After “Gdańsk, Nazis & cancel culture” I have something a bit more straightforward today. 72 hours in Gdańsk aka here’s what I did.
Day 1
There are plenty of early morning flights to Gdańsk from the UK. I went with Ryanair from Bristol and was free & flying in the chilly Polish air by 10am.
Since I couldn’t get into my apartment until the afternoon, I decided to start by taking the train to Sopot. Beware the ticket machines: they do speak English but I couldn’t figure out what station I wanted, especially with a queue behind me adding pressure. Buy a ticket to Sopot & change at Gdańsk Wrzeszcz. The machines seem to sell different tickets depending on what train you should be on. I changed to an intercity but I suspect I should have been on a local SKM train. Tickets need to be validated in the machines on the platform but not the tickets that come from the machine – you’ll know because the ticket is far too big to fit in the validator.
Hop off at Sopot and walk into the town centre. Pause at St George’s Church and pause again at the Crooked House (it’s a Costa Coffee inside, which is not quite as magical as the interior). Carry on to the seafront.
Sopot has a great beach. Enjoy the beach and the sea, try to find some washed-up amber, experience the feeling of being at an oldey-timey seaside resort and stroll on the pier. I stopped for a hot chocolate at the Meridien restaurant near the end and sat outside. This is somewhat seasonal. I was there in November and it was chilly.
What was properly freezing was a trip out on the static pirate boat. It moors just beyond Meridien and if it’s not there, it’s probably out on one of its forty-minute cruises. If it’s not back by the time you’ve had a hot chocolate then fair enough, it might not be there.
On first glance it looks like a pirate ship with a gaudy paint job and a Caribbean-themed bar. Once you see it out sailing you’ll soon realise it’s no pirate ship. For a start, its sails remain furled. Second, black smoke puffs gently from the mizzenmast. But just because it’s not really a tall ship underneath doesn’t mean it’s not fun to go for a short cruise out in the Baltic in it and pretend. But, you know, bear in mind it’ll be pretty freezing in November.
Now you’re cold and tired, it’s time to go home. Take the train to Gdańsk Główny (Gdańsk gl on the ticket machine) and walk down towards the Highland or Upland Gate, depending on the translation of your guidebook or tour guide. Behind this is the prison tower and then the Golden Gate and then Gdańsk’s main tourist street. I stayed in an apartment at the other end of this street. The location couldn’t have been better and the apartment was glorious (criticism: no lightbulb on my landing so finding the stairs, the door and the keypad was pretty difficult for about twenty hours of the day, and the blinds kept out eyes but not light).
Gdańsk has free public wifi in the street so I video-called my mum to show her this road. It’s lined with Hanseatic warehouse-style buildings, several floors high but narrow, mostly ornately painted or decorated or both. These are modern reconstructions. A lot of Gdańsk was flattened in 1945 and this street was 90% destroyed. Totally gone. Rubble and nothing else. You’d never think it but pause to look at the photos inside the Golden Gate.
Once you’re into your accommodation, it’s time to eat. For me, that meant a run to the nearest mini-supermarket but there’s an abundance of cafes and restaurants on this street so pick something that appeals, whether that’s pierogies or pizza.
Then go to bed early because you got up at an obscene hour for that morning flight.
Day 2
Take a city sightseeing tour. I did the Gdańsk Main Town walking tour with Walkative but I saw golf cart tours and Segway tours and there are tours of other parts of the city. We covered Long Way, the gates, the Arsenal, St Mary’s Basilica, the amber street leading down to the harbour, the Great Crane and the post office siege in the Old Town. It took about three hours and is offered in at least three languages.
Home for lunch – or to a cafe or restaurant – and then I spent the afternoon retracing that route, only more slowly. I listened and took a lot of notes in the morning so the afternoon was for taking photos and settling what I’d heard in my mind.
That evening I went down to the harbour. I like to see lights by night and on the other side, accessible by lifting bridge, is a viewing wheel. Night time may not be the best time to view Gdańsk from a wheel; a rainy night definitely isn’t. You can’t take photos through wet glass.
Day 3
I started at the Town Hall museum. The big tower, you can’t miss it. That’s where the war years exhibition was. To be honest, unless you’re a diehard museum or Gdańsk fan, some of this isn’t that exciting but as a fan of ceilings, I was lured in by the Red Room, which has such a spectacular Dutch Mannerist ceiling that I stopped in the doorway and said out loud “Are you joking?” If it’s open, go up to the tower for the second highest views in Gdańsk – the highest are from St Mary’s, a street or two away.
In the afternoon, I did some amber shopping. I already have a couple of pendants and a chip bracelet from previous trips to the Baltic capitals but I wanted some beads for a future travel bracelet. The milky opaque stuff is said to be best but personally, I like the transparent orange stuff. Real amber smells nice when burned; you can test yours by poking it with a hot needle. Martin, my walking guide, said Gdańsk has a reputation for genuine and good amber that it wants to uphold so unless you’re buying it really cheaply from a tourist junk shop, it probably is genuine. I also bought postcards for my scrapbook, which was more difficult than I’d expected.
That evening I went for another walk by the harbour in the dark, watched a swing band play Taylor Swift and Beyoncé under the Green Bridge and packed.
Day 4
I made a quick trip to Gdynia, the northernmost of the triplet cities on my way to the airport. Maybe I didn’t have time to appreciate its charms but my guidebook wasn’t very forthcoming on them either. The airport train makes a loop through the three cities so I returned anti-clockwise rather than going back to Gdańsk and changing there.
And then I took my mid-afternoon flight back to Bristol which got in twenty minutes early despite being Ryanair.
I probably could have done a lot more with my three and a half days but I learned a lot about Gdańsk, history and the war and I had a fairly chilled time without worrying about crossing off must-dos. If I’d been there in summer I’d have taken the water tram to Westerplatte, where WWII began (Fawlty Towers’s “you invaded Poland!”) and I should have climbed St Mary’s tower but I’m satisfied and I hope this itinerary gives you ideas for what to see in Gdańsk.