Rain in the forecast and a whole day to fill? When the weather rules out the park, these are the roofs we head for: sharks and a blue whale, trampoline halls and play parks big enough to burn off a whole morning. Most are a short ride across the city. Here's what we checked, from Hydropolis to Bobolandia.
Hydropolis is an interactive museum about water, run by the city water company inside the historic Na Grobli waterworks. Kids walk past a tiger shark model with a shoal of 1,500 tuna, a full-size replica of the Trieste bathyscaphe, deep-sea creature models and a 3.5-meter water vortex.
There are more than 70 interactive installations, cinema rooms, and a children's zone with multimedia games about dolphins and coral reefs.
Poland's oldest zoo covers 32 hectares by Centennial Hall and keeps more than 12,000 animals from over 1,100 species. The headline is the Afrykarium, an indoor oceanarium given over to African wildlife: sharks and rays, Nile crocodiles, hippos, manatees and penguins.
Elsewhere are the Madagascar pavilion, a terrarium and a children's zoo, and a visit mixes indoor halls with outdoor paths.
This indoor water park has nine slides, from the DuoRacer, where two riders race side by side, to a gentle slide in the paddling pool, plus a wave pool, a lazy river and jacuzzis.
The Children Bay is a warm 32.5°C pool, 90cm deep, with a small slide and wall fountains, and it doubles as the swimming-lesson pool. Outdoor pools and a brine pool open in warm weather.
GOjump MEGApark spreads across 5,500 square meters and three zones. GOjump has trampolines, a foam pit, a ninja course, parkour and acrobatics areas, a trampoline dodgeball court and the GOjet slide. GOtrix turns moving into a points game, with bumper cars, a laser room and arcade machines.
GOjump Przygoda, open weekends, adds a climbing wall and jump challenges run by a trainer. A café overlooks the whole park.
Bobolandia is an indoor play center of more than 3,000 m2. Kids climb a 10 by 10 meter jungle gym, fire air cannons, and ride a volcano slide, an inflatable slide and a 10-meter roller slide.
There is also a five-section trampoline, a sand hill and a toy corner for small kids, plus pool and air hockey tables, themed birthday rooms and a restaurant.
GOkidz! is a play park of 2,500 m2 with more than 20 attractions: trampolines, a climbing wall, a slide down the walls of a volcano, a ninja course, an inflatable obstacle course, bumper cars and race cars.
Each kid wears a wristband that collects points on the attractions and levels up in a superhero game. Toddlers have their own Mini Planet zone, and parents wait in the GOcafe on the mezzanine.
Chubi Boom is a large indoor play center. Kids work through a colorful maze with slides and hidden games, a ninja obstacle course with monkey bars and ropes, trampoline tracks, and a pool of boats they can steer.
Under-3s get a separate toddler zone with a low treehouse, ride-on toys and sensory panels. A token arcade, birthday rooms and an on-site restaurant round it out.
Founded in 1814, this university museum fills its halls with mounted animals, skeletons, insects and plants. The centerpiece is a 14.6-meter blue whale skeleton, the only one in Poland. Kids can also find a giant deer skeleton, a Tasmanian tiger and an aurochs skull.
Four permanent exhibitions cover the animal world, the plant world, vertebrate skeletons, and insects and people.
Kolejkowo is the largest model railway exhibition in Poland, filling 1,000 square meters on the first floor of the Sky Tower. Nineteen trains run on 720 meters of track past miniature Lower Silesian buildings, from Market Square townhouses to the Śnieżka weather observatory and Świebodzki station.
The lights cycle quickly between day and night, and 6,375 tiny figures act out scenes, from road works to a fleeing thief.
A permanent exhibition of large models built from LEGO bricks on the second floor of the Sky Tower. Themed sections cover Wrocław built in bricks, architecture, a prehistoric world, cartoons, the Seven Wonders of the World, Star Wars-inspired builds and a haunted room. Standouts include a Porsche 911-inspired car, a George Harrison guitar replica and a giant Tyragon dragon. A big play zone lets kids build their own creations.
A former tram depot holds the main exhibition, 'Wrocław 1945-2016', the story of how people arriving from across Poland and the former eastern borderlands rebuilt the city after World War II.
It is scenographic and hands-on: kids can start in the Peace Race, sign the Polish bishops' famous letter and play an underground opposition printer. A stamp-hunt map leads them into hidden corners, with a small prize at reception.
Jump Hall is a trampoline hall with six zones: a foam pit with a giant inflatable shark, a 12-meter tumbling track, an airbag landing, a basketball dunk lane, the Ninja Sharks obstacle course and a climbing wall that drops into foam.
The Piksel light-up floor and Neo Wall add reaction games, and a 200-meter ropes course runs year-round for taller kids.
Loopy's World is a 4,000 m2 indoor play center built around a multi-level climbing structure with seven slides, including a four-lane family slide. There are also trampolines, a ninja track, a climbing wall, a 3-meter ball zone with air cannons and a block-building area.
The structure is built for adults too, so parents can follow kids up. Go-karts, an electric train and arcade games cost extra.
Pixel XL is an indoor game room where kids play by running, jumping and dodging across light-up floor tiles. Five rooms each run more than 40 games, from easy reflex rounds to hard logic puzzles, played solo or in teams.
It is also the only Pixel XL with Hixel XL, a floor that works as one animated screen. A bar sells drinks and snacks between rounds.
Rain in the forecast and a whole day to fill? When the weather rules out the park, these are the roofs we head for: sharks and a blue whale, trampoline halls and play parks big enough to burn off a whole morning. Most are a short ride across the city. Here's what we checked, from Hydropolis to Bobolandia.
Hydropolis is an interactive museum about water, run by the city water company inside the historic Na Grobli waterworks. Kids walk past a tiger shark model with a shoal of 1,500 tuna, a full-size replica of the Trieste bathyscaphe, deep-sea creature models and a 3.5-meter water vortex.
There are more than 70 interactive installations, cinema rooms, and a children's zone with multimedia games about dolphins and coral reefs.
Poland's oldest zoo covers 32 hectares by Centennial Hall and keeps more than 12,000 animals from over 1,100 species. The headline is the Afrykarium, an indoor oceanarium given over to African wildlife: sharks and rays, Nile crocodiles, hippos, manatees and penguins.
Elsewhere are the Madagascar pavilion, a terrarium and a children's zoo, and a visit mixes indoor halls with outdoor paths.
This indoor water park has nine slides, from the DuoRacer, where two riders race side by side, to a gentle slide in the paddling pool, plus a wave pool, a lazy river and jacuzzis.
The Children Bay is a warm 32.5°C pool, 90cm deep, with a small slide and wall fountains, and it doubles as the swimming-lesson pool. Outdoor pools and a brine pool open in warm weather.
GOjump MEGApark spreads across 5,500 square meters and three zones. GOjump has trampolines, a foam pit, a ninja course, parkour and acrobatics areas, a trampoline dodgeball court and the GOjet slide. GOtrix turns moving into a points game, with bumper cars, a laser room and arcade machines.
GOjump Przygoda, open weekends, adds a climbing wall and jump challenges run by a trainer. A café overlooks the whole park.
Bobolandia is an indoor play center of more than 3,000 m2. Kids climb a 10 by 10 meter jungle gym, fire air cannons, and ride a volcano slide, an inflatable slide and a 10-meter roller slide.
There is also a five-section trampoline, a sand hill and a toy corner for small kids, plus pool and air hockey tables, themed birthday rooms and a restaurant.
GOkidz! is a play park of 2,500 m2 with more than 20 attractions: trampolines, a climbing wall, a slide down the walls of a volcano, a ninja course, an inflatable obstacle course, bumper cars and race cars.
Each kid wears a wristband that collects points on the attractions and levels up in a superhero game. Toddlers have their own Mini Planet zone, and parents wait in the GOcafe on the mezzanine.
Chubi Boom is a large indoor play center. Kids work through a colorful maze with slides and hidden games, a ninja obstacle course with monkey bars and ropes, trampoline tracks, and a pool of boats they can steer.
Under-3s get a separate toddler zone with a low treehouse, ride-on toys and sensory panels. A token arcade, birthday rooms and an on-site restaurant round it out.
Founded in 1814, this university museum fills its halls with mounted animals, skeletons, insects and plants. The centerpiece is a 14.6-meter blue whale skeleton, the only one in Poland. Kids can also find a giant deer skeleton, a Tasmanian tiger and an aurochs skull.
Four permanent exhibitions cover the animal world, the plant world, vertebrate skeletons, and insects and people.
Kolejkowo is the largest model railway exhibition in Poland, filling 1,000 square meters on the first floor of the Sky Tower. Nineteen trains run on 720 meters of track past miniature Lower Silesian buildings, from Market Square townhouses to the Śnieżka weather observatory and Świebodzki station.
The lights cycle quickly between day and night, and 6,375 tiny figures act out scenes, from road works to a fleeing thief.
A permanent exhibition of large models built from LEGO bricks on the second floor of the Sky Tower. Themed sections cover Wrocław built in bricks, architecture, a prehistoric world, cartoons, the Seven Wonders of the World, Star Wars-inspired builds and a haunted room. Standouts include a Porsche 911-inspired car, a George Harrison guitar replica and a giant Tyragon dragon. A big play zone lets kids build their own creations.
A former tram depot holds the main exhibition, 'Wrocław 1945-2016', the story of how people arriving from across Poland and the former eastern borderlands rebuilt the city after World War II.
It is scenographic and hands-on: kids can start in the Peace Race, sign the Polish bishops' famous letter and play an underground opposition printer. A stamp-hunt map leads them into hidden corners, with a small prize at reception.
Jump Hall is a trampoline hall with six zones: a foam pit with a giant inflatable shark, a 12-meter tumbling track, an airbag landing, a basketball dunk lane, the Ninja Sharks obstacle course and a climbing wall that drops into foam.
The Piksel light-up floor and Neo Wall add reaction games, and a 200-meter ropes course runs year-round for taller kids.
Loopy's World is a 4,000 m2 indoor play center built around a multi-level climbing structure with seven slides, including a four-lane family slide. There are also trampolines, a ninja track, a climbing wall, a 3-meter ball zone with air cannons and a block-building area.
The structure is built for adults too, so parents can follow kids up. Go-karts, an electric train and arcade games cost extra.
Pixel XL is an indoor game room where kids play by running, jumping and dodging across light-up floor tiles. Five rooms each run more than 40 games, from easy reflex rounds to hard logic puzzles, played solo or in teams.
It is also the only Pixel XL with Hixel XL, a floor that works as one animated screen. A bar sells drinks and snacks between rounds.
