Botanical Garden of Polish Academy of Sciences in Powsin near Warsaw
Ogród Botaniczny PAN w Powsinie
The Botanical Garden in Powsin for years has been my favorite place for weekend trips with kids. And there are not any attractions dedicated to children, no playground, no inflatable slides, no trampolines, no souvenir shops. But the kids love going there and each time they have a great time. And parents can relax. That’s important, isn’t it?;) For me, it’s the ideal solution for a Saturday family trip – children play in the fresh air, and a family spends time in pleasant surroundings, having a picnic.
The Botanical Garden is a huge park with nice walking paths: roughly half of is taken, according to the map, by “useful and ornamental plants”, the second part (arboretum) is “a collection of woody plants”, where the azaleas are the most popular among visitors (they bloom in the spring). Kids can run between flowering bushes – parents can shoot great photos. I also recommend “national collection of varieties of roses” and many other unusual plants. Obviously, there are many opportunities to have amazing photo sessions. Not without reason, after all, we are in a botanical garden:)
It is a very nice place for a picnic (it is allowed to spread a blanket for a picnic on the grass) and a walk – there are wide alleys, and you can finish the walk with ice cream in the garden’s cafe.
As soon as we enter the Garden, my son immediately exclaims: “Let’s go to the Tatra Mountains! Let’s go to the Tatra Mountains.” He means a “Collection of Polish flora” which includes mountain plants and mini-mountains / hills (basically, a pile of rocks). There are short trails, marked as in the real Polish mountains and peaks with an interesting view for children. Climbing is not difficult, and the little hikers have great satisfaction. Several times we met a young couple at the wedding session, especially my daughter was delighted to meet the princess;)
In the summer and fall, I would recommend visiting the vegetable garden. What great fun for city kids to see “live” pumpkin, beetroot, or dill.
Not far you will find fruit trees and shrubs (the Pomology collection). What a great discovery to see an apple on the tree! And if you manage to visit the Garden a few times a year, the older kids will be thrilled to discover that the trees in the springtime covered with flowers, in summer and fall are full of “real” fruits.
As you already know, it happens in Poland that suddenly it starts to rain. You can find shelter (and toilet;) in a greenhouse with exotic plants (a collection of tropical and subtropical plants). Our children love cacti.
You have to keep an eye on younger ones, so they don’t grab lemon or grapefruit. The greenhouse has also a small fish pond. During our recent visit, we got to the time of fish feeding – the lady was so nice and allowed children to take food to their hands and throw it into the water.
I have a great fondness for the Botanical Garden in Powsin. When the older child for the first time climbed the Powsin hills with our help, he was not a year old. Now he races the hills several times back and forth. Time in Powsin stopped and only our children are getting bigger and bigger:)
How to get there? What are the opening hours? Tickets. Click here to learn our tips!