Gdańsk sits on the Baltic, and gray seals belong to this coast: keepers feed them in Hel, and wild ones rest on the sandbanks at the Vistula mouth. Add a big zoo in Oliwa, farms where kids hand carrots to alpacas, and life-size dinosaurs out by Łeba. Here's what we checked, from penguin feedings at the zoo to a 13-meter Brachiosaurus.
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.
Gdynia Aquarium spreads more than 200 water species over eight halls on five floors, from Amazon tropics and a coral reef to the open Pacific, the Baltic and the cold North Atlantic. The Cold Seas hall, opened in 2024 below sea level in the basement, holds unusual jellyfish and crustaceans.
It is run by the National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, and a free web app guide explains each animal.
The University of Gdańsk Marine Station keeps a resident herd of five gray seals in its breeding pools in Hel. Keepers feed them every day with a short educational talk, so kids can watch the seals dive and come up for food at close range.
The ticket also covers the exhibition building, and the station runs a project to bring gray seal colonies back to the southern Baltic.
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.
Zwierzaki Nad Potokiem is a family-run mini zoo with more than 30 species, from alpacas, llamas and ponies to emus, camels, fallow deer and prairie dogs. Every ticket comes with a cup of feed, so kids can hand carrots and pellets to the animals and pet the miniature rabbits.
On weekends there are pony rides and a shared campfire for grilling sausages.
Zagroda Kociewska is an outdoor play park and farm in the Kociewie countryside. Kids bounce on a water jumping pillow, dodge spitting frog fountains, drive retro cars, dig for gold in a giant sandpit and find their way through the Lost Rabbits maze.
There are goats and sheep to feed, mini-golf, giant building blocks and jumping hills, plus a restaurant serving regional dishes.
Łeba Park is a dinosaur park in Nowęcin, on the edge of Łeba. A tour of the grounds passes nearly 100 life-size dinosaur models, laid out to tell the history of the planet over millions of years.
The two giants are a 45-meter Seismosaurus and a 13-meter-tall Brachiosaurus, the only one in Poland. Kids who already know their dinosaur names get the most out of it.
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.
Gdańsk sits on the Baltic, and gray seals belong to this coast: keepers feed them in Hel, and wild ones rest on the sandbanks at the Vistula mouth. Add a big zoo in Oliwa, farms where kids hand carrots to alpacas, and life-size dinosaurs out by Łeba. Here's what we checked, from penguin feedings at the zoo to a 13-meter Brachiosaurus.
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.
Gdynia Aquarium spreads more than 200 water species over eight halls on five floors, from Amazon tropics and a coral reef to the open Pacific, the Baltic and the cold North Atlantic. The Cold Seas hall, opened in 2024 below sea level in the basement, holds unusual jellyfish and crustaceans.
It is run by the National Marine Fisheries Research Institute, and a free web app guide explains each animal.
The University of Gdańsk Marine Station keeps a resident herd of five gray seals in its breeding pools in Hel. Keepers feed them every day with a short educational talk, so kids can watch the seals dive and come up for food at close range.
The ticket also covers the exhibition building, and the station runs a project to bring gray seal colonies back to the southern Baltic.
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.
Zwierzaki Nad Potokiem is a family-run mini zoo with more than 30 species, from alpacas, llamas and ponies to emus, camels, fallow deer and prairie dogs. Every ticket comes with a cup of feed, so kids can hand carrots and pellets to the animals and pet the miniature rabbits.
On weekends there are pony rides and a shared campfire for grilling sausages.
Zagroda Kociewska is an outdoor play park and farm in the Kociewie countryside. Kids bounce on a water jumping pillow, dodge spitting frog fountains, drive retro cars, dig for gold in a giant sandpit and find their way through the Lost Rabbits maze.
There are goats and sheep to feed, mini-golf, giant building blocks and jumping hills, plus a restaurant serving regional dishes.
Łeba Park is a dinosaur park in Nowęcin, on the edge of Łeba. A tour of the grounds passes nearly 100 life-size dinosaur models, laid out to tell the history of the planet over millions of years.
The two giants are a 45-meter Seismosaurus and a 13-meter-tall Brachiosaurus, the only one in Poland. Kids who already know their dinosaur names get the most out of it.
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.
