Gdansk what to see

Gdansk is a resort in Poland!

Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia are Trujmiasto (Trigrady) on the Baltic Sea. They are adjacent and flow smoothly one into the other, connected by a continuous promenade. This region is more suitable for life than for tourism) travelers should visit just the old town of Gdansk, the rest is more for locals. As well as all over Poland there are a lot of parks and woodland areas.

Walking route through the Old Town of Gdansk:

•     Green Bridge - the best panorama of the old city ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
•     The Green Gate (Zielona Brama w Gdańsku) ⭐⭐
•     Long Market, Neptune Fountain and Chapel (Długi Targ w Gdańsku) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
•     Golden Gate (Złota Brama), just before reaching the Golden Gate we turn onto the adjacent Piwna Street, follow it back to the embankment and walk along it. ⭐
•     The promenade along the Motława River ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
•     the drawbridge and Ferris wheel (Footbridge to Ołowianka - bascule bridge and AmberSky Koło Widokowe) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The whole route of the walk will take 1.5-2 hours. But you should note that the drawbridge "Footbridge to Ołowianka" is not always omitted. Below is a schedule of its work.

Near Gdańsk Old Town there is a huge free parking lot (landmark Hotel Number One). From there is a route to the Old Town through the underpass. It takes about 7 minutes to walk.

Boat rides in Gdańsk "Black Pearl" - not advised!!!

Landing place near the "Green Bridge", on the side of the "Green Gate". Starts every hour, the only difference is that on one ship you can do a "round trip" and on the other you have to get off at "Westerplatte" and walk for an hour until the next departure. The ticket price is 50 zlotys one way, 70 zlotys round trip. However, if you go on a round trip without getting off at Westerplatte, you can safely pay one way and just stay on the boat, because they do not check for tickets in the opposite direction. Such thoughts come only because getting on that boat is really not worth it! The whole promenade is better to walk, following the route above. Otherwise, the video is 8 minutes long and it will be a beautiful route through the old town. First the old town will end, then the houses will end, the cranes and the cargo port will start. And then all the way to the open sea there will be scrap metal and coal dumps!!! The stench is all over the place. Now it's clear why Gdansk is considered the dirtiest city in Poland! You will end up swimming with these views for a little over 1 hour! The whole walk takes 1.5 hours, of which 8+8 minutes are the views of the old town, but there - back...

So, it's better to admire the Black Pearl from the side when others are swimming)

In Gdańsk we will pay special attention to visiting the parks. Do not expect from them of course something super beautiful, they are more designed for biking and scooter walks. But for hiking lovers there will be a place to climb, albeit without views) All parks of Gdansk are not for travelers, but rather for people who live here.

Gdańsk parks:

•     Zoo in Gdańsk "Zoo Gdańsk Oliwa" ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ is not just a zoo, it's the best park around. It takes at least 2 hours to walk here! There is a huge paid parking lot next to the zoo. The entrance fee is 30 PLN per adult.
•     Oliwski Park ⭐⭐⭐⭐ is the highest rated and most hyped place. In fact, it is just a beautifully manicured, but very small park. On his tour - 40 minutes - is the maximum, to go around all the trails up and down. But at least you can walk every trail here, everything will be different, which is not the case with other parks in the city... No dogs allowed in Olive Park!

Brzeźnieński Park ⭐ is a green little park near Brzezno beach and the entrance to Brzezno pier. The park is small but cozy, with beautiful tall vegetation. Walking time through the park and promenade to the pier - no more than 40 minutes. Parking, shown on the map below, is free. However, there are places more relevant. There is a minus that from the park almost to the pier the promenade is not very beautiful, ala sovdep from the past(

• Port Brzeźno Rope Park ⭐
• President Ronald Reagan Park ⭐⭐
• Park Jelitkowski ⭐

We look at these three parks as part of one walk, otherwise there is nothing to do in each of them separately. The most popular and beautiful is President Regan Park. All the parks are essentially bike paths. There's not much to see, just an idyll with nature) You can walk your dogs everywhere. Walking all three parks, we come out on the quay, which takes us back to the pier Brzeźno. From there, back on the road to the parking lot. The parking lot is big and for a fee (10 PLN from 9 am to 7 pm, free after 7 pm and at weekends). Travelers have nothing to do! Moreover, there's no point walking up and down the entire trail. It is enough to take the route shown on the map below to get an overview.

Brzeźno Pier ⭐ - a local landmark... A simple little pier.

The Gdańsk Promenade goes all the way to Gdynia! The promenade is a path on foot and bicycle, with exits to the water. The beach strip is as solid as the promenade itself! During the summer, there are crowds of people. From all over Poland come to the local resort. The beaches are jammed! The Baltic Sea is medium warm, you can swim, but it's dirty! It takes a long time to get into the water and it's shallow. But here is the cleanest sand)

Brzeźno promenade smoothly passes into Sopot promenade and beach, with the well-known pier Sopot. The study of this region is closely connected to the Northern Park (Północny).

Pier in Sopot ⭐ - an ordinary pier with a paid entrance! The ticket price is 9 PLN. Not much, but for what? Walking in a crowd of gawkers?

Northern Park (Północny) ⭐⭐⭐ - park with huge green trees, it's very beautiful, even in the rain! But there is only nature here, nothing more. The map below shows a possible walking route through the park and along the promenade to the Sopot pier and on to Jelitkowski Park, which we looked at as part of the walk above)

Just after Northern Park, there is a rather dismal trail along the water to Pier in Orłowo. The best part is Kolibki Park and the trail up to the pier in Orłowo. But park is a big word. Park Kolibki is a wooded area with trails. The most beautiful area near the pier Orlovo itself, from here you can see the "picturesque place" Cliff Orlovsky...

Orłowski Cliff ⭐ - supposedly picturesque place, by the way near the pier Orłowski, also a kind of landmark...

Pier in Orłowo ⭐ - quite ordinary pier. Putting one star, it's worth writing that there are not even one star views here(

Cliff Orlowski is a cliff, cliff, promontory with a view of the Gdańsk waterfront. It takes 10 minutes to walk up, there are signs. But there's nothing to do here) Parking on weekends, as throughout Gdańsk, is free. Please note, we're talking about city parking lots with parking meters.

Along the entire promenade there is food for strollers, in addition to the classic ice cream, you can treat yourself to such delights as waffles / gofra, "hot sandwiches" / casseroles and in some places you can come across a tube (Prague terdelnik) / kalach. Everything is delicious, you can try it)

Park Oruński im. Emilii Hoene ⭐⭐ -  small, but real Park)

It is in the middle of nowhere, not on the waterfront, just like Olive. Walking time here is alas 30 minutes on all the paths in a circle! There is very little to see and walk around, but the park is cozy and beautiful. It is not worth a special trip.

Gdynia ⭐ is a "pile of mala", not a vacation( Neither the promenade nor the beach in this region was liked. The promenade in Sopot is closed from everything, in the greenery always, half of the road in the pine forest, and in Gdynia the promenade is along the water itself and can be wind / frying sun...

If you go from the park in the opposite direction, we come to "Polanka Redłowska" ⭐ - it's really a clearing))) A very small piece where everyone moved in for kebabs... Atmospheric, but very little space. But if you go to the left of the clearing along the path, you get into the real forest "Kępa Redłowska". There is nothing unusual, but you can walk) You can walk through the forest, or you can walk along the beach and so you can reach the cliff Orlowski.

When you are in Gdańsk for more than a week, you start looking for things to see around...

What to see on the outskirts of Gdańsk:

•     Elbląg ⭐
•     Malbórg ⭐⭐
•     Bydgoszcz + Toruń ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•     Hel ⭐
•     Leba + Slovinsky National Park ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•     Warsaw ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sopot and Gdynia are the same cities of Trójmiasto, so they are considered as Gdansk city. And now more about the county)

•     Elbląg ⭐ - beautiful old town (restoration)

Below is the basic walking route for 30 minutes there and back) From Gdańsk it takes 50 minutes to drive here...

•     Malbórg and Malbork Castle ⭐⭐ - colorful, but it takes 1 hour to get here from Gdańsk...

And it's not worth it. The whole route of the walk around the castle and the promenade is 40 minutes. We did not go inside the castle, because we are not a fan of museums. The castle of course is very photogenic! On the map below is a walking route around the castle. Going inside is paid, but judging by the reviews - there is nothing to do there.

    Bydgoszcz ⭐⭐⭐⭐ is a beautiful and comfortable city in Poland!

From Gdańsk it takes 2 hours, but it's worth it... If you combine it with a visit to Torun, it's twice as comfortable and informative) In Bydgoszcz you must visit the local attractions:

•     Old Town: Długa Street - Old Market Square, Bridge Street / Bridge (Most Jerzego Sulimy-Kamińskiego) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•     Mill Island ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•     Park "Myślęcinek Leśny Park Kultury i Wypoczynku" ⭐⭐⭐

The red arrows on the map below show the route for a 1-hour walk. Parking is 5 zł per hour, payment in cash only. From the parking lot, go to Mill Island, cross the bridge and go to the old town on Dlouonnaya Street, turn there in the direction of the Old Market Square and then go directly to Mostowa Street, or to the bridge, from which all the photos on the Internet are made with the title "Bydgoszcz"). There is not much to see, but the atmosphere here is unhurried and comfortable) a couple of hours you can walk if you especially want to) A logical continuation of the study of the city can be a visit to the country park Myślęcinek. There are lakes with paths, a zoo and even an amusement park. On the map below is our route, it took only about 40 minutes, but you can walk or ride a bike much longer. But do not expect any views. In Poland, in general, the concept is a place to walk or ride a bike among the greenery) Parking near the park Myślęcinek - 6 zlotys a day. It is this city can be advised to visit even for travelers)

• Hel ⭐ is a Polish town on the spit - a real local resort with tourist facilities!

Everyone has heard about Hel, but in fact there are several nice villages for rest and walks, such as Jastarnia, Jurata. From Gdańsk to Hel is about 2 hours drive. This is due to the low speed on the spit. We got here in September and we can say that after August there is nothing to do here) Wind, clouds, rain... In the warm season it's worth to come here for a walk - gorgeous woods, a wide strip of beach, equipped paths for pedestrians and cyclists. We walked for an hour along the local promenade (the route below on the map) in the wind and were blown away from there... Parking costs 15-20 PLN per day. All parking lots are small private, payment in cash. Nadmorskiy park is a huge forest, not a park) It's not worth going here especially in summer, and only for a couple of days outdoors.

Słowiński Park Narodowy ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and Leba ⭐⭐ - a tourist attraction in Poland

If you are traveling from Gdańsk, it is more logical to combine the cities of Hel and Leba. Since Gdansk - Leba is 2 hours away by car. To say that it is super beautiful here is not possible. However, if you want to choose, it is better to visit the dunes of the Słowiński Park rather than the Hel Spit.

The city of Leba - is a real resort town, but out of season it turns into a dull town and movies about the past)) From the most super interesting walking street "Deptak w Łebie" and the beach "Plaża w Łebie"))) Time to visit the pedestrian street - 20 minutes round trip. Parking is free in the off-season. The beaches are of course chic: sandy and clean - like in Bulgaria, with pine trees - like in Croatia! The water is surprisingly clean, which is not the case in Gdansk - Sopot - Gdynia, I have a feeling that even in Hel there is no such clean water... After visiting the city itself, we go to look at the moving dunes in the Słowiński Park.

Warsaw is the capital and beautiful city of Poland! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Although it's not so close to Warsaw from Gdańsk, but it's worth spending a day exploring the capital. Moreover, it is convenient to get from Gdansk to Warsaw by train in 2.5 hours. By car it takes 3 hours. We allocated two days for Warsaw, with one overnight stay. But in fact our route was quite possible to fit into a day. We decided to go by train intentionally, to test the railroad in Poland.

The train Gdansk - Warsaw:

•     The train ticket is bought online on the official europodroze.pl website. You pay online and get your ticket on your e-mail.
•     The number of trains Gdansk - Warsaw is plentiful at any time of day, pay attention only to the travel time / price of the ticket. The longer the train goes, the cheaper it is and stops at small stations. Express is more expensive and goes straight to Warsaw, without stops.
•     There are two classes of cars, the difference is the number of seats and meals. First class has free food and drinks - everything is top notch! There are also seats with a large table for 2 and 4 people. But each seat has its own mini tables for food, or for a laptop.

Shopping in Gdańsk

It seems that there are large shopping centers, outlet stores, but to buy normal, beautiful, unusual clothes is difficult. All the stores offer the same range of clothes. In the main malls boutiques are repetitive, and small shops are more like sovdepovskie shopping malls with a lot of stuff "all for 5"...

Stores and malls in Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia:

•     Designer Outlet Gdansk ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - very small for an outlet, few stores and even fewer good brands. It's no different from the usual shopping malls. I can say that Poland is definitely not a country for shopping, outlet stores are not very good here... We have gone to the outlet in Ptak Outlet in Rzgów, also Ptak Fashion City, which is next to Łódź. There's nothing to do there: the outlet is a couple of boutiques, but Ptak Center is a wholesale market of Chinese synthetics(
•     Gdańsk shopping center Forum ⭐⭐⭐⭐Rather big shopping center, almost identical with Galeria Baltiyskaia, but for some reason I liked it better)
•     Galereya Baltiyskaya ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - A huge store, so there's a lot to do) But the clothes are more the usual Chinese...
•     Galleria Madison Shopping Center ⭐⭐⭐
•     Manhattan Shopping Center in Gdansk
•     Shopping Centre Alfa Centrum ⭐⭐⭐
•     Shopping Center Matarnia Retail Park
•     Shopping center Galeria Morena ⭐
•     Shopping mall Sopot Centrum
•     Shopping center Galeria Klif w Gdyni ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Not many stores, but at least there are exclusive and expensive things, not just the trash. The parking lot is free for 3 hours and you have to take a ticket from a parking meter.
•     Centrum Handlowe Riviera

Supermarkets Gdańsk:

•     Auchan Gdańsk, Szczęśliwa ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ a huge store, it has everything! There's food, household chemicals, household goods... The Leroy Merlin home and building supplies store is the perfect place to shop.
•     Kaufland ⭐⭐⭐⭐ a pretty good assortment, the best fruit among all the supermarkets in the city, a large free parking lot. The only store in Gdańsk and two in Gdynia.
•     Carrefour in Galerea Morena ⭐⭐⭐⭐ a good range, especially meat and fish. Free underground parking.
•     Lidl ⭐⭐⭐ supermarket with a fairly good range, including fruit. Free parking. A lot of stores of this chain in the city.
•     Eurospar in the Forum Shopping Center Glansk ⭐⭐⭐ - 30 minutes free underground parking, no assortment
•     Carrefour in Baltiyska galeria ⭐ - 1 hour free underground parking, no assortment

Gdańsk markets:

    Rynek Elbląska. Stowarzyszenie Kupców i Producentów ⭐⭐⭐⭐ is a real farmers' market. It is open until 14, but by this time there is hardly anything left, there are a lot of people... You can buy the freshest seasonal fruits and vegetables, fresh from the patch. Eggs, poultry, fresh fish, sheep cheese, pastry...
    Green Market Sp. o.o. ⭐ - "The third variety is not defective". The market is small, there are no delicacies. The fruit is not selected.