You already know that we really love traveling around Poland. We not only enjoy water parks and explore the Polish mountains, but we also visit museums. If you have not yet discovered museums and science centers in Poland, save this article and find out which ones are the best museums in Poland. When planning your trips, make sure to include science centers and museums in your travel route. Poland offers a huge selection of impressive museums and very innovative science centers that both children and the whole family will enjoy.
If you are planning family trips to our neighboring country, it is worth knowing that the best museums in Poland can be more than just a backup plan for a rainy day. They can also become the main attraction of your trip.
Here you will find many modern science centers, interactive exhibitions, and places where children learn through experience, while adults feel just as surprised. Poland truly stands out because it presents history, science, and technology in an engaging and modern way. So if you enjoy trips that enrich you, this list will help you discover places you will want to visit again.
Best museums in Poland
Warsaw
The best museums in Poland are located all over the country, both in the capital and in major cities. In Warsaw, you will find three interesting places that we recommend. In addition, Warsaw is one of the cities we visit most often, so we have prepared more articles:
- Warsaw with children
- Warsaw with kids: the best hotels
- Majaland amusement park in Warsaw
- Traveling to Warsaw by train with children – a serious challenge or a fun experience?
Copernicus Science Center
The Copernicus center is a huge science center. It is an extremely interesting and meaningful place where you will find many world inventions, experiments, and scientific laws under one roof. At the Copernicus science center, you can visit exhibitions where you can touch many of the exhibits and truly try them yourself. You can also watch performances at the Robot Theater and the High Voltage Theater, or take part in scientific experiments. Mini workshops in the center’s laboratories are waiting for you. You can also experience breathtaking sensations in one of the most modern planetariums in Poland.
Plan to spend at least half a day here, and even better, a full day. Because the center is very popular, we strongly recommend buying tickets well in advance on the website, since you might not get tickets on site.
Toy museum
This museum in Warsaw has a collection of more than 150 historic houses, shops, and dollhouses. The exhibits come from all over the world, and the oldest ones are more than 200 years old. The collection, one of the largest and most interesting in this part of Europe, includes several thousand miniature items and toys. You will also see many old games and puzzles.
Illusion museum
The Illusion museum in Warsaw is a great place for both children and adults. Although the museum is not large, you can spend about an hour or an hour and a half exploring different illusions, mirror rooms, and other interactive exhibits.
The museum features more than 60 different illusions, including a vortex tunnel, a mirror room, and many others. The exhibits are interactive, so you can safely touch and explore them.
The Illusion museum is very popular in Warsaw. Both children and adults will enjoy it. You can buy tickets in advance and save a lot of time.
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Krakow
In Krakow, families with children will find plenty of fun activities and attractions. Kelionės su vaikais shares their adventures in Krakow:
- Krakow with kids
- Krakow with children: exploring the Energylandia Park and Zoo
- Exploring Krakow with children by train
Aviation museum
The Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow is one of the most important aviation museums in the world. It opened in 1964 on the grounds of the former Krakow-Rakowice-Czyżyny airport, which was one of the oldest airports in Europe. The museum displays more than 300 aircraft, including very rare models such as the only surviving Russian flying boat, the Grigorovich M-15. In addition to planes, you can see more than 100 engines and many aviation-related items that help you understand the history of aviation more closely.
Visitors should plan to spend at least a few hours here, and it is very convenient to buy tickets in advance. This museum will definitely interest aviation enthusiasts.
Arcade games museum
This museum in Krakow will truly take you back to childhood. The collection includes more than one hundred fifty vintage arcade machines, with games from the 1930s to the 1990s. Visitors can try the old games themselves, including pinball machines and classic arcade games.
The most convenient way to get tickets in advance is online. You can find more information about the vintage arcade museum on their website.
Auschwitz museum
The Auschwitz museum is located about 70 km from Krakow. It reminds us of a painful part of our history connected to the Holocaust. In the museum, you can see preserved barracks, gas chambers, personal belongings of prisoners, and other authentic exhibits that reveal the history of the camp.
We recommend buying tickets in advance to avoid waiting in line. Suitable for children from 12 years old.
Museum of engineering and technology
The Museum of Engineering and Technology covers various fields of engineering and technology. In this museum, visitors learn about machines from the time of the industrial revolution, old equipment, vehicles, and modern technologies. The museum offers interactive exhibitions, so you can see engineering and science achievements up close. It is a great place for adults and older children.
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Gdansk
Gdansk and Gdynia are great destinations for a family vacation on the Polish coast. We shared our experience and that of our readers in these articles:
Maritime science center (Morskie Centrum Nauki)
The Maritime science center is a modern educational center for everyone, both children and adults. The main theme of the center is the sea, and through it visitors discover different branches of science such as physics, mathematics, astronomy, ecology, and history. This center is unique not only in Europe but also in the world because it uses a maritime theme to explain fishing, shipping, winds, and other natural phenomena. It also promotes progress in science and technology, as well as environmental awareness.
Hevelianum center
At the Hevelianum center, a journey around the world is a possible mission. Seven continents and a total of 90 interactive stations are waiting for curious children and adults. You can learn about Africa, South America, North America, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, and Europe.
The Hevelianum science center is a must for every child visiting Gdansk. Here, children can enjoy a creative playground, Mr. Kleks’ laboratory, the Motion Gallery, and even night ghost meetings. The center offers interactive exhibitions and educational programs that introduce visitors to various fields of science such as physics, astronomy, and environmental studies.
Mamerki bunker museum
This is one of the largest and best preserved places of this kind in Poland, where important military command documents and equipment were once stored. The museum offers a chance to learn about the presence of the German army in this region. Visitors can explore large underground bunkers, installations, and other exhibits that reveal wartime history. There is also a tall observation tower here.
Stutthof museum German concentration camp
The Stutthof museum, established on the site of a former World War II concentration camp, is one of the most important places of remembrance in Poland. Here visitors can see preserved barracks, guard towers, and other camp buildings that remind us of the hardships experienced here. The museum displays authentic documents, personal belongings, and testimonies about life in the camp.
Volkswagen museum
Near Gdansk, in a private house in Pępowo, there is a Volkswagen museum. This place displays restored cars of this brand. Although the collection is not very large and models often repeat, you can see different Volkswagen cars and their parts up close. Because the space is small, the exhibits stand quite close to each other. You can explore the museum in about half an hour, and a family visit costs around 53 zlotys.
Museum of the Second World War (Muzeum II Wojny Światowej w Gdańsku)
The Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk is one of the most modern and largest museums in Poland dedicated to war history. It opened in 2017 and stands in an impressive architectural building. This is a very serious and comprehensive museum that engages you from the entrance to the last exhibit. Here you can see authentic objects, personal stories, and documents. The exhibition presents not only the war front, but also civilian life, occupation, resistance, and the consequences of war.
With an audio guide, you travel through both the museum and the paths of history. We highly recommend a visit.
European solidarity center (Europejskie Centrum Solidarności)
The European solidarity center is a museum dedicated to the history of how Poland and other countries freed themselves from the control of the Soviet Union. The audio guide tells a very interesting and engaging story, leading visitors through the museum and helping them truly immerse themselves in history. If you explore the details deeply, you can spend up to three hours here. We highly recommend it.
Battle of Grunwald museum (Muzeum Bitwy pod Grunwaldem)
The Battle of Grunwald museum is very interesting and offers an audio guide in Lithuanian. It presents the shared history of Lithuania and Poland, with the main focus on the Battle of Grunwald. The exhibit descriptions are also available in Lithuanian.
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Gdynia
Experyment science center
The Experyment science center features an interactive exhibition that gives space for creative experiments. Here fascination with science is born as you go on a journey, discover, and explore the world. The center’s exhibitions, workshops, and events engage, teach, and entertain. Various topics and interactive activities allow you to see, touch, and learn. It is especially recommended for curious children.
Gdynia aquarium
The aquarium in Gdynia is not very large or particularly unique, but children will really enjoy the variety of fish. Here you will see different marine and freshwater worlds. Visitors can get to know tropical fish, Baltic Sea fauna, coral reefs, and even inhabitants of the Amazon rivers. The aquarium is very suitable for families with children.
Military technology museum “Gryf”
The Military technology museum Gryf, located near Gdynia, offers a unique opportunity to explore military equipment from different periods. Here you can see tanks, armored vehicles, artillery guns, military transport vehicles, and other exhibits. The equipment and exhibits range from the world wars to more modern times.
Naval museum (Muzeum Marynarki Wojennej)
If you like ship models, this Polish naval museum will be a real discovery for you. The collection includes ship models from the oldest to the newest, from the smallest to very large ones. There are also a few real exhibits, but not many. Touching the exhibits is not allowed in the museum, so talk about this with children before your visit and make sure they do not touch them.
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Wroclaw, Lodz and Moszna
Hydropolis museum
Hydropolis in Wroclaw is a water museum. The museum is located in a historic 19th century underground clean water reservoir with an area of 4000 square meters. It is an interactive exhibition called “Earth – the water planet,” which tells the story of the origin of water and its importance to our planet. The diversity of water is presented through multimedia, models, interactive installations, and touch screens.
The museum has a special atmosphere and it is dark inside. You can lie on loungers and watch the moon rise on a kind of фантаstic planet. Children will really like it because everything is interactive, you can press many buttons, and there are lots of lights.
Lodz science center
The Lodz science center is one of the most interesting and unique centers we have visited with our family in Europe. Our biggest recommendation is to allow enough time, because the center is very interesting and large. The science center has many unique and different exhibits, and the exhibition area alone covers more than 8000 square meters.
It also has a unique exhibition called “Element Street”, which is like a science center adapted for the youngest children.
Not only the science center itself is impressive, but the buildings and the entire complex will take your breath away. We guarantee the whole family will be amazed.
In Lodz, we discovered not only this impressive science center but also a fantastic water park. Read about our impressions of this water park – Lodz water park in Poland.
Sebastian Kucharski – robot factory, scrap metal sculpture museum
Sebastian Kucharski is a Polish artist whose work is known as the Robot Factory (Fabryka Robotów). This unique art space, located in Moszna, Poland, is famous for sculptures made from old car parts, scrap metal, and other stainless materials. Kucharski draws inspiration from popular culture characters such as Predator, Transformers, and Aliens. His sculptures not only depict фантастic characters, but also present technologically advanced yet environmentally sustainable works of art.
The Robot Factory has become not only a museum, but also a tourist attraction that draws visitors from all over the world. This place stands out because of its interactivity and the opportunity to see how art can connect with environmental ideas.
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