“C’mon mummy, hurry up, I’ve found another dwarf!” I was panting and huffing because it was very hot but I had to pick up the pace to take a photo of yet another dwarf for the dwarf app in case the small bronze figure decides to come to life suddenly and walks away. My husband and my daughter were behind us and my daughter was crying since she was already tired and because her brother has found another dwarf again before her. Despite all that, we’ve had lots of fun on our family dwarf hunt around beautiful Wroclaw.
A family dwarf hunt in Wroclaw
I didn’t know much about Wroclaw before our trip but I’ve heard about the numerous dwarves scattered around the town. So, when I planned our Wroclaw trip I read about Wroclaw sights and about its dwarves. Thus, I’ve decided that we should definitely do a sort of treasure hunt for the dwarves with our kids. I found a couple of online sources for that such as the official dwarves site and a couple of apps and online maps. I downloaded a free dwarf app and told the kids all about it. That’s how we found ourselves running around scorching Wroclaw with a dwarf map and stickers and my mobile phone in order to get a better achievement in the dwarf app. Our family dwarf hunt was crazy at times but very amusing and my son proved to be an excellent dwarf hunter. It was a great family adventure for us all.
Why are there dwarves in Wroclaw
Cute Wroclaw dwarves have a dark background actually. Dwarves were used by members of the Orange Alternative movement which fought against oppressive communist regime in Poland in the 1980’s. They used absurd graffiti and street art (mainly images of dwarves) on paint spots covering up anti-government slogans on street walls. The first bronze statue of a dwarf appeared in Wroclaw in 2001 after the city decided to commemorate its artistic anti-communist rebellion from the 80’s. That dwarf statue (Papa Dwarf) was placed on Świdnicka street, where members of the Orange Alternative used to gather. Papa Dwarf is much larger that all the other dwarves around the city (except from the Giant dwarf at the airport) and he actually looks nothing like the other dwarves that followed him. A few years later a local sculptor was commissioned by the mayor to create five more dwarves. And that was just the beginning. Each dwarf has a name and a background story. Dwarves represent different parts of Wroclaw history and different characters and professions. They are all unique. I guess both the tourists and the locals liked them very much so they just kept popping up. Later on, different shops and restaurants and businesses started to order the dwarves to place them in front of their establishments. There are more than 1000 dwarves currently around Wroclaw and their number is constantly rising since new businesses commission them all the time.
How can you find dwarves in Wroclaw
Dwarves are everywhere around Wroclaw. You just have to look carefully to find them. Of course, you can also use apps and maps but you really don’t need any special resources to find them since they are all around the city. You’ll mainly find them at the pavement, at restaurant or shop doors, all around the Market Square (Rynek), at windows or hanging from the lamp posts. You’ll also find them inside hotels, bars or at the train station. There are even dwarves at the airport! Some can’t be reached that easily since they’re inside some institutions or at river cruise boats or behind fences. But don’t worry, there are plenty of dwarves out there, just waiting for you to find them. Where did we find our dwarves? Well, we found a couple on our way from the train station to our accommodation. Then, we also discovered a few dwarves around our street. But we’ve found most of them around the Old Town ( there are a lot of dwarves around the Market Square and at the adjoining Solny square). We’ve also saw a few dwarves around the Hydropolis museum.
Our dwarves achievements and score
As I’ve already mentioned previously, we used the dwarf app but I won’t divulge its name since there are several different dwarf apps out there and you can use the one you like the best. The app I used had a search option, suggested routes, the feature to take a photo of the dwarf and to collect points in order to get different achievements. You could also see your rank in comparison to others. I didn’t pay to upgrade to premium version so it was quite annoying to have to see ads after every time I took a photo of a dwarf. Anyway, I’m proud to say that we managed to score 203 points ( you get 1 point for each dwarf but some dwarves are worth 2 or 3 or even more points). Those 203 points placed us at 4th place for that week, 40th place in that month, 631st place in the year and at 3652nd place for all time. I was thrilled that we manged to get to the fourth place for that week since we looked for dwarves for just two and a half days!! We’ve also achieved Expert level since we’ve found more that 150 dwarves. We missed just 3 dwarves to get Explorator achievement which you get when you find at least 15 dwarves located in buildings or in restricted areas.
We also bought a map with stickers for both of our kids after they saw two adults with it in front of a dwarf that we spotted. We got that map from the main tourist information center at the Market Square (Rynek). There are several map options and we chose The Old Town Map. You have to find 60 dwarves to complete that map. Of course, we did that quite successfully. When we finished it we went back to the tourist office to ask about two special empty stamps on the map. It turns out that you get those stamps at the tourist office. Moreover, our kids also got the prize for completing their maps. They each got a tiny chocolate and a special sticker. They were both delighted and I was also pleasantly surprised by their free award.
Our favourite dwarves
We’ve found so many adorable dwarves that it’s difficult to pick out just a few. Nonetheless, I do have a couple of favourite dwarves. One of them is Wedelek who was in front of a chocolate shop. Naturally, I had to go in and buy some very delicious (and very expensive) chocolate pralines. Another of my favourites is a dwarf with a red heart (the first photo in this post). My daughter and I really liked some of the female dwarves such as the Viking, the mummy with the baby at the train station and the Lady Punk (there are only a few female dwarves, most are men). The dwarf in front of the ticket office of Hydropolis museum is washing a shark so that’s a pretty funny dwarf. My son really wanted to find the dwarf who’s drinking beer with a dog so he was very happy when he finally discovered him. I was impressed by the invisible dwarf because it was located at the entrance of the invisible house which must be a rather interesting experience, I gather.
Final thoughts about our family dwarf hunt
Searching for the dwarves around gorgeous Wroclaw was a fun and unique way to see all the major landmarks. Kids loved it because they had a purpose and a goal during our sightseeing. Plus, there was also a competitive element involved and my son really wanted to find as many dwarves as possible. My kids didn’t complain a single time about walking or the heat because they were focused on our family dwarf hunt. Furthermore, all dwarves have a name and a description that I translated to them so they learnt a bit about Wroclaw’s history as well. We’ve also learnt a Polish word for a dwarf: Krasnal. Some dwarves were just hillarious and whimsical and they made us all laugh. All in all, our family adventure to find the dwarves was a success in all respects. In all honesty, I’d gladly return to Wroclaw to continue our family dwarf hunt.
We visited Wroclaw in June 2026.
the Red Phone Box travels 