Toruń walking tour & city guide

The old town

The gothic Old Town Hall stands in the market square, near a statue of Copernicus. Red-brick churches, granaries and a leaning tower fill the UNESCO-listed old town.

Gingerbread

The Living Museum of Gingerbread lets visitors bake their own. The riverside boulevard offers views of the medieval walls.

A day in Toruń

Toruń's old town survived the war intact and is a UNESCO site of gothic brick buildings. Visit Copernicus's birthplace, now a museum, and climb the town hall tower. Walk along the Vistula to the Leaning Tower and the ruins of the Teutonic Knights' castle.

Visit the Living Museum of Gingerbread, where you can bake your own pierniki in a traditional mold.

Good to know

Toruń is about three hours from Warsaw or Gdańsk. The view of the old town from the far bank of the Vistula is the classic picture.

The Bella Skyway light festival in August turns the old town into an open-air gallery of light installations.

Why it is special

Toruń was a rich member of the Hanseatic League, and its gothic churches, granaries and merchant houses are some of the finest brick buildings in Northern Europe. The town's most famous son, Nicolaus Copernicus, was born here in 1473 and later proposed that the Earth orbits the Sun; his statue stands in front of the town hall.

Toruń gingerbread has been made for over 700 years, and you can buy it in decorative shapes all over town. The old town is small enough to see in a day, but it is lovely in the evening, when the crowds are gone and the brick facades glow in the street lights.