Another rainy day in Warsaw? Too cold or too hot to stay outside? Check our ideas for fun (indoor!) activities for a bad weather day in Warsaw
Bowling in Warsaw
Try to pronounce bowling in Polish: kręgle!;) Bowling is relatively new entertainment in Poland, but many Poles – children and adults – have come to love it. Selected bowling alleys in Warsaw include Hulakula in Praga (website in English), MK Bowling in Galeria Młociny shopping center in Bielany (website in Polish), 7 Club in Praga (website in Polish), Arco in Ochota (website in Polish), Kręgielnia TB in Ursynów (website in Polish), Kręgielnia TB in Włochy (website in Polish), Kręgielnia TB in Ochota (website in Polish), Kręgielnia TB in Gocław/Praga (website in Polish), Kręgielnia TB in Saska Kępa (website in Polish), Bowl Pub in Mokotów – Warszawianka water park (website in Polish).
Go-karting tracks in the Warsaw area
There are 4 indoor karting tracks in and around Warsaw – open all year round. They offer go-karts for both adults and children. Click here to read our post featuring karting tracks in the Warsaw area.
Indoor climbing centers
Warsaw has excellent climbing facilities for beginners, children, and advanced climbers. Climbing can be a fun activity for the entire family – you can sign up for classes dedicated to families or go to classes with an instructor. Regular classes for children are an option worth trying. Warsaw’s climbing gyms have a wide range of weekly classes for children of different ages, usually from 5-6 years old to teenagers. More in our post presenting the biggest indoor climbing gyms in Warsaw.
Swimming in “Wodny Park Warszawianka” – indoor water park in Mokotów
Location: Wodny Park Warszawianka, Dominika Merliniego 4 Street, 02-511 Warszawa (location on Google map). 4 km from the city center (in the Mokotów district). The recreational part of the Water Park includes a recreational and swimming pool with a maximum depth of 1.40 m, a paddling pool for children with an elephant-shaped slide, an artificial river, pipe-shaped slides (45 and 72 meters long) with separate landing pads, an open slide inside the swimming pool hall (15 meters long), outdoor year-round heated pool, connected to the main pool hall. The sports part of the Water Park includes 50-meter “Olympic” swimming pool with 10 lanes. Website in English. Facebook page.
Indoor playgrounds and soft play centers in Warsaw
Stuck for ideas on what to do with the kids in Warsaw on a rainy day? We’ve rounded up the best indoor and soft play areas in Warsaw in our quest to discover brilliant family attractions in Warsaw. From slides and climbing frames to ball pools, role-play games, and trampolines, parents have been telling us their favorite play centers in Warsaw. Find the perfect places to go with your kids and get out on your next adventure! More in our post: Top indoor play spaces in Warsaw.
Diving lessons for children aged 8+ and adults
Location: Centrum Nurkowe Buddy (Buddy Diving Center), al. KEN 11 Street (Kabaty/Ursynów). The Diving School offers diving courses on different levels, its own swimming pool, trips. The school has instructors who teach in Polish, English, and Russian. The Diving School’s website in Polish. Facebook.
An evening with an opera or a ballet
Location: Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa, plac Teatralny 1 (city center). If you long for cultural entertainment, buy tickets to an opera, ballet or concert at Poland’s leading venue in the heart of Warsaw. Knowledge of the Polish language is not a necessity here. During opera performances, Polish and English subtitles are shown above the stage. It is worth planning your visit in advance – you often have to buy tickets in advance. Website in English.
Chopin music piano recitals
Location: Fryderyk Concert Hall, Podwale 15 Street (the old town), every day at 7 pm, online tickets. The recitals feature Fryderyk Chopin’s most famous compositions. Facebook page in English and Polish. Website in English.
Indoor “flying” – freefall simulators/tunnel flight and Boeing 737 simulator
Location: Flyspot, Wspólna Droga 1 Street, 05-850 Mory near Warsaw. Flyspot offers freefall simulators – vertical tunnels with a closed air circuit where high power fans produce air flow at speed up to 310 km/h (which enables floating freely in the air). You can board the replica of the Boeing 737-800 passenger cockpit. With the help of instructors, you will see what the pilots of passenger planes face during the key stages of their flight. You can choose from 2,400 available airports and many flight scenarios. Facebook page. Website in English.
Eating out in one of Warsaw’s indoor food halls
Are you going out for lunch with a group of friends or family, but everyone wants something different? Sounds familiar? Food halls will settle restaurant selection fights. They offer a wide variety of ethnic cuisines and local restaurant concepts. A great solution for breakfast, lunch or dinner in a group – everyone orders from a different restaurant and eats at a common table. Click here to read our post featuring food halls in Warsaw (Elektrownia Powiśle, Hala Gwardii, Hala Koszyki, Browary Warszawskie – Warsaw Breweries).
Visiting escape rooms in Warsaw
An escape room is a locked, themed room that requires teams to work together at solving hidden puzzles, discover clues and escape the room. Selected escape rooms in Warsaw: Mysterious Room in Mokotów (website in English), Room Escape Warszawa in the city center, Praga, and city center (website in English), Dom Zagadek in Wola (website in English), 8 Gates in Bielany (website in English), Zagatkownia in the city center (website in English), Wyjście Awaryjne in Mokotów (website in Polish), Team Exit in Ochota/Blue City shopping Center (website in Polish).
Copernicus Science Center
Location: Centrum Nauki Kopernik, Wybrzeże Kościuszkowskie 20 Street (Powiśle). The largest science center in Poland. A great idea to spend time indoors for both children and adults. When planning your visit, remember that 2-3 hours at the Copernicus Center is a minimum! You can visit the Copernicus Center also with little kids – there is the Buzzz! gallery – a separated playing area dedicated to children up to 5. Our tips in English on visiting the Center.
Planetarium in the Copernicus Science Center
Location: the Planetarium building next to Copernicus Science Center, Wybrzeże Kościuszkowskie 20 Street (Powiśle), online tickets. The Planetarium screens films for adults and kids at a different age – some for 3+ audiences, and some shows for teenagers (2D and 3D screenings). Most of the screenings can also be viewed in the English audio version with headphones (and some in Russian). Admission to the Planetarium only for children over 3 years old. Click here to read our tips on visiting the Planetarium.
Indoor mini zoo/petting zoo
Location: Mini Zoo, Kolorowa 19/156 Street, poziom/level -1 (Ursus), Monday – Friday 11 am – 7 pm, Saturday – Sunday 10 am – 6 pm. At the Mini Zoo, you can feed and stroke the animals. The visits take place in the company of a Mini ZOO employee who will show and teach how to deal with animals. The Mini Zoo is located in the indoor heated room; tickets available for purchase on-site, no reservation is required. Facebook page. Website in Polish.
Museums to visit with teenagers who love Instagram
There are three museums (or rather selfie exhibitions?) in Warsaw that every teenager (and adult) who has an Instagram account will love. Be Happy Museum – Selfie Point. Location: Atrium Reduta shopping center, al. Jerozolimskie 148 Street (Ochota), online tickets. Dozens of scenes to take photos and rooms with the illusion (e.g. a pool with Marshmallow foams, a banana swing, magical unicorns). More in English about the Museum. Selfie Museum Warsaw. Location: Grzybowska 80/82 Street (city center). To book a slot/visit call +48 537 106 459. Facebook, Instagram. The Museum “World of Illusion”. Location: Świat Iluzji, Rynek Starego Miasta 21 (the Old Town Market Square), online tickets. More in English about the Museum.
Visiting indoor trampoline parks in Warsaw
Indoor trampoline parks and jump centers have been appearing in Warsaw for several years. They are popular places for organizing children’s birthday parties, but they are also often visited by adults. Selected trampoline parks in Warsaw: Airo Active Park in Włochy (website in Polish), Jump World in Włochy (website in English), Stacja Grawitacja in Ochota (website in Polish), Hangar 646 in Mokotów (website in Polish), Jump Arena in Białołęka (website in Polish).
Visit Foreign Languages Libraries
In every district of Warsaw, there are libraries that are available to everyone (including foreigners), free for everyone. Just come, sign up and borrow books! Many of Warsaw’s libraries offer books not only in Polish but also in other languages – books for both adults and children. For example, the biggest library in Warsaw offering books in different foreign languages (located in Praga, Facebook page, website in Polish and English) has over 50,000 books, audiobooks, and films, including books for children and teenagers. Most of their collection is in English but there are also books in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, Croatian. How to check where libraries are located and which library in Warsaw provides books in foreign languages? There is an easy way to do that! An interactive map of Warsaw has been developed, by clicking on your district you can check the addresses of libraries that borrow books in foreign languages. Click here to explore the interactive map of foreign languages libraries in Warsaw (by districts, a map available in Polish, English, Russian).
A new permanent exhibition at the Ethnographic Museum “African Expeditions, Asian Ways”
Location: Państwowe Muzeum Etnograficzne, Kredytowa 1 Street (city center). Free entrance on Thursdays. Opening hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10 am – 5 pm, Wednesday 11 am – 7 pm, Saturday 10 am – 6 pm, Sunday 12 pm – 5 pm. The new permanent exhibition is the culmination of a project aimed at modernizing the historic building of the Museum. The exhibition presents the cultural heritage of Africa and Asia gathered in the Museum’s collection. The stories tell about the past, about how these continents were seen through the collections of the Museum created in the 19th and 20th centuries. 1,300 objects are displayed on the museum’s two floors. More in English about the Exhibition. Click here to read our tips in English about visiting the Museum.
The exhibition of live spiders and scorpions
Location: the Palace of Culture and Science, pl. Defilad 1, entrance from Marszałkowska Street, 10 am – 7 pm, online tickets: regular 25 PLN, reduced 20 PLN, family 2+2 75 PLN, children up to 4 free entrance. Each weekend (every hour on the hour), the visitors can hold a spider (the most gentle tarantula) in their hand and take close photographs with the assist of an exhibition employee. More in Polish about the Exhibition.
A visit to the museum – a good idea to escape the rain and cold
Too cold to stay outside? Another rainy day? It’s time to visit the museum! Explore the city with our list of museums and galleries in Warsaw. Click here to read our post about museums and galleries in Warsaw – there’s one to suit every interest and many of them are free to visit. The list includes for example – The Museum for Children, Warsaw Railway Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Warsaw, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Chopin Museum in Warsaw, Museum of Life under Communism.
Indoor ice skating
The first ice rink in Warsaw (Torwar in the city center) opens for the new season usually in September (an indoor ice rink in Torwar is open from September until mid-May)! The ice rinks in Warsaw are usually open until March, weather permitting. Did you know that in Ursynów there is an indoor ice rink (Figlowisko) open 24/7? You can read more about indoor (and outdoor) ice rinks in Warsaw (location, opening hours) in our post: Ice skating rinks in Warsaw.
Shopping for your weekly groceries doesn’t have to be a boring task. Farmers’ markets feature what’s at the peak of the season in Poland – you can find your favorites as well as new products that will stretch your culinary imagination. At farmers’ markets, you’ll find the freshest food around. The food is typically grown in the Warsaw region. It’s also a great learning experience for kids – at farmers’ markets, they can usually taste samples of new foods which can encourage them to try new ones. Click here to read our post featuring farmers’ markets in Warsaw.
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