Top Outdoor Activities in Poznań

The oldest city in Poland, crowded with churches, cobblestones and colourful burgher houses, Poznań remains one of Poland's most important cultural and business centres. There are also a tonne of outdoor attractions in Poznań, which help to balance out all the wonderful museums, art galleries and theatres that the city has to offer, drawing thousands of eager domestic and international tourists every year, many of them return visitors! As can be expected, most things tend to kick off in the picturesque Old Town, sporting a collage of architectural styles and stuffed with soaring historical monuments, all of which are complemented by a wealth of restaurants, bars and cafes with an idealistic backdrop. A stroll away from the centre will bring you across the groovin' parklands around Stary Browar, Lake Rusałka and Lake Malta have inspired many young-and-spritely troops to go out, have a picnic and explore! Ostrów Tumski, the millennia-old cathedral island, is an attractive piece of real estate between the Warta and the Cybina rivers, with the nearby neighbourhood of Środka worth a moment of your time. Further abroad, Poznań's home region of Wielkopolska (ENG: Greater Poland) is the birthplace of the Polish state, with a tonne of open-air museums, post-glacial lakes, forests and gently-sloping hills that tempt the more-adventurous of use to try out hand at canoeing, cycling and horseriding. 

GOATS BUCK IT OUT AT HIGH NOON

Poznań's Old Town and the magical Stary Rynek will no doubt be your first point of call. However, there's a daily event that will no doubt peak your interest at the Town Hall in the very middle. Here, when the clock strikes 12 at noon, a display of mechanical goats emerges from the cuckoo door and start bucking it out with each other! This is a must-see, especially for young families during their visit. The goat is Poznań's beloved mascot and you can spy many more sculptures around the city - many of them have been well-handled by tourists because of that ever-present tradition of rubbing things for good luck.  

EXPLORE CITADEL PARK IN POZNAŃ

There are number of great parks in Poznań - the calming grounds  next to the equally-fabulous Stary Browar ,  Park Tysiąclecia near Lake Malta and the small pockets of greenery around the Old Centre that offers some reprieve to the hustle and bustle of city life. However, these small veggie patches cannot compare to Citadel Park , 20 mins walk north of Stary Rynek. Sitting on the ideal location of Winiary Hill, this 89-hectare picture-perfect green space is one of the most coveted locations in Poland, with a scenic overlook that has a long history of multiple name changes and military engagements with a little bit of old-fashioned mystery thrown into the mix as well. The 'citadel' (it's actually more of a fort) that gave the area its name is still highly visible and fort still remains, and those intrepid enough to wander off the park’s paths will be rewarded with a close-up look at history. Today visitors, however, will find this former military stronghold is home to art installations, monuments, several museums, cemeteries and large outdoor events. There are few better ways to spend an afternoon in Poznań than exploring all there is to see and do in the city’s largest park.

JEŻYCE - THE HIPSTER NEIGHBOURHOOD IN POZNAŃ

Almost all of Poland's major cities seem to have a gravitational centre of charm in the beloved 'Old Town' of each, and Poznań is no different! However, after a millennia of business-as-usual, the old school charisma will eventually be challenged by a grungier, cheaper and generally-younger community somewhere further out. In Poznań , this is  Jeżyce - a happening neighbourhood to the west of the city centre and well-deserving of the 'cool' adjective! In the 21st-century, Poznań’s increasingly hipster and food-obsessed district might not be much of a looker, but there’s plenty brewing under the surface. Impoverished in the post-war years and admittedly not the safest place to walk around after dark, it is now changing into a hippie-dippie neighborhood where, as locals have remarked, it’s ‘easier to get hummus than to get mugged’. The main draw of Jeżyce is the delightful  Jezycki Market Square , which is typically defined as its centre and is essentially the market of Poznań. The 400 merchant stalls here are still a good place to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as peruse clothing and other random goods you might be wiser not to take home. You certainly won't beat the prices. Strolling around outdoors and enjoying the fresh air, you can "ooh" and "aah" at the faded glory of some of the intricate Art Nouveau facades on the tenement buildings that populate the blocks of this hood.

HAVE A PICNIC AT ONE OF POZNAŃ'S LAKES

Orbiting around Poznań Old Town, two  of Poland’s largest man-made urban recreation areas are found around  lakes Malta (to the east) and Rusałka (to the northwest). While it’s the more developed and commercialised Lake Malta that grabs most of the tourist attention, the largely unheralded area surrounding Lake Rusałka is rich in history (most of it tragic), natural beauty (both tamed and untamed) and opportunities to escape the urban patter of Poznań. If lakes Malta and Rusałka were siblings (and in a sense they are), Rusałka would be the athletic and attention-seeking Malta’s mysteriously beautiful and slightly introverted sister. Rusałka has long been favoured by naturalists and fishermen, hikers, cyclists and photographers , and is characterised by 3,300 metres of largely wooded coastline woven with intimate walking paths , ancient trees (a group of which near the north shore are a designated natural monument), misty streams, and several forgotten war memorials . Unlike Lake Malta,  Rusałka’s shores are mostly devoid of commercial development and provide a unique opportunity to immerse oneself in a natural setting without leaving the city centre .

Summer - when hot bodies hit the beach, and autumn - when the leaves perform that magical chromatic manoeuvre of theirs, are absolutely the best times of year to visit the area (take your camera). Tourists will also find several other points of interest nearby, including Park Sołacki - which leads directly into Lake Rusałka’s eastern shore, and the Botanical Gardens on the southern shore. For those fascinated by Poland’s painful past, Rusałka also conceals several unkempt WWII-era memorials and mausoleums, and the Wielkopolska Martyrs Museum is also within walking distance of the south shore. If your interests include nature, history or photography, escape the agoraphobic Old Town and explore Rusałka’s unique and natural charms, as well as her dark secrets. You'd be wise to pick up a map of the area from tourist information, wear comfortable shoes (prepare for lots of walking), and off you go.

While technically within Poznań's city limits, Lake Malta is arguably the best-known in the area and offers the most in terms of outdoor activities in Greater Poland. Formed in 1952 as a result of damming the Cybina, this 2.2km long lake is the largest man-made lake in the city, with an average depth of 3.1 metres. Surrounded by parks and woodland, it is today one of the principal recreation areas in the region - in both summer and winter - with an ice-rink, all-season ski slope (the first in former communist Europe), a world-class regatta course, zoo, water park, and dozens of other attractions, including several historical sights. Just east of the centre, but miles from the madness of the market square, if you’re in town to decompress, head to Malta.