Businessmen head to Warsaw and partiers go to Krakow, but Poland’s resort action resides way up north on the Baltic Sea with Sopot, Gdynia and Gda?sk. Commonly known as Tri-City, these are the hot spots for tourists desiring a unique, under-commercialized place to vacation. Don’t get me wrong, millions of tourists flock to the area each year, but it’s not a raging keg party like Cancun.
Sopot, a 40,000-population town nestled between the others, is the go-to destination for out of towners. Rich with greenery and Art Nouveau homes, this resort town has the best beaches, quaint pubs and cafes and an abundance of the arts. It also boasts Europe’s longest wooden pier, which jets over 1,500 feet into the Bay of Gda?sk, and a pair of downtown spring fountains (one nicknamed the “inhalation mushroom“) that locals embrace for their health benefits. Fittingly, Sopot also has the most health spas in the region.
Gda?sk, which Mifits’ fans will like for its German name (Danzig), is the big city of the three. Together with Gdynia, most of Poland’s sea trade comes through its harbors making it one of the country’s largest industrial areas. This helps give the Tri-City area its balance between urban metro and seaside vacation spot. Gda?sk, which suffered the early salvos of World War II, is also home to the Solidarity movement, which helped fight back against Communist domination in Europe. In fact, it was in its very shipyards where the famed August Accords were signed.
The Tri-City offers the best of all worlds. It’s a metropolitan area rich with history, yet it also boasts a gorgeous seaside area where people can soak up the Baltic sun end enjoy all the luxuries of a resort vacation. These beautiful towns have it all.
Sopot photo by Uczk courtesy of Wikipedia; Crooked House (Sopot) photo courtesy of WikiTravel.
