For families

Family attractions in Silesia: dozens of zoos, water parks, play centres and mines. Find where to go with kids, including on rainy days.

The selection covers the whole voivodeship, from Chorzów and Zabrze to Ustroń, Częstochowa and the Żywiec area. Alongside classics such as the Silesian Park, there are small play centres and mountain rope parks. Most places suit both a planned weekend and a spontaneous trip.

Where in Silesia should you go with children first?

The easiest start is the Silesian Park in Chorzów, where a zoo, a planetarium, an open-air museum and an amusement park share one site. Zabrze with its mines is a second good direction, and Ustroń with its parks and animals on the slope of Równica is a third. For younger children pick a zoo, a play centre or a water park, for older ones a mine or a rope park.

The places are grouped by type of activity, with addresses or districts, so it is easy to combine two or three stops in one day. Outdoor attractions such as rope parks, toboggan runs or Legendia are best saved for better weather, while play halls and pools suit cooler or rainy days.

What is there for kids in Chorzów and around Park Śląski?

Chorzów has the biggest cluster of family places in the region, and all of them sit inside the Silesian Park or beside its fence. One day is enough to visit animals, stars and an old village.

The Silesian Zoological Garden covers 47.5 ha. Children remember the Dinosaur Valley best, with its concrete models of extinct reptiles, but the garden also has pavilions for reptiles, fish and elephants, and a Mini ZOO enclosure where selected animals may be fed. The Silesian Planetarium stands on Park Hill, the highest rise in the park. Building began in 1953, the Copernicus Year, to a design by Zbigniew Solawa, and it is still described as the largest and oldest in the country. Since 2022 exhibitions on astronomy, seismology and meteorology have stood beside the dome. The Upper Silesian Ethnographic Park is a skansen of about 33 ha with some 78 buildings and small structures from the 17th to 20th centuries, moved from eastern Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin. They stand in six geographical sectors and one thematic one, so children walk through it like a small village. If you prefer rides, head for Legendia: it opened in 1959 as the Silesian Funfair, regarded as the oldest in Poland, and has been a theme park under its present name since 2017.

More ideas for the city are on the page about family attractions in Chorzów.

Which water park in Silesia should you choose with children?

Swimming under a roof suits cooler days, and most of these venues have separate areas for children and adults. For a short outing pick a pool near home, and for a longer one a venue that fits with another stop.

Aquadrom in Ruda Śląska-Halemba consists of three parts: recreation, sport and saunas. The curious will like a pool whose floor moves and a diving tube that measures seven metres. Wodny Park Tychy lies in the south of the city at Sikorskiego 20, beside the woods of the Pszczyna Forest. It offers around 16,000 sq m of usable area, a recreation zone with an artificial wave and a surfing section, and draws energy partly from biogas from the Tychy sewage plant. H2Ostróg Aquapark in Racibórz neighbours the castle in the Ostróg district, so after swimming you can walk straight up the castle hill. Aquapark Leśna lies some kilometres outside central Żywiec, on Sasanki Street. The main pools are in a hall, so it is open all year, while the outdoor part closes outside summer; there is also a sauna area and a slide. Also in this group are the Częstochowa Water Park on Dekabrystów Street, the Water Park in Tarnowskie Góry with slides and a wave pool, and the Nautica centre in Gorzyce with a swimming pool and sports zones.

Where are the play centres and trampoline parks in Silesia?

Indoor play halls suit a day when children must burn off energy and parents want a coffee. Most have separate zones for younger and older children and a café.

In Katowice, on Porcelanowa Street in Zawodzie, you will find Bajka Pana Kleksa, a themed play centre with lands inspired by the book about Mr Blot. At Kościuszki 227 in the Ligota-Panewniki district stands JUMPCITY Katowice, a trampoline park of 3,000 sq m. In Gliwice, House of Air is an indoor trampoline park at Pszczyńska 315 with a separate area for children up to four. The Dżungla play centre in Rybnik, at Chrobrego 6, has slides, an obstacle course and a café, while Fabryka Uśmiechu in Częstochowa is for children aged two to eleven. Freak Park in Będzin, at Cieszkowskiego 18, offers trampolines, a Monkey Grove and climbing walls, and Happy Jumper in Tarnowskie Góry is one of three parks in this chain. Smaller places include Parabola Trampoline Park in Czechowice-Dziedzice, the Hip-Hop Play Centre in the Gemini Park shopping centre in Tychy, and the Lemon play centre in Blachownia.

Where can you take children to see animals?

Besides the zoo in Chorzów, animals can be seen in two enclosures and one forest park in the mountains. These places are calmer, with short walking routes.

The Forest Park of Surprises in Ustroń spreads over 15 ha on the Równica slope among old beeches. The visiting paths add up to 3.5 km, and the enclosures hold about thirty species, from red deer and bison to alpacas and owls. Shows of flying birds of prey and owls are held here too. The Bison Show Reserve in Pszczyna was opened to visitors in the historic Pszczyna Park, in its part called Park Zwierzyniec, and two enclosures cover about 10 ha altogether. In Makoszowy, a district of Zabrze, you will find AnimalWorld Mini ZOO, a modest private zoo and educational paddock where lessons about animals are given. In Wilkowice, in the Zbrosławice commune, the Adventure and Attractions Park is a seasonal park on a few hectares: a playground, a rope park, a barefoot path, two ponds and a menagerie with ostriches, kangaroos and meerkats.

Are mines and technical heritage sites good for families?

Yes, as long as children are curious about machines and trains. Some former works have been prepared so that younger guests also have something to do.

Zabrze has two underground routes: the Guido Mine, with tours on levels 170 and 320 metres down, and the Queen Louise Adit, where almost five kilometres of workings and a boat trip along the adit wait underground. Both belong to the Coal Mining Museum. In Rybnik-Niewiadom the "Ignacy" Historic Mine shows two steam engines, a water tower with an observation terrace and a science centre, and the mine was founded in 1792. In Tarnowskie Góry the Steam Machinery Open-Air Museum is an outdoor collection of locomotives and machines with a miniature 184 mm railway, opened in 1976. In the Rudy Raciborskie valley the Rudy Narrow-Gauge Railway Station holds a museum with a locomotive shed and a steam engine. Historic trains leave from here along the old narrow-gauge line, opened back in 1899. In Gliwice, Kolejkowo is a model of more than 700 square metres in the Europa Centralna shopping centre: over five hundred buildings, among them miniature replicas of Silesian landmarks, twelve railway vehicles and thousands of figurines.

What family attractions are there in the mountains and outdoors?

In the south of the voivodeship, most attractions involve a slope, a forest or a toboggan run. In Ustroń, on Równica hill, you will find Górski Park Równica with a year-round toboggan run, cinemas and an inn, and next to it the Rope Park on Równica. Its children's course has 26 obstacles and is open from the age of five, while younger children go up with a parent; continuous belaying protects them. Below the upper chairlift station on Czantoria lies the Summer Toboggan Run on Czantoria. In Międzybrodzie Żywieckie the Trollandia Rope Park operates beneath Żar Mountain, close to the lower cable car station. The youngest children, from three, start on the Trollinkowo route with twelve obstacles, and the hardest red route, for ages eight and up, has two zip lines.

In Bielsko-Biała, on Dębowiec hill, you can ride a dry run: the Dębowiec Toboggan Run is 410 metres long, with three tunnels and as many sharp turns; a lift of 115 metres takes sledgers to the top. The run is lit, and the hill rises 536 m above sea level. In the Żywiec Beskids, Geo-Park Glinka was set up in a former sandstone quarry. In Jaworzno, GEOsfera is a geology education centre with a dinosaur park and a trail, and in Ochaby Wielkie Dream Park Ochaby combines dinosaurs, a mini zoo and a water park. In Sosnowiec, visit Wake Zone Stawiki, where wakeboarders ride behind cable tows.

Where to go with children when it rains?

When it rains, look for attractions indoors: water parks, play halls, trampoline parks, the planetarium and the Gliwice model. The underground routes in Zabrze do not depend on weather either. Zoos, rope parks, toboggan runs and the open-air museum in Chorzów, by contrast, need a warm jacket or better skies.

Families have the most choice in Chorzów, Gliwice and Zabrze. Lists for other cities are separate: Gliwice, Ustroń, Zabrze, Katowice, Rybnik, Sosnowiec and Tarnowskie Góry. The overview for the entire region is under family attractions in Silesia.

Frequently asked questions

Where to go with a child when the weather turns bad?

The surest options are a water park, a play centre, a trampoline park, the planetarium and the underground in Zabrze. Kolejkowo in Gliwice sits in a shopping centre, so rain does not bother it either.

Where is there a zoo for children in Silesia?

The biggest is the Silesian Zoological Garden in Chorzów. Smaller ones are the woodland park on Równica in Ustroń, the show bison reserve in Pszczyna and a private zoo in Makoszowy, Zabrze.

Are there water parks in the region?

Yes. Water parks operate in Ruda Śląska, Tychy, Racibórz, Leśna near Żywiec, Częstochowa and Tarnowskie Góry, among other places.

Where can you go with children in the mountains?

On Równica and Czantoria in Ustroń there are rope parks and toboggan runs. Trollandia park is in Międzybrodzie Żywieckie, and Bielsko-Biała has a run on the Dębowiec slope.

Is a mine a good idea for kids?

Some are. The Ignacy mine in Rybnik has a science centre for children, and in Zabrze you can tour routes underground. The Steam Machinery Open-Air Museum in Tarnowskie Góry is an outdoor collection of locomotives, and in Rudy historic narrow-gauge trains run.