‘One of the first comments I got when I told people I was taking my three nephews to Poland was ‘what on earth is there to do in Gdansk for kids?…’
Child-friendly holidays
What many people don’t know about Gdansk and the wider tri-cities area is that it’s a haven for family fun. The sheer range of child-orientated activities in Gdansk for kids, and across the cities of Gdynia and Sopot, is really impressive. There’s no shortage of fun-filled adventures for children of all ages.
While I was doing my initial research on what to do in Gdansk for kids, and knowing my nephews like football, I checked out Stadion Energa for any matches or facility tours. I found neither. What I did find was a whole load of other fun in the shape of the Fun Arena.
Stadion Energa
The stadium was built as part of Poland’s hosting of Euro 2012 and is home to Lechia Gdansk. Being a modern venue, Stadion Energa’s function goes well beyond the hosting of footie games. It’s also the venue for the city’s aptly named Fun Arena. The Fun Arena is within the stadium itself and is a huge area with different activities aimed at a range of age groups (including 40-something aunties…)
Although the majority of the Fun Arena at Stadion Energa is indoors, there’s outdoor space for zip-lining and bungee jumps in Summer. As we visited in Winter, we stuck with the heated options inside. The Stadion Energa is a bit of a trek outside the city centre, but you can hop two trams from the main station, which lead you right to the entrance. The total travelling time from Gdansk Old Town was around 35 minutes. The price was around £1.50 for all four of us to get there and the transport was clean and efficient.
Indoor Go-Karts
My nephew’s eyes lit up like fire when they spotted the indoor track. Although my youngest, who is only eight, wasn’t tall enough to make the cut, his brothers had no problem. The track was empty (it was mid-October), so the boys had the entire place to themselves. They spent their time flying round the track, chasing each other like demons. Both came away smiling and bragging rights went to the oldest of the two, who managed to lap his little brother and promised never to let him forget it.
Lap time: 8 minutes
Price: 35 zloty (approximately £6.40 each)
Arcade
While the older boys were honing their driving skills, I took the youngest across the way to the arcade. There’s a range of games for all ages and he had a ball shooting baskets, shooting guns and shooting footballs. We hit up reception for a ton of change and little Calvin had a great time showing me how high his scores were. Once the go-karting was done, he had a bit of competition from his brothers, so cue lots of laughter and shouting.
Escape Rooms
The Escape Room challenge was what we really wanted to do at Stadion Energa, so we booked up on arrival. As the rooms start and end on a set schedule, we wanted to secure our spaces. We opted for the easiest challenge, given we were one adult and three kids. On advice from the staff, we booked for the Amber Room.
My only experience of escape rooms comes from watching an extremely dodgy low-budget movie. This involved some pretty graphic murderin’ and dismemberment, so I was hoping to avoid this type of situation with my sister’s children. Assuming we wouldn’t be asked to turn on each other to survive, I figured it should be pretty good fun.
We were ushered into a small room, told we had 60 minutes, and given our first clue. From there, we had to work together to figure out how to progress through a series of rooms and make it to the end. I won’t spoil it for you, in case you should ever end up in the Amber Room, but it was pretty hard. However, despite the level of difficulty, I was so impressed with how smart and logical the kids were. Although my eight year old didn’t necessarily understand the questions, he was brilliant at finding hidden keys and visual clues. Which is weird, because normally he can’t find his own shoes.
The other brilliant thing about the room was that it told the story of the famous Gdansk amber. Before we arrived, we had no idea that Gdansk amber was so famous, nor that it was more than 40 million years old and discovered in Gdansk Bay. Fun aside, it was also educational for me and the kids.
Other options…
There are five different escape rooms in total; The Lab Of Dr. Lev Pasted, The Office Of John Monroe, The Room Of The Lost Child, The Exorcism and The Amber Room. You don’t have to speak Polish to solve any of the clues as they’re also available in different languages. The games are designed for between two and five people. The more people, the lower the cost per person. Note: this doesn’t apply if you’re an Aunt taking your nephews as you’ll be responsible for paying for everyone…
Booking is available online HERE.
Time: 60 minutes
Price: 145 zloty (approximately £28.30 for four)
Stadion Energa is a great day out in Gdansk for kids.
Suz xx
