Gdansk: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Gdańsk, Danzig in German, was one of the richest ports of the Hanseatic League, a city of Dutch-style merchant houses that grew fat on the grain of Poland. In 1945 about ninety per cent of its old town was destroyed, and it was rebuilt from old drawings and photographs. The Royal Way runs from gate to gate. An hour, flat.
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A short history of Gdansk
Gdańsk is first mentioned in 997, in the account of the journey of Bishop Adalbert, who came to baptise the Prussians. In 1308 the Teutonic Knights captured it, and it later became a wealthy Hanseatic city through which grain from Poland was shipped all over Europe. In 1920 the "Free City of Danzig" was declared under the protection of the League of Nations, and on 1 September 1939 the first shots of the Second World War were fired at its Westerplatte peninsula. In 1945 the old town was almost entirely destroyed, and it was rebuilt. In 1980 the Solidarity movement, led by Lech Wałęsa, was founded in its shipyards, and this movement eventually brought down the communist regime.
The ten best sights in Gdansk
1Golden GateThe start of the Royal Way
2DługaThe Long Lane of painted merchants’ houses
3Main Town HallA museum of the city; climb the tower
4Neptune’s FountainThe sea god of the merchant city, 1633
5Artus CourtThe merchants’ hall and a giant tiled stove
6Green GateA royal residence no king ever used
7Granary IslandRuined and rebuilt granaries across the river
8St Mary’s ChurchOne of the largest brick churches in the world
9The CraneA medieval port crane worked by men in treadwheels
10Amber MuseumBaltic amber in the old prison tower
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What is an audio walk?
Tours in Gdansk →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Gdansk:
Free walking tours in Gdansk
The Royal Way
Gdańsk, Danzig in German, was one of the richest ports of the Hanseatic League, a city of Dutch-style merchant houses that grew fat on the grain of Poland. In 1945 about ninety per cent of its old town was destroyed, and it was rebuilt from old drawings and photographs. The Royal Way runs from gate to gate. An hour, flat.
- Golden Gate · The gate of 1612 through which Polish kings entered the city on their visits, starting the Royal Way. Its parapet carries statues of the virtues a city should have — peace, freedom, wealth and fame on one side, prudence, piety, justice and concord on the other.
- Długa · The Long Lane of tall, narrow merchants’ houses, each with a painted or carved façade, every one of them rebuilt after the war. It is said merchants were taxed by the width of their frontage, which is why the houses are narrow and deep.
- Main Town Hall · The town hall with its tall slender tower, topped by a gilded statue of King Sigismund Augustus. Inside, the Red Room, where the council met, is covered in paintings glorifying Gdańsk’s trade. The city was largely self-governing under the Polish crown for three centuries.
- Neptune’s Fountain · The bronze sea god of 1633 is the symbol of a city that lived by the sea. A local story says that when people threw coins into his fountain he struck the water with his trident, turning them into the gold flakes of Goldwasser, the city’s herb liqueur.
- Artus Court · The hall where the merchants met, ate and did business, named after King Arthur’s round table. Its great Gothic room holds model ships hanging from the vaults and one of the largest tiled stoves in Europe, about ten metres high, made of over five hundred painted tiles.
- Green Gate · Built in the 1560s as a residence for Polish kings visiting the city, it was never used by any of them. In the 1990s Lech Wałęsa, the shipyard electrician who became president, had his office here. Beyond it the bridge crosses to the river.
Amber, the crane and St Mary’s
North of the Royal Way are the lanes of the amber trade, the waterfront of the Motława with its medieval crane, and the vast brick church that dominates the city. An hour and a half; the church tower has four hundred steps.
- Mariacka · The loveliest lane of the city, with stone terraces in front of every house where families sat in the evening, and gargoyles shaped like dragons and fish spouting the rainwater. It is the street of the amber shops — Gdańsk calls itself the world capital of amber.
- St Mary’s Church · One of the largest brick churches in the world, able to hold some twenty-five thousand people. Inside is an astronomical clock of the 1460s; the legend says the city blinded its maker so he could never build another like it.
- The Crane · A medieval port crane built into a gate on the river, the largest of its time in Europe. Men walked inside two great wooden treadwheels, like hamsters, to lift cargoes of up to about two tonnes and to set the masts of ships.
- Granary Island · Across the Motława, an island once lined with hundreds of granaries that stored the grain of Poland for export to Holland and beyond — the source of the city’s wealth. Most burned in 1945, and new buildings are rising among the ruins.
- Amber Museum · In the old prison tower and torture house at the end of the Royal Way, a museum of Baltic amber, fossil resin forty million years old, some pieces with insects trapped inside. Gdańsk’s craftsmen carved it for the courts of Europe.
- Polish Post Office · Between the wars Danzig was a Free City under the League of Nations, with a German majority and Polish rights. On the first of September 1939 the Polish postal workers here, about fifty men, defended their post office for fifteen hours against German forces; most of the survivors were later executed.
Where the war began and communism ended
Gdańsk stands at both ends of Europe’s twentieth century: the Second World War began here in 1939, and the movement that brought down communism was born in its shipyard in 1980. Half a day to a day, with the seaside towns of Sopot and Gdynia.
- European Solidarity Centre · In August 1980 the workers of the Lenin Shipyard went on strike, led by an electrician, Lech Wałęsa, who climbed over the wall to join them. The strike ended with the Gdańsk Agreement and the first free trade union in the Soviet bloc, Solidarity, which ten years later brought down communism in Poland. The museum stands beside the shipyard gate.
- Monument to the Shipyard Workers · Three steel crosses over forty metres high, each with an anchor nailed to it, for the shipyard workers shot by the army in the strikes of December 1970. The strikers of 1980 demanded it, and it was unveiled that December — the first monument to victims of communism ever raised in a communist country.
- Museum of the Second World War · A museum opened in 2017 under a leaning tower of red glass, with its main exhibition fourteen metres underground. It tells the war from the point of view of civilians, including the destruction of the Jews of Poland.
- Westerplatte · At 4:45 in the morning of the first of September 1939 the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the small Polish garrison on this peninsula at the harbour mouth — the first shots of the Second World War. About two hundred soldiers held out for seven days.
- Sopot Pier · The resort town between Gdańsk and Gdynia has the longest wooden pier in Europe, about five hundred metres out into the Baltic, and a long beach of white sand. It was the fashionable spa of the Free City between the wars.
- Emigration Museum · When Danzig became a Free City, Poland built a new port of its own from a fishing village, Gdynia, in white modernist style. From this marine station of 1933 thousands of emigrants sailed for the Americas; the museum tells the story of the millions of Poles who left.
Getting to Gdansk and getting around
- Gdańsk Airport · Named for Lech Wałęsa; about twenty-five minutes to the centre
- Gdańsk Główny · The main station; local trains to Sopot and Gdynia
Cheap eats in Gdansk
Gdańsk eats Polish and Baltic: pierogi, dumplings stuffed with meat, cheese or berries; żurek, sour rye soup with sausage and egg served in a bread bowl; herring in oil or cream; and smoked fish from the Hel peninsula. The city’s own drink is Goldwasser, a herb liqueur with flakes of real gold leaf, made here since the sixteenth century. A plate of pierogi costs a few euro in a milk bar.
- Długa · Pierogi in a milk bar
- Neptune’s Fountain · A glass of Goldwasser with gold flakes
- Hel · Smoked fish in the fishing town
- Mariacka · Coffee on the stone terraces
- Granary Island · Herring and beer by the river
Museums in Gdansk
Gdańsk’s museums are among the best in Poland: the Second World War, the Solidarity movement, amber, the medieval port and the emigrants who left from Gdynia.
- Museum of the Second World War · The war through civilians’ eyes
- European Solidarity Centre · The strike that changed Europe
- Amber Museum · Insects in amber
- Emigration Museum · The emigrants’ terminal
- Malbork Castle · The Teutonic Knights’ castle
Nature and day trips near Gdansk
The Tricity — Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia — lies along wide sandy beaches of the Baltic with forested hills behind, and to the north the Hel peninsula reaches thirty-five kilometres into the sea.
- Hel · The seal centre and the spit
- Sopot Pier · White sand beaches
- Westerplatte · The harbour mouth by boat
- Oliwa Cathedral · The park and the forest hills behind
Things to do in Gdansk with kids
With children: the crane with its treadwheels, insects in amber, a long pier, seals at Hel and a boat to Westerplatte.
- The Crane · The giant treadwheels
- Amber Museum · Ancient insects in amber
- Sopot Pier · Walk out over the sea
- Hel · Seals at feeding time
- Oliwa Cathedral · The organ with moving angels
Holy places in Gdansk
Gdańsk’s churches are vast brick Gothic halls; its Jewish community, once flourishing in the Free City, saved its treasures before the war and kept one synagogue.
- New Synagogue · The synagogue that survived
- St Mary’s Church · The great brick church and its clock
- Oliwa Cathedral · The rococo organ
- Monument to the Shipyard Workers · The crosses of 1970
Nightlife in Gdansk
Gdańsk’s evenings are on the Motława waterfront and Granary Island; Sopot is the party town of the coast, along Monte Cassino Street and on the beach.
- Monte Cassino Street · The bars and clubs of Sopot
- Granary Island · Riverside bars facing the old town
- The Crane · The waterfront lit at night
Frequently asked questions about Gdansk
What is there to see in Gdansk?
The top sights in Gdansk are Golden Gate, Długa and Main Town Hall. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Gdansk?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Gdansk without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Gdansk?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Gdansk, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The Royal Way.
How do you get to Gdansk and get around?
The main ways are Gdańsk Airport and Gdańsk Główny. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Gdansk, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Gdansk that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Gdansk for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.