We recently spent three days in Gdansk after I found some cheap flights from Newcastle. It wasn’t really on my ‘must-visit’ list before I booked the trip, but Gdansk quickly jumped to the top of my European city break list after our visit.
I had a flurry of DMs over on Instagram from people asking me to share our Gdansk itinerary so they could plan their own trip, so here goes!
Our city break in Gdansk was our third visit to Poland. We’ve previously visited Warsaw and Krakow and we loved both places, but thanks to its colourful buildings and generally chilled vibe, Gdansk has become our favourite Polish city yet!
We loved the destination’s spotless streets, marvellous colorful buildings and cool cocktail bars.
I’ve included our favourite Gdansk bars in this itinerary, as well as the lowdown and booking link for the excellent vodka-tasting tour we did. I’ve also woven in some other popular tours and activities you can book ahead of your trip.
Though we spent the weekend in Gdansk, I was glad to find that the city wasn’t overrun with rowdy groups of stag dos. Instead, we enjoyed strolling relatively quiet streets and sipping drinks in ambient bars.
Visiting Gdansk in October meant we got to experience the very best of Autumn in Poland. It was cool but not freezing, and the low afternoon sun and golden leaves created the most glorious colour palette.
We even took advantage of Gdansk’s position near the Baltic coast to squeeze in a trip to a Polish beach. I had no idea this was something that was possible in Gdansk!
Don’t you just love cities that offer the best of both worlds?
Read on for my day-by-day itinerary for lots of ideas for what to do if you have three days in Gdansk. If this is your first trip to Poland, check out the FAQs at the bottom of this Gdansk three day guide.
My Gdansk Three Day Itinerary
Here’s my suggested three-day itinerary for Gdansk. It’s almost exactly how we did our trip, so it’s a tried-and-tested guide to the Polish city. I promise it’s absolutely do-able in three days — unlike some overambitious city break guides on the internet.
Like seriously, haven’t some travel bloggers heard of cocktail hour?
If you decide to follow this Gdansk itinerary on your own Polish city break, please let me know which parts you enjoyed most!
You might also find it helpful to look at the Gdansk highlight on my Instagram account, where I’ve saved all of my stories from our trip.
Six-drinks-deep stories included…
Day one in Gdansk: seeing the city
Only got one day in Gdansk? Follow my day one Gdansk itinerary, but try not to dawdle and instead factor in a quick visit to the museum that most interests you.
Our Ryanair flight got into Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport bright and early, and we hopped in an uber for the twenty-minute drive to our aparthotel.
We stayed at ApartHotel Baltic Gdansk, which is in a perfect location on a quiet street near the riverside in the Main Town. It was clean and comfortable and had one of the better interior decor options based on my research. Some of the places I looked at were a bit depressing!
You can search for accommodation in Gdansk on booking.com here.
I’d recommend booking a private transfer from Gdansk airport to your accommodation if your flight arrives at night.
After freshening up, we hit the cobbled streets to get our bearings. The main tourist stretches in Gdansk are pedestrianised, which is another of the lovely things about this city.
A walk around the Main Town is a brilliant way to start your weekend in Gdansk. If you want to learn as you explore, you can book a Gdansk walking tour around this area.
If you’re a bit more adventurous, check out this e-scooter tour instead.
Our first stop was St Mary’s Basilica. This vast church can hold up to 25,000 people and its most fascinating attraction is an astronomical clock, which is best visited at noon.
It costs 14 zloty to climb up the 405 stairs to the top of St Mary’s Basilica to take in one of the best views in Gdansk, at 78 metres high.
The viewing tower is open Mon-Fri 11:00-16:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00.
We actually skipped the climb to the top in favour of a different view that I’d read was more impressive, which I’ll tell you about below!
After visiting St Mary’s Basilica, head along Mariacka, which is one of the most beautiful streets in Gdansk. Cobblestoned and lined with gargoyles guarding ramshackle gabled buildings, the place is so full of character.
The stone steps put me in mind of New York’s brownstones.
Mariacka Street is the place to pick up Gdansk’s most famous souvenir: amber. There are little artisan shops lining the short stretch that sell amber jewellery and all sorts of other amber-themed trinkets.
Next, reserve a good chunk of time for a lap of Long Street, or Ulica Długa as it’s known in Polish. Start from the Golden Gate, one of the imposing gates that stand stoically at each end of the street.
The Golden Gate sits to the west, and walking from there allows you to enjoy a pleasant stroll down to the river.
Be sure to stop and appreciate the 18th-century-style buildings. We kept going back for another glimpse!
Are you wondering how Gdansk has managed to keep its architecture so remarkably unspoiled? It hasn’t. These buildings were constructed after most of the city was damaged during the second world war.
Warning: you may come back from a weekend in Gdansk with a sore neck. I spend the entire trip gazing at the fairytale-like facades adorning the buildings everywhere.
You’ll find some of Gdansk’s main points of interest clustered together in Long Market. The most striking of these is Neptune’s Fountain.
This magnificent 17th-century sculpture was moved and hidden in a safe place during the war and only restored to its original glory in recent years.
Neptune’s Fountain is right outside the Artus Court, which gleams in the sunlight. Once upon a time it was a meeting place for aristocracy, but today it houses part of the Gdańsk History Museum.
The Main Town Hall is also located in Long Market. You can’t miss its Gothic and Renaissance outline, which dominates the city’s skyline.
The Main Town Hall houses the Gdansk History Museum. You can spend about an hour exploring this attraction. The highlight is the ‘red room’, with its elaborately decorated ceiling.
We didn’t go to the Town Hall for the exhibitions. This is where I’d heard you get the best panoramic views of Gdansk.
The entrance fee to the museum in the Main Town Hall is 16 zł, and if you want to go to the tower as well, you have to buy a ticket separately (12 zł).
We counted 412 steps to the top, and they were all worth it!
Back at street level, pass under the Green Gate and you’ll find yourself on a bridge over the Motława River.
The bridge is a great spot to take photos of Gdansk at sunset.
For a new perspective of the city, take a boat trip along the river. There’s a vessel for every type of traveller: from pirate ship to luxury yacht!
Next, stay on the river’s west bank and walk along to the Gdansk Crane.
Unfortunately, it was closed as there was restoration work taking place during our visit, but this is one of the top attractions in Gdansk.
After visiting the crane, cross the bridge and visit another of the best photo spots in Gdansk: the sign!
If you’re visiting Gdansk with kids or just want to see the city from a different perspective, hope on the ferris wheel just behind the sign.
Next, make your way over to Granary Island, an area that’s recently been regenerated. As you walk along the pristine wooden boardwalk over the river, you’ll come to an imposing large ship.
The SS Sołdek holds an important place in the country’s history. It was the first ship to be built in Poland after the second world war.
Today, you can visit a museum onboard the retired coal and ore freighter for just 15 PLN.
The ship forms part of the nearby Maritime Museum in Gdansk, which is spread across four venues.
We could have been good travellers and got something local for dinner after our day of sightseeing in Gdansk, but instead we ate Italian at a riverside restaurant called Sempre.
If you’d prefer a more local experience, you can book a tour to taste traditional Polish food during your stay in Gdansk.
To put the cherry on top of our first day in Gdansk, we sipped wildly creative cocktails at a bar called Flisak ’76. Their menu is made to look like a kid’s fairytale book and I highly recommend a drink there!
Day two in Gdansk: culture and vodka
On our second day in Gdansk, the weather wasn’t quite as good so we dedicated the majority of our time to Gdansk’s indoor attractions.
I recommend looking at the weather forecast before your weekend in Gdansk and planning accordingly.
First, we fuelled up with brunch at ducha66.
Once you’ve eaten, head to the Museum of the Second World War. In addition to the enlightening permanent and temporary exhibitions, there are things to intrigue children.
The museum is open Tuesday – Sunday and you can spend about four hours there.
We grabbed lunch at a place called Woosabi, where the menu is made up of healthy buddha bowls, bao buns and fragrant curries.
You can spend a rainy afternoon in Gdansk at the European Solidarity Centre. This attraction is dedicated to the history of solidarity and opposition movements of Communist Eastern Europe. It’s open every day.
After all that history and culture, it’s time to let loose. And what better way to unwind when in Poland than with a vodka tour?
We booked this two-hour GetYourGuide tour. Our guide was fantastic, showing us bars we’d probably never have found ourselves, and supplying six different shots of vodka for us to taste.
We learned all about the spirit’s place in Polish culture and even got to taste some Polish delicacies as we sipped.
When the vodka tasting had come to an end we weren’t ready to go home, so we joined a bar crawl, also booked via GetYourGuide.
The night ended at Bunkier, a cool nightclub housed in an old war bunker / air raid shelter. From the outside, it just looks like a windowless concrete block but inside, there are four floors of music.
I was surprised to find mainstream pop music playing because I was expecting the club to be a bit edgier, but it was still a lot of fun!
Day three in Gdansk: The Tri-City area
After two days in Gdansk, it’s time to escape to the Baltic coast.
One of the best things about Gdansk is that it’s part of a Tri-City. The other two cities that comprise this area are Gydnia and Sopot.
We chose to visit only Sopot, but you can easily fit both of the ‘other’ cities into one day.
To save yourself the hassle of planning and organising transport between each place, check out this one-day private tour of Gdansk, Gydnia and Sopot.
Though well-connected by public transport, we took the easy option of getting an uber and hopping out at the top of ul. Monte Cassino near the Garrison Church of St. George.
We headed down this busy street, which is lined with shops and restaurants, towards the beach.
I had to pause in front of the ‘crooked house’, Krzywy Domek. It’s a bit of a shame it’s just used as a shopping centre, because the architecture is so unique!
Once the playground of Europe’s aristocracy, Sopot has retained the spa resort vibe it became famous for in the 19th century.
Sopot Pier is the longest wooden pier in Europe at over 500m. Complete with pergolas and beautifully tended gardens, its well-maintained boardwalk made me feel like I was in Brighton!
The best time to go to Sopot is in the summer months, when you can truly enjoy the coast, but we enjoyed our Autumn visit to our first Polish beach.
Plus, there’s no entrance fee to Sopot pier at this time of year.
I envy you if you’re visiting the Tri-city area in summer, when you could easily spend a whole day at the beach in Sopot during a long weekend in Gdansk.
This sunset yacht experience would be the perfect romantic activity there!
Once we’d walked the length of the pier and enjoyed looking out to sea, we headed back to Sopot’s main thoroughfare.
On our third day of our trip to Poland, it was finally time for some local cuisine! (For me at least, Tom got a burger.)
We were drawn in to the most peculiar pub called Błękitny Pudel.
The decor made me feel like I was dining in a wacky great-aunt’s house, but I found it really charming and the place was packed, which is always a good sign.
I ordered pierogi filled with goose meat and served with a currant jam. Proper Polish comfort food!
I’d only tasted pierogi once before in Warsaw and it wasn’t a very positive experience, so I’m glad I took a chance on ordering the dumplings in Sopot and got over my wobbly introduction to Polish delicacies.
Back in Gdansk that night, we chanced upon a fantastic little cocktail bar called Winston Bar. It was the perfect place to raise a glass the end of our final day in Gdansk.
Gdansk FAQs
How many days do you need in Gdansk?
I’d say that three days is the perfect amount of time in Gdansk if you’re visiting in the cooler months.
You can spend one day just walking around and taking it all in, another visiting the museums that most appeal to you, and a third either exploring the rest of the Tri-state area, or enjoying a day trip to Stutthof Concentration Camp or Malbork Castle.
If you’re visiting Gdansk in summer, you could stay for slightly longer and spend more time at the coast.
When is the best time of year to go to Gdansk?
We visited in October, when the temperature wasn’t so low that sightseeing wasn’t enjoyable. It’s generally cheaper to travel to Poland outside of peak summer dates. Of course, the sun sets earlier then, so you’d have less time to explore.
Though the city wasn’t busy and we didn’t have to queue for any attractions during our Autumn weekend in Gdansk, there were long queues for some of the more popular restaurants each night.
Is Gdansk expensive?
We found the prices in Gdansk on par with those in Krakow, but perhaps a little more expensive than Warsaw. Poland is a cheap travel destination for travellers from the UK or the States.
We tend to treat ourselves to more high-end experiences when we’re in places like Gdansk because they’re more affordable than they are at home, but you can absolutely visit Gdansk on a budget.
What currency is used in Gdansk?
Poland uses Polish Zloty. We had no issues finding a currency exchange place on the main street when we arrived.
I hope you find my guide to spending the best three days in Gdansk useful!
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