Gdańsk
Gdańsk is the old port of the Baltic, a rebuilt Hanseatic main street running to the Motława, a huge brick church, and the shipyard gates where Solidarity began. The centre is walkable and, in summer, very full. The crane and the water are the orientation.
Photo: Richardmaackphotography · CC BY 4.0
What to see
Long Market
The Long Market is the ceremonial street of the old port, with the Neptune fountain, the town hall tower, and the rebuilt merchants’ houses in a row. It is beautiful and it is crowded. Walk it once for the architecture, then slip into the side lanes, which are the city people actually use.
Długi Targ, Gdańsk
Photo: Richardmaackphotography · CC BY 4.0
Open in Google Maps , Long Market
St. Mary's Church
St. Mary’s is the enormous brick church just off the Long Market, one of the largest of its kind, with a tower you can climb for the roofs and the cranes. The interior is a white hall more than a gilded one. Give it time. The climb is the part people talk about afterward.
ul. Podkramarska 5, Gdańsk
Photo: GDANSK 2025 06 · CC0
Open in Google Maps , St. Mary's Church
Żuraw
The Żuraw is the medieval port crane on the Motława, a wooden machine inside a brick gate, now part of the maritime museum. It is the single clearest object on the waterfront. You can see it properly from the opposite bank as well as from the gate itself.
ul. Szeroka 67/68, Gdańsk
Photo: Andrzej Otrębski · CC BY-SA 3.0
Open in Google Maps , Żuraw
Mariacka Street
Mariacka is the amber street, a rebuilt lane of porches and gargoyles running from St. Mary’s down to the river. The shops sell amber of every honesty. The architecture is the reason to walk it even if you buy nothing. It is narrow, and in July it is slow.
ul. Mariacka, Gdańsk
Photo: Gracjan Rötke · CC BY 3.0
Open in Google Maps , Mariacka Street
European Solidarity Centre
The European Solidarity Centre stands by the old shipyard gates, a rust-coloured museum of the movement that began with the 1980 strikes. It is a short tram or a purposeful walk north of the old town, and it is a different Gdańsk from the amber street. The monument to the fallen shipyard workers is outside, and it is part of the visit.
Plac Solidarności 1, Gdańsk
Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ). · CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in Google Maps , European Solidarity CentreFood and restaurants
Restaurants and hotels change hands. These listings were last checked on 26 October 2026.
Pod Łososiem
Pod Łososiem, on Szeroka, is the historic restaurant tied to Goldwasser, the herb liqueur with gold flakes that Gdańsk has sold for centuries. The room is formal and old-port. Come for that tradition, not for a surprise menu. Book when the Long Market is a crowd.
ul. Szeroka 52/54, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Pod Łososiem
Kubicki
Kubicki has served food by the water at Wartka since the early twentieth century, a fish restaurant with a simpler claim than the banquet houses: it has stayed. The terrace faces the river. In summer it is an obvious table, so book. The cooking is a port kitchen, which is what you want here.
ul. Wartka 5, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Kubicki
Tawerna
Tawerna is an old-town restaurant in a narrow house off the main drag, known locally as a steady table rather than a show. Fish and Polish plates are the idea. It is a useful booking when the waterfront terraces are full and you still want to sit down near the church.
ul. Powroźnicza 19/20, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Tawerna
Restauracja Gdańska
Restauracja Gdańska, near the market hall side of the old town, cooks Polish food in a room that takes the city’s name without being a costume tavern. It is a sit-down lunch or dinner off the densest part of the Long Market. Hours and menus move; the house has been a restaurant address for years.
ul. Świętego Ducha 16, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Restauracja Gdańska
Goldwasser
The Goldwasser restaurant on the Long Embankment faces the river and trades on the same liqueur the city is known for, with a terrace that is the summer seat. It is a waterfront table, so you are paying for the Motława as well as the plate. Book in July. A grey weekday is the kinder version.
Długie Pobrzeże 22, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , GoldwasserWhere to stay
Restaurants and hotels change hands. These listings were last checked on 26 October 2026.
Hotel Hanza
Hotel Hanza stands by the river, with the crane and the waterfront as the neighbourhood. It is a large, comfortable hotel rather than a merchant’s-house staircase. Ask for a room on the Motława. You will walk to Mariacka in minutes and hear the embankment in the evening.
ul. Tokarska 6, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Hotel Hanza
Hotel Gdańsk
Hotel Gdańsk occupies a granary on the Granary Island side of the river, so you look back at the old town rather than standing inside it. The building is the point: a port warehouse turned into a hotel. The walk across the bridge is short and, in the evening, the better way home.
ul. Szafarnia 9, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Hotel Gdańsk
Hotel Podewils
Hotel Podewils is a smaller hotel in historic houses on the island, with a garden toward the water. It is quieter in scale than Hanza and still a few minutes from the crane. Book early in summer; houses of this size do not absorb a cruise-ship afternoon.
ul. Szafarnia 2, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Hotel PodewilsShopping
Amber on Mariacka
Mariacka is where Gdańsk sells amber, from serious galleries to windows of uneven honesty. Buy only from a shop that will tell you what the piece is, and treat a very cheap “antique” as a story. The street itself, with its porches, is the thing you cannot take home.
ul. Mariacka, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Amber on Mariacka
Forum Gdańsk
Forum Gdańsk is the shopping centre by the main station, a modern block for ordinary shops when the old town is only selling amber and gingerbread. It is useful, and it is not the port. You can be back on the Long Market in a short walk.
Targ Sienny 7, Gdańsk
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Forum Gdańsk
Market Hall
The market hall on the western edge of the old town is the local food market, cheese, bread, and flowers, plainer than Mariacka and more useful. Morning is the time. It sits a few streets off the tourist spine, which is exactly why it is worth the turn.
ul. Pańska 1, Gdańsk
Photo: GringoPL · CC BY-SA 3.0
Open in Google Maps , Market HallHow to get there
Gdańsk Airport
Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport is west of the tri-city, with a rail link and buses into Gdańsk Główny. It also serves Sopot and Gdynia. The train is the transfer that does not sit in the coastal traffic. Read the platform; the airport station is simple if you do not rush the wrong way.
ul. Słowackiego 210, Gdańsk
Photo: Wasielgallery · CC BY 3.0
Open in Google Maps , Gdańsk Airport
Gdańsk Główny
Gdańsk Główny is the main station, a short walk downhill to the old town, with long-distance trains and the SKM urban railway that runs to Sopot and Gdynia. The SKM is the way to see the tri-city without a car. Do not confuse it with the long-distance platforms; the signs are clear if you slow down.
ul. Podwale Grodzkie 2, Gdańsk
Photo: Elke Wetzig ( Elya ) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Open in Google Maps , Gdańsk Główny
Gdańsk bus station
The coach station sits with the railway, the hall for buses along the coast and to cities the train serves less kindly. You arrive next to the old town. It is a transfer shed, not a sight. If your hotel is on the island, the walk is still short once you are facing the river.
ul. 3 Maja 12, Gdańsk
Photo: Andrzej Otrębski · CC BY-SA 3.0
Open in Google Maps , Gdańsk bus stationA travel company can place a labeled partner route here. Advertise with us