Torun-nummeret
Fort IV and the Mokre streets behind it in Torun
A Prussian artillery fort on Toruń's northern edge, the second along the black trail, with the churches of Mokre around it and its kitchens and beds for afterwards.
Av Tereza MarešováThe Gothic city read slowly, on foot
Fort IV's guided tours leave at 20:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, year-round, and go into long barrel-vaulted tunnels lit by bare bulbs, cold and dark in places. Bring a layer and a torch. The gate is at ul. Chrobrego 86, on the city's northern edge.
Fort IV at ul. Chrobrego 86
Fort IV Twierdzy Toruń (ul. Chrobrego 86), formally Fort im. Stanisława Żółkiewskiego, was built between 1878 and 1884 to a Biehler design as the main artillery fort of the ring, with a garrison of 800. From the road you see a red-brick two-storey barrack facade behind a dry moat, the pentagonal earthwork pulled over the top of it. It was demilitarised in 1956, grew mushrooms for a while, and is now a monument.
Self-guided entry runs daily, needs no booking, and costs 20 zł, or 15 zł reduced. Walk the tunnels first, then the loopholes that open at the floor of the moat, and finish at the armoured observation cupola, 200 kg of iron that visitors turn by hand.
Guided tours run at 20:00 on Friday and Saturday through the year, with extra slots at 11:00 and 15:00 on Saturday and Sunday in July and August. Groups of 10 or more pay from 15 zł a head plus a guide fee, and the fort also books school and corporate packages. The glacis takes picnics for up to 1,500 people.
If you take the 20:00 tour, book a bed inside the fort. The hostel is in the same earthwork.
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A night in the casemates
Twierdza Toruń – Fort IV runs a hostel and Restauracja Forteczna inside that earthwork, 140 beds in one-to-three-bed rooms and barrack-style dorms. Beds cost 90 zł to 250 zł a night. The bunks stand in whitewashed vaulted casemates with iron doors and deep window reveals.
No other address in Toruń puts you inside the fortress ring overnight. The "Night in a Prussian Fort" package adds dinner, breakfast and a tour to the bed.
Mains are 30 zł to 50 zł, eaten at long timber tables under brick arches in halls named Sala Myśliwska, Prochownia and Winiarnia. The kitchen works around bookings and events, so confirm meals when you reserve.
Fort V and the black trail
Szlak Forteczny, the PTTK black trail, passes Fort IV at the corner of Chrobrego and Mleczna. Black-on-white blazes mark the pine trunks, and the sandy path runs along grassed ramparts and past brick fort gateways. Walking the whole 44 km ring takes four days. The Fort IV to Fort V section takes under an hour and costs nothing, and PTTK guides can be hired for the fort-to-fort stretches.
Fort V Twierdzy Toruń im. Jana Karola Chodkiewicza (ul. Polna 11) lies 1.3 km from Fort IV behind grass-topped ramparts and a mossy brick counterscarp. The Forteczne Dziedzictwo foundation has run it since 2025 and opened the iron-barred gateway for the first time in the fort's history. Tours begin at 11:00 on the first Sunday of the month and last 1.5 hours, following the guide on head-torches through damp, pitch-dark corridors where bats roost.
Tickets cost 20 zł as a donation, with under-7s free, and have to be bought online in advance. Numbers are capped, and a larger party has to agree a date with the foundation. That one slot a month is the whole offer, so build the trip around that Sunday.
On a first Sunday in July or August you can take both forts in a day: Fort V at 11:00, the trail section on foot, then Fort IV's 15:00 tour.
Lunch behind the earthworks
Tatfort Golf Club & Hole in One (Kociewska 30A) sits a few hundred metres from the fort and is the nearest sit-down meal to it. Mains are 40 zł to 60 zł. It opens 11:00 to 18:00 Tuesday to Thursday and 11:00 to 19:00 Friday to Sunday, and closes on Mondays.
The 9-hole course behind the fort's earthworks spreads over 37 hectares of flat sand between Kociewska and Mleczna, with a roofed 20-bay driving range. Range and green fees cost extra, and juniors play free. The restaurant shares its operator with the course, and a large car park serves both. The clubhouse terrace overlooks the greens and has a children's playground, and the Grand Prix TATFORT open tournaments are played here.
Two kitchens on Grudziądzka
G132 Office & Restaurant (Grudziądzka 132), 1.2 km from the fort in a converted Mokre office building, starts serving breakfast at 07:30. Breakfast is 20 zł to 30 zł and lunch 30 zł to 45 zł, off a board that changes daily and keeps vegetarian options. Plates of schabowy come with potatoes and shredded salads. It opens Monday to Friday only, which rules it out for a weekend at the fort.
Nasza Toruńska (Grudziądzka 32) opens every day from 9:00 to 18:00, 2.5 km from the fort on the way to the old town. It is strongest on breakfasts, cakes and set home-style dinners, 25 zł to 40 zł, served on plain white plates. There is a small summer garden on the street side. Reserve for more than eight people.
South along Chrobrego into Mokre
Mural tryptyk "Brama" (ul. Chrobrego 5–9) is 1.7 km south of the fort on the fort's own street, three panels painted up the blank gable ends of 1970s concrete blocks. Andrzej Poprostu filled them with a tenement gateway, Czesław Niemen and SBB posters, glass milk bottles, flared trousers, then a 1990s kid on a skateboard. The three read as a social history of Mokre from the 1970s to the 1990s. Come in the afternoon, when the light is on the walls. The corner is open street and free.
Cerkiew prawosławna św. Mikołaja (ul. Podgórna 69), 2 km from the fort, is the only wooden place of worship in Toruń. The timber church of 1888 is painted blue with white window frames, and a gilded onion dome rides a slim bell tower above low brick houses. It was built for a Lutheran congregation and has been Orthodox since 1939. Entry is free and a donation is welcome. Services are at 17:00 on Saturday and 11:00 on Sunday; visit outside those hours.
Kościół Chrystusa Króla (ul. Kościuszki 28/30) is the building in Mokre you would not predict, 2 km from the fort. Kazimierz Ulatowski built it in 1929–30 as a rotunda modelled on the Pantheon, in reinforced concrete, in a working-class district. The plastered exterior is plain. Inside, a ring of 16 concrete pillars with Doric capitals carries a 30 m zinc-clad dome topped by a lantern. Entry is free between services. Ring the parish office first.
Młyn Wiedzy and the Motoarena
Centrum Nowoczesności Młyn Wiedzy (ul. Łokietka 5) occupies a late 19th-century red-brick steam mill 2.5 km from the fort, six floors of exposed brick and iron in the same Mokre district. Poland's longest Foucault pendulum hangs the full height of the shaft on a 33 m wire. This is the stop for rain and for children.
Tickets are 33 zł, 27 zł reduced, 90 zł for a family of up to four, and 27 zł a head at the group rate. Opening is 9:00 to 15:00 Tuesday to Friday and 11:00 to 17:00 on Saturday and Sunday. Allow three hours or more, and start early on a weekday, when the doors shut mid-afternoon.
Motoarena Toruń im. Mariana Rosego (ul. Pera Jonssona 7) is 2.5 km south of the fort, a fully roofed oval of 15,500 seats, two tiers packed under a continuous canopy around a shale track lit by floodlights. It is the loudest night out in this part of town. KS Toruń race from spring to autumn, and the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland is held here. League tickets start at 30 zł and Grand Prix tickets at 69 zł. The canopy means rain rarely cancels.
Stadium tours run 11:00 to 14:00 on Tuesday and Friday by prior arrangement with MOSiR. The car park holds 600 cars and 12 coaches.
The fortress museum by the old town
Muzeum Twierdzy Toruń (Wały gen. Sikorskiego 23/25) is 3.5 km away beside the old town, a 15-minute bus or taxi ride. It explains the ring of forts you have just walked, and it is worth doing on the same day, in either order. The brick Chełmno Gate barracks are set into the old fortress wall, and the long casemate halls hold cannon and Prussian plans under vaulted ceilings. Entry is 29 zł, 25 zł reduced. The site is fully accessible, and guided tours are booked by phone or email.
Beds on Grudziądzka
Hotel Filmar (Grudziądzka 39/43) is the comfortable answer if the barrack dorms are not for you, 2.5 km from the fort and walking distance from the old town. Doubles start at 260 zł. The tall modern block holds two restaurants and a glass-fronted lobby bar, an in-house bakery, and a Finnish sauna and hot tub in the wellness area. Its restaurant serves 12:00 to 22:00, with the kitchen closing at 20:00.
Practical notes
The golf clubhouse closes on Mondays, G132 closes at weekends, and Młyn Wiedzy shuts at 15:00 from Tuesday to Friday. Book Fort V online ahead of the first Sunday, arrange any Motoarena tour with MOSiR beforehand, and confirm meals when you reserve a bed in the fort.
See the Torun guide and the Torun hotel search.
Før du drar
Do you need to book to get into Fort IV?
You can walk in on your own any day without booking, for 20 zł or 15 zł reduced. Guided tours start at 20:00 on Friday and Saturday all year, with extra tours at 11:00 and 15:00 on Saturday and Sunday in July and August. Groups of 10 or more pay from 15 zł a head plus a guide fee.
Can you sleep inside Fort IV?
Yes. The fort has about 140 beds: one-to-three-bed rooms, and barrack dorms in the vaulted casemates, at 90 zł to 250 zł a night. There is also a "Night in a Prussian Fort" package with dinner, breakfast and a tour. The kitchen works around bookings and events, so confirm meals when you reserve.
How do you visit Fort V?
Tours start at 11:00 on the first Sunday of the month, last 1.5 hours and happen at ul. Polna 11, 1.3 km from Fort IV. A ticket is a 20 zł donation, free for under-7s, and you have to buy it online in advance. Places are limited, and larger parties book a separate date with the Forteczne Dziedzictwo foundation.
Where can you eat near Fort IV?
Hole in One, at the Tatfort golf club on Kociewska 30A, is a few hundred metres away and serves mains at 40 zł to 60 zł, Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays. G132 at Grudziądzka 132 is 1.2 km away and opens on weekdays only. Nasza Toruńska at Grudziądzka 32 is open every day, 9:00 to 18:00.
What else is there to do in the area in bad weather?
Centrum Nowoczesności Młyn Wiedzy is 2.5 km away at ul. Łokietka 5, indoors, and will take you three hours or more, at 33 zł or 27 zł reduced. The Motoarena speedway stadium has a full roof, so rain rarely cancels a meeting. Muzeum Twierdzy Toruń, 3.5 km away by the old town, covers the whole fort ring.
