Day trips from Bydgoszcz - Places to visit and excursions around Bydgoszcz

1. Things to prepare before going to Bydgoszcz
2. Costs of living in Bydgoszcz
3. Save money in Bydgoszcz - Tips for living in Bydgoszcz on a student budget
4. How to get to Bydgoszcz - Getting to Bydgoszcz by train, plane, car or bus
5. Bydgoszcz neighborhoods - The most important districts of Bydgoszcz
6. Accommodation for students in Bydgoszcz - Top tips and pieces of advice
7. Public transport in Bydgoszcz - Getting around Bydgoszcz
8. Nightlife in Bydgoszcz - Night club guide and going out in Bydgoszcz
9. Where to eat in Bydgoszcz - Polish cuisine and gastronomy in Bydgoszcz
10. Polish cuisine - The gastronomy of Poland and traditional dishes
11. The best things to do in Bydgoszcz
12. The best things to do in Bydgoszcz - Museums
13. The best things to do in Bydgoszcz - Churches
14. Where to relax in Bydgoszcz
15. Cinemas and Theatres in Bydgoszcz
16. Day trips from Bydgoszcz - Places to visit and excursions around Bydgoszcz
17. Festivals in Bydgoszcz - Festivities and celebrations calendar
18. Bydgoszcz In 2 Days - What to see in Bydgoszcz in 2 days

If you have some spare time during your stay in Bydgoszcz, you can leave the city and explore the region, which has a lot to offer. It’s a beautiful part of Poland, with stunning nature and interesting architecture. We have a big river, many lakes and large forests areas. Historic cities represent our cultural heritage and complicated history. Don’t think twice - go on an adventure and explore Poland!

Toruń

Bydgoszcz and Toruń are just 30-40 minutes away from each other. Toruń is a very old medieval city full of sights. The Old Town in Toruń is placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. It is also known for Nicolaus Copernicus - a famous astronomer and mathematician who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe - who was born here. You can go there by train (which is the cheapest and quickest way) or by bus. There is a train agglomeration ticket called “BiT City”, which allows you to travel from Bydgoszcz to Toruń by train and then, for an hour, to use the public transportation in Toruń with the same ticket. It’s a great place to spend a day outside of Bydgoszcz.

What can you see in the beautiful city of Toruń?

• Gothic Old City Town Hall
• Gothic cathedrals
• Teutonic Knights'Castle Ruins
• Leaning Tower
• Preserved city defensive walls with Gothic gates
• Nicolaus Copernicus House (museum) and much, much more.

Ostromecko

Two palaces surrounded by a big park. It’s a popular weekend destination for Bydgoszcz citizens. It’s just around 20 minutes from the city centre and you can reach Ostromecko by car, train, PKS bus or the city bus (line no. 75, only in the summer season). The baroque palace (called Old Palace) dates back to 1730. The second palace was built in a neoclassical style in 1849. You can wander around the 36 hectare English-style park, set on the slopes of the Vistula Valley - with good weather you can see the river from the palace! It takes around 1,5 hours to see this place. Some concerts take place on the weekends at the palace. In the oldest palace there is a collection of old pianos - 53 pianos which have been made over the last 200 years (some of them are really valuable), it’s one of the biggest and most important piano collections in Poland. You can also see the collection of paintings. The Old Palace is open for public from Monday to Friday 10 am - 4 pm, on the weekend from 11am to 4 pm, with entry free of charge. If you get hungry, there is a restaurant and café waiting for you in the New Palace.

(You can see the digitised collection of pianos by clicking here).

Chełmno

A small city 40 km north from Bydgoszcz, and one of the oldest towns in the northern Poland. Chełmno is called the City of Love and the City of Lovers! Everything looks to relics of Saint Valentine, which were kept for centuries in the Parish Church of the Assumption. If you want to feel the romantic vibe of the city, the best time for a visit would be in February, on Valentine’s Day. On that day you can enjoy St Valentine Fair, buy some heart-shaped cakes and biscuits and listen to the Festival of Love Songs. It’s a cold winter time in Poland, but the atmosphere in Chełmno becomes really hot during that day!

The charming City of Love is located on the high bank of Vistula River (some nice panoramas available, the best one is from the 60 m high tower of the Parish Church, Franciszkańska Street).

Chełmno is known for its well-preserved medieval center. You can see five big Gothic churches here. One of the biggest attractions in Chełmno is the beautiful Renaissance town hall, which can be found in the middle of the market square. It’s one of the most important Renaissance sights in the northern Poland. The central part of the city is surrounded by city walls with towers and a gate, which are well preserved almost as a whole circle and is one of the longest medieval city walls system in Poland.

Chełmno is a really nice idea for a one day trip from Bydgoszcz. You can reach the city by PKS or Arriva bus. It goes more or less every hour from the Main Bus Station at Jagiellońska Street, takes 1 hour 10 minutes and costs around 8-9 PLN. The timetable can be checked here.

Biskupin

Biskupin is an archaeological park in a small village 50 km south from Bydgoszcz. Remains of a very old settlement from the Bronze Age were discovered in 1933. Now, there is an open-air museum, where you can see reconstructions of the houses surrounded by a wooden wall and palisade. It used to be an island on a lake, with a wooden bridge and a gate, but now it’s a peninsula. Water and mud helped to preserve the remains. The best time to visit Biskupin is in September, when the Archaeological Festival takes place. It is an opportunity to see how people lived few thousands years ago; there are several “actors” wearing costumes and demonstrating how everything would have looked. You can also taste some interesting food, such as podpłomyk (a kind of flatbread, made on stones heated up in a fire, it’s typical food for ancient Slavic societies) or chleb ze smalcem (bread with lard). A lot of other events are scheduled too.

Address: Biskupin 17, 88-410 Gąsawa. You can visit the Archaeological Museum every day all year round, from 8 am till 6 pm (in winter season until dusk). Ticket for students are 8 PLN. You pay a little bit more during the Festival.

How to get there?

If you have no car, you would have to take a bus to Żnin, and then there are some PKS buses from Żnin to Gąsawa, that go through Biskupin-Wykopaliska. Another option, especially attractive for those with children, is the narrow-gauge railway. The train runs from May to September and it goes from Żnin to Gąsawa through Wenecja and Biskupin. The trip takes around 40 minutes (timetable here).

23rd Archaeological Festival in 2017 will take place from 16th to 24th of September.

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