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By plane
Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport is located 15 km from Gdańsk city center with flights to many cities in Europe. The airport is well-communicated with the city center of Gdańsk and Gdynia (taxis, buses, shuttles, car-hire options).
The airport is served by Star Alliance airlines: LOT, Lufthansa, and SAS, each of which operates 3-7 flights a day to their hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Warsaw, Copenhagen, and other airports. Budget airlines serve destinations in Germany, the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. For more information, see the airport website. It is also possible to fly to Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport and connect to a domestic flight to Gdańsk or take an Intercity train (connections every 1-2h, trip duration 3h).
By train
Polish Railways (PKP) provide direct connections from Gdansk to all major Polish cities and to Berlin. Estimated travel time is 3h from Warsaw, 6h from Berlin.
By car
Travel time by car is 3-4h from Warsaw and 6h from Berlin. Two ferry connections operate to Sweden: Polferries has a daily ferry between Gdańsk and Nynashamn near Stockholm, and Stena Line operates 2 ferries a day between Gdynia (20 km from Gdansk) and Karlskrona.
Getting around
Taxi: Official taxis are clearly marked and reasonably priced, usually displaying a five-digit phone number. Transfers from the airport to the city center cost about 40-80 PLN, while trips within the downtown area usually cost not more than 15-25 PLN. To avoid being overcharged, make sure to have cash in PLN ready. The taxi driver is required to give you a printed receipt and is expected to give you exact change. Tipping is not required; rounding up the fare to the nearest multiple of 5 PLN would be considered more than sufficient.
Bus and tram: Gdańsk has a well-developed bus and tram network (including airport buses and night buses) with time-tables and maps available online. Regular commuter trains connect Gdansk, Sopot, and Gdynia (every 7 minutes in the rush hour). Use jakdojade.pl to find connections within the metropolitan area.
Several car hire options are available at Gdansk Airport.
Currency
The currency in Poland is PLN - Polish Zloty (rough exchange rates: 1 EUR = 4,2 PLN, 1 USD = 3.8 PLN). All major credit cards are widely accepted, though some small businesses and taxis will take cash payments, only. There are one or two ATM-s located in the arrival hall of Gdansk airport, and plenty throughout the city center. You can also find several money changing boutiques in the downtown area which offer reasonable exchange rates (avoid money-changers at the airport!).
When using a foreign credit card, the card terminal or ATM may offer you the possibility of payment directly in your currency (EUR, GBP, USD). You will usually be slightly better off turning down the offer, and going for the currency conversion offered by your home bank.
About Gdańsk
| Gdańsk (formerly Danzig) is a 1000-year old city on the Baltic coast in northern Poland, with medieval tenements overlooking the Motława River. Historically an important seaport and shipbuilding centre, Gdańsk was a member of the Hanseatic League. It has a complex political history with periods of Polish rule, periods of German rule, and extensive self-rule, with two spells as a free city. The city lies in the delta of Vistula river on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay (of the Baltic Sea), in a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdynia and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto), with a population of over 800,000. The city was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which, under the leadership of political activist Lech Wałęsa, played a major role in bringing an end to Communist rule across Central Europe. |
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Things to see & do in Gdańsk
- Historic city center of Gdańsk: the Old Town with its XIV-century tenements, town hall, Motława riverside, medieval churches (including Mariacki Church, the largest brick church in Europe), numerous restaurants, and beer cellars.
- Sea and river cruises with boats leaving directly from the Old Town, around the Bay of Gdańsk and to the Hel peninsula.
- Seaside resorts: the pleasant seaside town of Sopot, with its sandy beaches, is located 10km from the center of Gdańsk and well communicated. Other seaside resorts are reachable by car, train, bus or ferry.
- Modern history: monument of the Solidarity movement which started the fall of communism in Europe; monument in Westerplatte where the first shot of WWII was fired.
- Shops with amber, crystal glass, and local folk products.
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Within a radius of 100km:
- Kashubia post-glacial lake district with wild forests and hills offering beautiful views - 1h by bus.
- The largest medieval brick castle in Europe, located in the town of Malbork, once the capital of the Country of the Knights of the Teutonic Order - 50min. by train.
Useful links
Gdansk
http://www.gdansk4u.pl/en/discover-gdansk-page-2
http://www.gdansk.pl/urzad/komunikacja - public transport
http://www.ztm.gda.pl/hmvc/ - tramps and buses in Gdansk
http://www.skm.pkp.pl/en/ Suburban train - Szybka kolej miejska (SKM) ułatwia poruszanie się po całym Trójmieście
Sopot
Gdynia
http://gdyniaturystyczna.pl/en/
http://www.zkmgdynia.pl/?lang=uk - public transport
