Where to Stay in Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship

What is Gdańsk known for?

Gdańsk is known as the great port of the Baltic coast, a city on the Motława in northern Poland. The sea made the city. Along the water stand the Żuraw and the Gdańsk Main Town Hall, while the European Solidarity Centre marks the shipyard to the north, and the Motława runs down to Gdańsk Bay and the Baltic Sea.

Gdańsk is Poland's sixth-largest city.

What are the main landmarks in Gdańsk?

Gdańsk gathers its landmarks along the Motława and through the Main Town. The old port stands close. The Żuraw and the Gdańsk Main Town Hall rise over the waterfront, the Golden Gate and Green Gate frame the Main Town, and Neptune's Fountain marks its centre.

St. Mary's Basilica towers above it all.

What is the history of Gdańsk?

Gdańsk grew on the Motława near the Baltic coast, a Baltic port first recorded in the year 997. The sea built the city. Standing at the mouth of the Motława on Gdańsk Bay, the town rose as a great trading port, its wealth carried on the shipping that filled the Baltic Sea.

Grain and timber from inland Poland moved out through its harbour to the Baltic Sea. Merchants raised the Main Town, the gates, and the churches along the water. Gdańsk became the chief port of the coast.

The Second World War began on this coast, and left much of the city in ruins. The war marked it deeply. Much of the Main Town was destroyed and later rebuilt along the Motława, its gates and churches raised again above the water.

The Museum of World War II by the water keeps that memory. History turned at the shipyard. At the Gdańsk shipyard the Solidarity movement was born, and the European Solidarity Centre and the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers stand there in memory.

The past still shapes the whole city.

Where is Gdańsk?

Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława in Pomeranian Voivodeship, on the Baltic coast of northern Poland. The river meets the sea here. The city runs from the Main Town along the Motława down to Gdańsk Bay, where the Baltic Sea opens out beyond the port at the northern edge of Poland.

What is the climate of Gdańsk?

Gdańsk has a cool temperate climate shaped by the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the Motława. The sea steadies the year. Winters bring grey skies and damp cold to Gdańsk Bay, summers stay moderate by the water, and the salt wind off the Baltic blows over the port and the Main Town in every season.

How do you get to Gdańsk?

Gdańsk is reached by sea, by air, and by rail from across Poland. The port is the way in. Ships work into the harbour on the Baltic Sea, flights land north of the city, and rail and road lines run down the coast through the Tricity and Pomeranian Voivodeship toward the Motława and the Main Town.