here's what we checked, from the galleon to Westerplatte to the open-air village at Wdzydze.
Once a year, more than 50 museums, galleries, libraries, theaters and cultural centers across Gdańsk open in the evening with programs made for the night: concerts, workshops, performances, and educational games and activities for the youngest visitors.
Families hop between venues at their own pace. It suits kids who enjoy a late night out; toddlers may run out of steam before the best stops.
The Baltic Science Festival opens the labs and lecture halls of Gdańsk Tech (Politechnika Gdańska) for hands-on science: chemistry shows with colored flames and smoke, robot races, DNA extraction with kitchen supplies, math escape rooms and architecture workshops. The Fahrenheit Science Picnic adds an outdoor science village at Hevelianum.
Most sessions are led in Polish. Kids who don't speak it get the most from the shows and demos.
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.
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.
Sopot Pier is a wooden boardwalk 511 meters long, 458 of them over the Baltic Sea. Near the end, a 132-meter side arm called the Ostroga branches off, and lower decks let passenger boats and yachts moor.
On the land side, a square holds a historic fountain, a concert shell, a lighthouse with a viewing deck, and amber and souvenir stalls.
AmberSky is a 60-meter observation wheel on Ołowianka island. Its 30 glass gondolas seat up to 12 people, are heated and air-conditioned, and carry an audio guide to the city's history and architecture.
A ride turns the wheel about three times, with views over the Old Town, the historic shipyard cranes, the amber-colored stadium and as far as the Hel Peninsula.
Three family parks sit side by side in a Kashubian village near Kartuzy. Park Miniatur has more than 70 scale models, a mini zoo, a funhouse and a Castle of Fear. Park Gigantów has giant insects, dinosaurs, a monster truck and a real passenger plane kids can board. Kaszubski Gracik lines up more than 80 full-size cars from films, cartoons and old Polish TV shows.
Galeon Lew is a passenger ship built to look like a 17th-century galleon, sailing under the Polish flag from the Długie Pobrzeże waterfront. The run to Westerplatte passes the Gdańsk Shipyard, the repair yard, the docks and Wisłoujście Fortress, while a guide tells the history in Polish, German and English. Sea shanties play on deck and there is a bar on board.
May fills up fast. Majówka, the long weekend around the May 1 and May 3 holidays, sends families out of town, and the outdoor spots that close all winter reopen in April. Later in the month come Night of Museums and a weekend of hands-on science. Here's what we checked, from the galleon to Westerplatte to the open-air village at Wdzydze.
Once a year, more than 50 museums, galleries, libraries, theaters and cultural centers across Gdańsk open in the evening with programs made for the night: concerts, workshops, performances, and educational games and activities for the youngest visitors.
Families hop between venues at their own pace. It suits kids who enjoy a late night out; toddlers may run out of steam before the best stops.
The Baltic Science Festival opens the labs and lecture halls of Gdańsk Tech (Politechnika Gdańska) for hands-on science: chemistry shows with colored flames and smoke, robot races, DNA extraction with kitchen supplies, math escape rooms and architecture workshops. The Fahrenheit Science Picnic adds an outdoor science village at Hevelianum.
Most sessions are led in Polish. Kids who don't speak it get the most from the shows and demos.
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.
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.
Sopot Pier is a wooden boardwalk 511 meters long, 458 of them over the Baltic Sea. Near the end, a 132-meter side arm called the Ostroga branches off, and lower decks let passenger boats and yachts moor.
On the land side, a square holds a historic fountain, a concert shell, a lighthouse with a viewing deck, and amber and souvenir stalls.
AmberSky is a 60-meter observation wheel on Ołowianka island. Its 30 glass gondolas seat up to 12 people, are heated and air-conditioned, and carry an audio guide to the city's history and architecture.
A ride turns the wheel about three times, with views over the Old Town, the historic shipyard cranes, the amber-colored stadium and as far as the Hel Peninsula.
Three family parks sit side by side in a Kashubian village near Kartuzy. Park Miniatur has more than 70 scale models, a mini zoo, a funhouse and a Castle of Fear. Park Gigantów has giant insects, dinosaurs, a monster truck and a real passenger plane kids can board. Kaszubski Gracik lines up more than 80 full-size cars from films, cartoons and old Polish TV shows.
Galeon Lew is a passenger ship built to look like a 17th-century galleon, sailing under the Polish flag from the Długie Pobrzeże waterfront. The run to Westerplatte passes the Gdańsk Shipyard, the repair yard, the docks and Wisłoujście Fortress, while a guide tells the history in Polish, German and English. Sea shanties play on deck and there is a bar on board.
