Poland · Baltic Coast
Gdansk
A rebuilt Hanseatic port where amber, a medieval crane and the shipyard that broke a system all sit within one walk.
Gdansk is a Baltic port whose main street is a row of tall, narrow merchant houses with ornamented gables, rebuilt after the war to look as it did when this was one of the richest trading cities in northern Europe. A medieval timber crane still stands over the waterfront, amber is sold along a side street of stone terraces, and the shipyard north of the centre is where a strike in 1980 produced the union that broke the Eastern Bloc. The Second World War began just offshore.
Suggested stay
2–4 days
Language
Polish
Currency
PLN
Timezone
UTC+2
Why you'll love Gdansk
The Long Market a street of tall gabled merchant houses ending at a gate on the water, reconstructed with extraordinary care
Amber fossil resin washed up on this coast for millennia, worked and sold along a street of stone porches under gargoyles
Solidarity the shipyard gates, the strike of 1980 and the museum built beside them, told without triumphalism
The coast Sopot's long wooden pier and the Baltic beaches are twenty minutes up the commuter line
Best time to visit
May-Sep
16-22° days
54.348° N, 18.654° E
UTC+2 · Europe/Warsaw
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Weather & when to go to Gdansk
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best May-Sep
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Gdansk
The Baltic winter is cold, dark and windy, with sea fog and a long stretch when the beaches and the pier are simply out of use, and much of the coastal infrastructure at Sopot and on the Hel peninsula closes for it. Midsummer is the opposite problem: this is where Poland takes its holidays, so the beaches, the Long Market and the coastal trains are all at their fullest.
Top things to do in Gdansk
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Dlugi Targ - the Long Market
history 👍 PopularThe main street of gabled merchant houses running between two gates, with the Neptune fountain, the town hall and terraces along both sides, rebuilt from ruins after 1945.
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The Crane on the Motlawa
history 👍 PopularA medieval port crane of dark timber straddling the waterfront, once the largest in Europe and powered by men walking inside two enormous wheels.
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European Solidarity Centre
history ⭐ Highly recommendedA rusting steel building at the shipyard gates, telling how a 1980 strike over a sacked crane operator became a ten-million-member union and, eventually, the end of communist rule.
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Museum of the Second World War
history ⭐ Highly recommendedA deep underground museum taking the war from the civilian side and from central Europe's perspective, and one of the most substantial on the subject anywhere.
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St Mary's Church
culture artsOne of the largest brick churches in the world, big enough for twenty thousand people, with a whitewashed interior, an astronomical clock and a tower climb of hundreds of steps.
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Mariacka street and the amber
shopping 👍 PopularA lane of stone porches, steps and gargoyle waterspouts, lined with amber workshops, and the most photogenic street in the city by a wide margin.
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Westerplatte
historyA peninsula at the harbour mouth where a small Polish garrison held out against a German battleship in September 1939, the opening action of the Second World War, reachable by boat from the waterfront.
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Sopot and the pier
scenicA spa resort twenty minutes up the line with the longest wooden pier in Europe, a beach either side of it and a crooked house on the main street.
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Oliwa Cathedral organ
culture artsA long, narrow Gothic cathedral in a park north of the city, with an enormous baroque organ whose recitals set carved angels and stars in motion.
Best areas to stay in Gdansk
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Glowne Miasto
First-time visitors $$Gabled merchant streets and the waterfront
Explore hotels in Glowne Miasto →
Old Town & the shipyard edge
Best value $Quieter, canals, near the Solidarity site
Explore hotels in Old Town & the shipyard edge →
Sopot
Beach & families $$$Beach resort, pier and villas
Explore hotels in Sopot →
Wrzeszcz
Local life $Residential, everyday city, good eating
Explore hotels in Wrzeszcz →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Gdansk
Getting to & around Gdansk
Getting there
Fly into Lech Walesa airport, with a train or bus into the centre in about half an hour
Flight
Gdansk Lech Walesa (GDN)
Twelve km west of the centre. A commuter train runs from the terminal into the main station in around thirty minutes, and buses and taxis cover the same route.
Train
Gdansk Glowny
Fast trains from Warsaw take under three hours, with services from Krakow and Poznan and a frequent commuter line along the coast to Sopot and Gdynia
Ferry
Gdynia & Gdansk
Overnight ferries cross the Baltic from Sweden, docking in the tri-city harbours
Cruise
Gdansk port
A regular Baltic cruise call, with ships berthing at the harbour north of the old town
Getting around
Walking
The main town is compact and flat, and everything in it is within fifteen minutes on foot
Free
Commuter train
The line linking Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia runs every few minutes and is how the tri-city functions as one place
TBC
Tram
Covers the districts beyond the old town, including the route out toward Oliwa
TBC
Ferry
Seasonal boats run down the harbour to Westerplatte and across to the Hel peninsula
TBC
Bus
Fills the gaps, including the airport and the outer beaches
TBC
Day trips from Gdansk
Malbork Castle
Full dayTeutonic fortress
The largest brick castle in the world, built as the headquarters of the Teutonic Knights, with three concentric fortresses on the river and a very long audio tour.
Getting there
train | car | tour
50 min by train southeast
Hel Peninsula
Full daySandspit & beaches
A thin sandbar reaching thirty kilometres into the Baltic, with beaches on both sides, a seal sanctuary and wartime gun batteries in the pines.
Getting there
train | ferry | car
1 hr 30 min by train or ferry
Sopot
Half daySpa resort
The longest wooden pier in Europe, a beach either side and a main street of villas running down to it.
Getting there
train
20 min by commuter train
Slowinski shifting dunes
Full dayMoving sand
Dunes tens of metres high that move several metres a year and have buried forests and a village, in a national park on the open coast.
Getting there
car | tour
2 hr by car west
Kashubian lakes
Full dayLake district
Rolling lake country inland where the Kashubian language is still spoken, with canoeing, small museums and an upside-down house that draws a strange number of visitors.
Getting there
car | train
1 hr by car southwest
A little history of Gdansk
Gdansk grew as a Hanseatic port and by the 16th century handled most of Poland's grain exports, making it one of the wealthiest cities in northern Europe and giving it the merchant houses whose facades still line the main street. It spent centuries switching between Polish and Prussian control, and after the First World War became the Free City of Danzig, a semi-independent state under League of Nations protection.
That arrangement ended on 1 September 1939, when a German battleship opened fire on the Polish garrison at Westerplatte and the war began. The city was largely destroyed in 1945, its German population expelled, and the centre rebuilt over the following decades to its 17th-century appearance. In 1980 a strike at the Lenin Shipyard produced Solidarity, the first independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc, and the chain of events that ended communist rule in Europe.
Gdansk joins the Hanseatic League and grows rich on Baltic trade
Prussia annexes the city in the second partition of Poland
The Free City of Danzig is created under League of Nations protection
German shelling of Westerplatte on 1 September opens the Second World War
The city is left in ruins and its reconstruction begins
The shipyard strike produces Solidarity, the Eastern Bloc's first independent union
Know before you go
Payment
Cards everywhere
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / E
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+48
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Gdansk
▸ How many days do you need in Gdansk?
Two nights for the city and its two big museums. Three or four if you want Malbork, the Hel peninsula or beach time at Sopot, which is what most summer visitors are really here for.
▸ Is amber worth buying here?
This coast is the world's main source and the workshops are genuine, but so is the market in imitations. Buy from an established shop rather than a stall, and expect a certificate for anything expensive.
▸ What is the tri-city?
Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia run together along the bay and are linked by a commuter train every few minutes. Gdansk has the history, Sopot the beach and nightlife, Gdynia the modernist architecture and the port.
▸ Is the old town original?
No. The centre was around ninety per cent destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt to its 17th-century appearance over following decades, with the facades reconstructed in detail and the interiors modern.
▸ Can you swim in the Baltic here?
In the warmest weeks, yes, and Poles do it enthusiastically from the tri-city beaches and the Hel peninsula. The water is cold and brackish rather than salty, and the season is short.
More in Poland
Krakow
Europe's largest medieval square, a royal castle above the river, and the country's history at its heaviest ninety minutes west.
✓ best Apr-OctPoznan
Where Poland began: the first rulers' graves, a painted market square, and two mechanical goats that butt heads at noon.
✓ best Apr-OctTorun
A brick Gothic town that survived the war intact, where Copernicus was born and gingerbread has been baked for seven centuries.
✓ best Apr-Sep