Lublin in eastern Poland is a city of literature, rich history and art and one that has always stood at the crossroads of many cultures. There are tons of fun or unique activities to do – they make staying in Lublin a fantastic and memorable experience. What else to do after visiting such places as Majdanek, the Old Town, the Dominican Monastery, the Lublin Castle, the Archcathedral? This list offers some ideas.
Find all the best viewing spots in Lublin
Photo: Natalia Wierzbicka, lublin.eu
Lublin has many excellent viewing spots. There are places where you can catch a panoramic vista of the old quarter, like the Trinity Tower but also spots where you can see the whole city with its contrasts. Try climbing Czwartek Hill or Tarasy Zamkowe Shopping Centre. Climb up the rooftop of the Centre for the Meeting of Cultures and, aside from a great view on more contemporary Lublin, discover an apiary among the greenery there. You can also climb to the roof of the rectorate in the UMCS university campus. Can you find all the best viewing spots?
Image credits: lublin.eu
Visit Dom Słów – the House of Words and the Chamber of Printing
Photo: piccolecose_paulina
Dom Słów is dedicated to the written word and its meaning. It operates in the rooms of the pre-war “Popularna” printing shop. Learn its history while exploring what a traditional printing press looks like and what the work of typesetters, printers and bookbinders entailed. One permanent exhibition commemorates the death of fourteen printers who worked at “Popularna” towards the end of World War II. It’s a unique place with its own history.
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Find the neon sign “Szacunek na mieście” (Respect in the city)
Photo: Maciej Rukasz, courtesy of the Studio of Socially Engaged Art “Rewiry”
Lublin used to be a city of neons back in the 1960s-early 70s. Older generations say that walking along Krakowskie Przedmieście, Lublin’s main artery, felt like being in Las Vegas. There were many neon signs and the city scape was beautiful and full of colour. The neon “Respect in the city”, hung above Droga Męczenników Majdanka / Fabryczna street, pays homage to those retro neon signs and the days of neon Lublin. The neon is the work of the Studio of Socially Engaged Art “Rewiry” and has been designed by well-known graphic designers from Lublin, Ewelina Kruszewska and Kacper Kruszewski.
Check out the mosaics in Słowacki housing estate in LSM district.
Photo: piccolecose_paulina
Lublin is full of history and has always been strongly connected to visual arts. Słowacki housing estate, designed by the Helsinki-born architect Oskar Hansen and his wife Zofia, is part of LSM District. LSM stands for Lubelska Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa, in English – Lublin Housing Cooperative. The area was affected by Lublin Arts Meetings (1976-1978), an initiative which aimed at raising the aesthetic and functional values of LSM estates. The meetings gathered about 100 artists, architects and designers, and were the largest initiative of this kind in Poland. As a result, LSM district was filled with sculptures, mosaics and wall paintings.
Mosaics dominate specifically in the Słowacki estate. New ones have been added by dedicated artists. The new additions include a depiction of fiat 126 (in the picture) or “cześć” (hi).
So, go to the Słowacki estate to see a very colourful Lublin.
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Try waffles at Irena’s shop
Photo: margot_meanders
For great waffles, go to a little shop at Wileńska in LSM district. You can easily go there when you’re done looking for mosaics, it’s a shop hidden in the marketplace. This warm and friendly place is usually full of people so expect to queue. And it’s worth the wait! Irena’s waffles have been celebrated in a song by Junior Stress, one of the leading Polish DJs/singers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yad6ScoYDO4). He sings about the magical waffle shop run by Irena and how it brings back the taste of childhood and familiar places, strengthening a sense of local identity.
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Visit the playground with the rocket
Photo: Natalia Wierzbicka, lublin.eu
While in LSM, drop by Mickiewicz estate to see the playground with the rocket. The rocket-like slide was made for the kids. At the same time, it commemorates Yuri Gagarin’s journey into outer space. It’s a great spot for taking Instagram photos.
Image credits: lublin.eu
Open Air Village Museum – learn firsthand about traditional village life
Photo: piccolecose_paulina
Open Air Village Museum is one of the biggest open air museums in Poland. You can get acquainted with traditional rural life, see how people in villages used to live: there are reconstructed houses and interiors you can visit, including the magnificent centrally-located manor. It’s a fully furnished mini town with stores – everything looks very real. You can also experience traditional seasona field works like haymaking. Expect to encounter farm animals – horses, sheep, goats, rabbits or poultry. Visitors are thus able to get a taste of the daily life of a bygone era, experience what it was like.
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Meet authentic traditional culture and people who cultivate local traditions
Photo: B. Żurawski / press materials
In mid-August, the Old Town erupts with colour and many different languages as a number of artisans, for generations involved in handcrafts, come to Lublin for the Jagiellonian Fair to share their passions. We can find a number of authentic products, pick up the basics of handcrafts and even enjoy dancing to the tune of lively, traditional music – all away from technology, it’s a meeting with another person. Bring your kids to the Jagiellonian Fair Playground and enjoy traditional games. The festival refers to 15th century fairs – Lublin was a city at the intersection of trade routes.
Yearning for some fun and sun at a lake? There’s Zalew Zemborzycki
Photo: piccolecose_paulina
Aside from a wide range of facilities, including laser paintball go-karts, a skateboard and springboard park there are activities you are unlikely to experience anywhere else. For a fun time with your family, go grilling in a cove in Czuby district. The grill is open to anyone at any time. In spring and summer you can also go kayaking through Lublin – starting from Zalew Zemborzycki through downtown areas – see historic buildings in the city centre from a totally unique perspective. If you’re in Lublin in spring-early fall, you can ride city bikes – Lublin has a network of interconnected bike stations with bikes for rental. There are 951 bikes in 97 rental stations. You can follow the bicycle route to Zalew Zemborzycki or, if you enjoy walking, just walk there– it’s about 12 km from the city centre.
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Visit Workshops of Culture in Lublin
Photo: Bartek Żurawski, taken during the Jagiellonian Fair. The patio is a friendly space for workshops and meetings
Warsztaty Kultury – Workshops of Culture organize four big events in the summer and a number of educational events throughout the year. They are located in a charming building at Grodzka 7, where Wincenty Pol, a 19th century Polish poet and geographer was born. Enjoy the lovely green-filled patio, see current exhibition. Workshops of Culture also occupy the next door building, where Próba Café is located – go there for delicious soups or bagels and a concert or two.
Explore the city by night
Photo: Jakub Bodys, press materials
Lublin is charming by night and you never know what you might see, particularly on Night of Culture when imagination comes alive and transforms the whole city. Art installations are placed in unusual locations and bring out new, surprising features. The festival takes its attendees back in time and even long-defunct streets are brought back to life. It’s a burst of culture, humanity and joy that lasts until the wee hours. Night of Culture takes place every year at the very beginning of June.
Find murals in Lublin
Photo: Cezary Hunkiewicz
Lublin is strongly street art-oriented and you can find a wide variety of murals in different corners of the city. There are murals which refer to history and murals which refer to Lublin’s festivals.
The mural in the picture is the work of the collective Etam Cru
Walk among the clouds
Photo: Natalia Wierzbicka / press materials
Want to walk among the clouds above busy streets? Come to Carnaval Sztukmistrzów!
Carnaval Sztukmistrzów, which takes place towards the end of July, is a festival of new circus drawing buskers and artists from all over the world. It is also world’s largest highline festival taking place in the city. Highliners brought to Lublin walk among the clouds on lines spread between historic buildings above busy streets. Go to Wieniawska street for the most spectacular display of highlining.
Look both down and up when in Lublin because you can always discover interesting details on buildings. Lublin’s architecture is rich and often surprising. Mementos and plaques are also below your feet so it’s worthwhile to keep your eyes peeled everywhere in Lublin.
Noble photography techniques in Lublin’s photography corner
Photo: B. Żurawski, the Hartwig Alley during the Jagiellonian Fair / press materials
Are you interested in photography? Photography Studio in the charming Hartwig Alley, named so after a family whose members were renowned photographers, is where you want to go. The studio is run by Roman Kravchenko, an artist with an extensive knowledge of noble photography techniques, including ambrotype and talbotype. He is happy to share and pass on his knowledge. The Hartwig Alley also hosts outdoor photography exhibitions throughout the year.
The Saxon Garden
Photo: piccolecose_paulina
Ogród Saski is a lovely, municipal park in the city centre, sometimes called “an oasis of green in the city centre”, created in 1837 in the English style. It is home to a flock of peacocks, old-growth trees, including a white poplar (populus alba) located in the southern corner of the park- declared a natural monument in 1997. The park also houses historic objects, including a restored sundial originally made in 1848 by David and Douglas Baird from a Scottish foundry that operated in Lublin.
It’s a great place for a pleasant stroll and it even became a popular place for hanging locks of love and friendship – you will find them attached to a little bridge.
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Give your idol a high five!
Photo: Jakub Bodys / press materials
East of Culture – Different Sounds, which takes place towards the end of June, brings to Lublin original performers and big names from all over the world. Did you know that George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic fame had his last concert tour in Lublin? Different Sounds also welcomed Einstürzende Neubauten and Tony Allen. They aren’t returning but many other original artists are! All gigs are free, join everyone in the Festival Club in the spacious green area (called Błonia) near the Lublin Castle and share unforgettable moments!
Try original food
Photo: Natalia Ogłoszka
There are restaurants specializing in a variety of regional cuisines in Lublin. You can try regional cebularz – recommended bakery at Furmańska street, open from 5:30-15:00. You can also visit the regional museum of cebularz. In Perłowa at Bernardyńska street you can try Lublin beers (and some delightful desserts on top of that). The bar has won many prestigious awards for its interior design. In the Old Town make sure to go to Madragora for traditional Jewish cuisine and Św Michał for more regional food. “Szybka Setka” bistro is recommended for excellent herring.
For great shashlik, head to Grill-Bar Maria Kizeweter at Zdrojowa street. It’s a good distance from the city centre, at Zdrojowa street, but it’s worth the effort. In fact, when you say “Lublin, sometimes the first association is “Oh right, you’ve got some great shashlik there!” and this is the establishement that’s evoked. The place is hidden behind the beltway but you will always find people lining up for food there.
Solve the mystery of the the eye of the Tzadik
Photo: W.Pacewicz, Lublin Castle Square during Carnaval Sztukmistrzów 2018
Lublin was home to Yaakov Yitzhak Horowitz – one of the spiritual leaders of the Hasidic movement, the seer of Lublin – tzadik, who was known for his gift of reading the past, foreseeing the future and “seeing” people and events in the most distant places. His home was in the Jewish quarter around the Lublin Castle area, which, according to a prominent Lublin historian, Władysław Panas, takes the shape of the tzadik’s eye and is a sort of Axis Mundi, the place where time stops and the forces of Good and Evil continue to clash. Władysław Panas’ book, “The Eye of the Tzadik”, a fascinating alternative guidebook to Lublin, is available in Polish and English here: https://www.warsztatykultury.pl/sklep/oko-cadyka-wladyslaw-panas/
Learn the stories behind the buildings in the Old Town
Photo: Natalia Wierzbicka, tenements in the Old Town during Carnaval Sztukmistrzów
While walking in the Old Town, spot all the unique tenements and buildings and get to know their stories. They have many stories to tell.
For instance, one of the buildings where the famous graphic designer Andrzej Kot used to live, is decorated with cats. He loved cats and drew them a lot. He was once called “The King Cat of Graphics”.
Love books and the literary? Try Między Słowami Cafe and Pożegnanie z Afryką
Photo: Między Słowami Cafe
A place to sip delicious coffee or tea surrounded by books, a great place to think and hold big and small conversations. A book lover’s paradise in the heart of Lublin’s Old Town.
The literary also comes alive in “Pożeganie z Afryką” cafe, a place where you will be served most of all great coffee. The establishment traditionally focused on the history of coffee, the variety of flavours and coffee culture. Now, with new, young and energetic owners, the tradition continues. Go there for a wide selection of coffees- both traditional and alternative and a great atmosphere.
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The Bridge of Culture – Marian Lutosławski’s Bridge
Photo: Marcin Butryn / press materials
It’s a reinforced concrete, Hennebique bridge connecting at once four of Lublin’s districts: Śródmieście (Downtown), Bronowice, Kośminek and Za Cukrownią (Behind the Sugar Mill). It is home to a project called “The Bridge of Culture” and in the summer hosts a number of events, such as dance parties or concerts, bringing together people from different backgrounds.
Ride a trolleybus
Photo: press materials, Workshops of Culture in Lublin (Warsztaty Kultury w Lublinie)
Lublin is one of three Polish cities where you can ride a trolleybus, a more ecological means of transport than ordinary buses. They aren’t always connected to overhead wires. Lublin has trolleybuses with battery systems that allow them to move outside the network, using just the electric drive. Lublin’s trolleybus infrastructure is one of two early Polish systems in continuous operation since its creation. The first trolleybus appeared on 21 July 1953.
In the summer, you can take a vintage trolleybus, ZIUtek to travel around Lublin.
Go on an ice cream tour
Photo courtesy of Lody z Jajem ice cream parlour
There are plenty of excellent ice cream parlours in the immediate vicinity of the Old Town, some are a little more hidden (Lody z Jajejm – at Staszica street or the ice cream parlour in Grodzka Gate) so make sure to look everywhere and taste them all. Some of them (like Lody z Jajem) stay open throughout the year.
All ice cream parlours offer uncommon flavour combinations that aren’t your everyday ice cream, like: black mascarpone, beet and raspberry, ricotta with pepper, cider, beer, semolina and pomegranate, black mascarpone, oscypek (smoked ewe’s milk cheese) and cranberry, cucumber, white chocolate and champagne, salted almond, carrot, black sesame, cream with rowanberry. You can also find soy ice cream.
It is wortwhile to go around and find your flavours. Can you pick a favourite? The flavours tend to change daily so you might need more than one visit.
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Places of memory
Photo: margot_meanders
Majdanek is one place to visit but can you find the unfading Lantern of Memory? It stands in the place of the old Jewish district and commemorates a world which no longer exists. The lantern is never switched off, neither during the day nor at night, to honour of the Jewish inhabitants of Lublin. You can also walk along the Memory Trail, commemorating the Jewish inhabitants of Lublin who perished in the Holocaust.
Image credits: www.instagram.com
Visit Grodzka Gate- NN Theatre Centre
Photo: Łukasz Borkowski, lublin.eu
History is kept alive in Lublin in many ways. Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre is a municipal cultural institution concerned with keeping alive the memory of Lublin’s history and the history of Lublin Jews. It is very meaningfully located inside the Grodzka Gate, also known as the Jewish Gate, which used to be a passage between the Christian and the Jewish quarter of the city, an intersection of cultures and traditions. Grodzka Gate- NN Theatre Centre has an impressive online library, with a wealth of interesting materials available in English as well: http://teatrnn.pl/en/
Image credits: lublin.eu
Lublov – Best Souvenirs from Lublin
Photo: Lublov
For best souvenirs from Lublin, head to Lublov at Plac Teatralny (also available online, https://lublov.bigcartel.com/ ) The idea behind Lublov is to promote Lublin and its local artists and designers. The products are original and unique and refer to Lublin, its history and traditions. You will not find cheap imitations here. This is the best place to shop for Lublin-related souvenirs.
If you still need more ideas where to go and what to see, you can always go on a guided tour around Lublin with a Dutchman, Martin. His team of dedicated guides will show you a warm, friendly, and beautiful Lublin. More info: https://martinscitytours.com/
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