The Beskids are associated with trails and ski lifts, but for families with children there are also plenty of places where you do not have to climb a peak. There are runs where you can slide down on sledges without snow, rope parks with courses for three-year-olds, animal enclosures and a few ideas for a day when the weather turns bad. Below is a selection checked on the venues' own websites and in the portal's pages, arranged from outdoor fun to places under a roof.

Sledges and ropes: action on the slope

The simplest idea for a mountain day with a child is a summer sledge run. In Ustroń there are two. Górski Park Równica (Równica Mountain Park) is a recreation complex on Równica hill, with a year-round sledge run, a spherical cinema, a 7D cinema, quad bikes, a slide for children and a playground. The park's website notes that some of the information is older, so it is worth confirming the range of attractions before you travel.

The second run lies below the upper station of the chairlift on the slope of Wielka Czantoria. The summer sledge run on Czantoria is a gravity slide: the sledges run down under their own weight, without a drive, and you ride up on the chairlift. The upper station stands at 851 m above sea level, so the child also gets a ride with a view.

In Bielsko-Biała, within the town limits, there is the Dębowiec Slope Sledge Run (Tor Saneczkowy Stok Dębowca), also known as “Słoneczna polana pod Dębowcem” (Sunny Clearing below Dębowiec). It has operated since 2001, is 410 m long, has three tunnels and three full bends, and a 115-metre lift carries sledgers to the top. The run is lit. Next to it is a recreation and ski centre with a playground, a climbing wall and an educational path, so siblings of different ages will find something to do.

For those who like ropes there is the Base Camp Rope Park in Szczyrk. According to the Szczyrk attractions website it has over 300 metres of courses and 37 obstacles. For the youngest there is the green Mini Park course, intended for children aged 3 to 13. Older children take two Adventure courses and the Adventure Extreme course, all with continuous belay. The courses include a climbing wall, a snake bridge, a slide and trampolines.

Animals, fairy tales and village life

Children like to spend time where they can see live animals. The Leśny Park Niespodzianek (Forest Park of Surprises) in Ustroń is a 15-hectare zoo on the slope of Równica among old beech woodland. It opened on 1 August 2002, and visitors follow paths totalling 3.5 km. Animals living here include deer, European bison, mouflon, alpacas, American bald eagles and owls. For children there is the Fairy-Tale Avenue (Aleja Bajkowa) with little houses and characters from eleven well-known fairy tales, and a playground with a dry ball pit, trampolines and a mini zip line. Animals may not be brought into the park, so as not to stress the wild animals.

In Wisła, about two kilometres from the centre, there is the “U Źródeł” educational farm at the U Gazdy agritourism farm. On the hosts' website we read about the workshops “Nasze gazdowanie” (Our Farming), “Tajemnica kropli wody” (The Secret of a Drop of Water) and “Eko zdrowo - kolorowo” (Eco, Healthy, Colourful), and the farm is home to rabbits, ponies, sheep, geese, ducks, cats, cows, hens, pheasants and budgerigars. The workshops are organised for groups: school classes, preschoolers, summer camps and trips, and the sessions are adapted to the group. The date must be arranged in advance, by telephone or through the farm's website.

The Beskid village is shown from the inside by the Żywiec Ethnographic Park in Ślemień. The open-air museum covers over 6 hectares, and on its grounds stand 17 relocated historic buildings, mainly wooden: a school from Rychwałd of 1900, a smithy, a sawmill with a water wheel and a peasant farmstead. Children can see here what a room with a cradle and a holy corner looked like, and compare it with their own room.

Miniature monuments can be seen in the Miniature Park in Żywiec, in the historic castle park right next to the palace. It was created in 2012 and shows models of monuments of the Podbeskidzie region, including the castle in Sucha Beskidzka and the palaces in Rajcza and Kamesznica. After looking at the models you can walk into the real park and compare the scale.

Science, space and bats

A few places in the Beskids tell stories of science in a way that engages children. The Bat Observatory in Brenna operates at Primary School No. 1, in whose attic a colony of bats lives. The municipality runs tours from spring to the end of summer and requires prior booking at the Tourist Information office. In the Night Zone (Strefa Nocy) the walls and ceiling are painted as a night forest, and special devices let you hear ultrasound that the ear does not normally pick up. The municipality marks the site as inaccessible to pushchairs.

The Youth Space Station YSS in Sopotnia Wielka has a completely different feel. It is a ground-based imitation of the interior of a module of the International Space Station, built by the POLARIS-OPP Association in a room measuring 5.7 x 3.4 x 2.5 m. A standard session lasts about 60 minutes and takes a group of 15-20 people. Participants receive outfits styled as astronaut suits and roles, and the “mission” is run by an on-board computer. Visits are most often organised for schools and groups, so the date must be arranged with the association.

In Bielsko-Biała, in the buildings of the former Cartoon Film Studio, is the OKO Centre of Fairy Tales and Animation (Centrum Bajki i Animacji OKO). The permanent exhibition shows, on two floors, how animated films are made: from the history of the studio, through scripts and characters, backgrounds and animation techniques, to sound. There is also a 360-degree projection and the Kino Kreska cinema. Families tour the exhibition on their own, without a guide.

For a rainy day in Szczyrk the Museum of Technology is also suitable, a small display of old household equipment, motorcycles (MZ, K-750 with a sidecar, WFM, SHL) and radio sets. It is more of a suggestion for older children who will enjoy old machines, and a short stop by the blue trail to Klimczok.

A completely quiet option is the Dworzec Dobrych Myśli (Station of Good Thoughts) in Ustroń, an exhibition of plush teddy bears and bears set up in the station building at Dworcowa 4. The opening hours given on the website come from a single entry, so they should be checked before a visit.

How to put a day together

Two combinations work well. In Ustroń you can combine the Leśny Park Niespodzianek with a visit to Równica: both places lie on the same massif, and Równica has a year-round sledge run. Czantoria, in turn, can be added to the plan as another stop of the day, because the run lies just below the upper station of the chairlift. In Bielsko-Biała the run on Dębowiec and the OKO Centre are within the limits of the same town, so if the weather changes the plan can be moved from the run to indoors.

At most of these places opening hours and entry rules change with the season, and venues that require booking (the observatory, the space station, the farm in Wisła) work mainly for groups, so they should be checked on the operator's website before you travel.