Nice place to holiday in the North of Poland?

Hi Guys,
My Polish isn't good enough so this one's going to be in English!
Is there any place with a nice beach near a small town that you could recommend for a holiday for a few days in the North of Poland? Some place that would be safe for two kids to play, a place where you can get a good night's sleep, and where you could maybe walk into the town in the evening for dinner? I've heard of Sopot, but is that more like a big busy city?

The other option is this - is there some really nice quiet town in the Mazury on the lakes that anyone could recommend?
Basically I need to advise a few people about what to do in Poland next July as there is a big gang of us going over to Augustow for a wedding. I know that part of Poland pretty well. I will need to advise a lot of uncles and aunties about where they could spend a few days somewhere else before coming over to the wedding as they want to see a bit of Poland. None of these people have been there before. Most of them will rent a car from either Gdansk, Warsaw or Kaunas(Kowno) so they will be independent. I just need to tell them where would be good... and importantly some place that they won't get lost and frustrated because of the language barrier. I would love to just tell them to go to Lake Wigry or something, and while I thought it was great, I had the luxury of being with Polish people that knew their way around... but nobody spoke English there, and it's just not an option and it wouldn't be fair to cousins to send them there.

So, Sell Poland to me as a tourist destination.
All options considered. Thanks in advance!

I love Kolobrzeg, on the Baltic coast. Takes about an hour to get there on the bus from Szczecin.

Go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hel,_Poland

Click on the word Hel for more information. It is an interesting place.

And welcome to the Polish Forum.

Good luck.

Thanks for Kolobgrzeg suggestion - hadn't heard of it before. Looks great, but, I think that drive to Augustow would kill them! :(

Any experience of holidaying around the Mazury? I'm just looking at the map here... Would Wegorzewo, or Gizicko be the type of thing I am describing?

Just saw that Hel place Jack! Looks like a very very good option... Investigating as I type....

It is where the Nazi Germans first invaded and has loads of bunker and WWII stuff.

Plus everyone always to "go to hell!" so I took them up on the offer.
I am not sure if they new there was a real place called Hel anyways... :)

Isn't AUGUSTOW in the South-East, Near LUBLIN?
It's along way from the Baltic coast.

Mt workmate had a week in Masuria last september and returned with a tan like he'd been to Barbados! He's been real lucky with the weather and caught a proper 'indian summer'!

If you spend an hour browsing through either LONELY PLANET or ROUGH GUIDE to POLAND I'm positive you'll find a place that fits your wishlist perfectly.

No, North East.

Kolobrzeg is most definately on the Baltic Coast.

Also check out Swinoujscie, close to te German border. There is a feature on it in the current edition of Discover Poland magazine (just flicking through it now in fact). I don't see the online version on discoverpl.com yet, but I'm sure that if you drop them a line, they'll send you a copy in the post.

I was going to suggest there...its the nearest seaside to my place , nice town , lots to see including a good military museum if you are into that sort of stuff...lots of pleaure boats for a sail on the Baltic...friendly town....

I could just happily sit in cafes and bars there all day :)

Do not even consider going to £eba: over-hyped, over-crowded (good luck finding space to put your towel on) and, most of all, over-priced. I was there for a single night last year and paid 850zl for a double room at the Hotel Neptun: a place which would never be mistaken for a four-star hotel and which featured a room complete with sandy footprints on the carpet when we arrived.

Maybe not for a stay, but I'd definitely recommend the sand dunes at Leba. Where else can you see something like that in Poland?

GO TO OSTRODA! I LOVED IT AND HAVE POSTED SOME VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE!

Mazurian Lakes...

Ełk, Mikołajki, Augustów, ...mhmmm...go for it!:-)

Sopot is the place you need to go, very small place, extremely safe. You can walk to Gydinia, along the coastline. There are only small bars and cafes, and a beautiful beach for kids to play on all day. No drunken bumbs wandering around, and no hoardes of drunken stag-nighters. It is a totally relaxing place, right near the train station and you can visit Malborgh Castle, which is awesome and only 40 mins from the local railway station.

I would hghly recommend. I took my kids there when they were little and we loved it, it has not changed for many years.

i would reccommend hel as well

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I love Old Town Gdansk, Sopot, Gdynia, and Hel, and lots of other places near the trojmiasto. Malbork is definitely worth a trip. From about the third week in July until mid Agust Gdansk hosts St Dominic's Fair. Lots of free concerts, but also lots of tourists, so if you plan to come during that time, book a hotel or hostel early.

Totally agree ! Sopot is within walking distance from Gdynia (which itself is worth seeing). Gdansk is also a 15 min drive away.

Sopot is a lovely seaside resort with nice restaurants and bars. It also has an AquaPark and the Zoo at Gdansk is worth seeing.

Using Sopot as a base, Hel Peninsula is around a 50 min drive away but you can catch a ferry from Gdynia to Hel

Ok guys - thank you for all your replies. My relatives have chosen Sopot. All they need now is to book themselves into some apartment...

I'm kind of having trouble finding decent ones within a short walk to a beach. Also, they did find some hotel, but it would have worked out at 2100 euros for 10 days!! no way. they could all go to spain for 2 weeks for that money...

anyway, does anybody know of either an agency or direct links to apartments on offer that would be reasonably priced? Say euro 400 per week or something? Does that exist?? Preferably somewhere clean... that would sleep two adults and two children.

Thanks a lot for any help!

I'm going to be staying at Hotel La La La in Sopot at the end of March - seems pretty reasonable. Check out lalala.lu

Also see the December edition of Discover Poland magazine - it has a special pull-out section on Gdansk, but it also mentions a few places to stay, including apartments in Tri-City (which includes Spopot).

i recommend lalala as one of the funkier alternative places to stay in sopot - each room is designed by a different artist or designer. great selection of wine (owners dad has an excelent wine shop in central sopot), good food, an outside chill-out area and a whole heap of funky weird sh!t going on)

best way into the centre is straight down to the sea front, turn left and walk between the pine trees and beach until you come to the molo. depending on the season you will find any number of things to distract you on the way.

Cool - I am really looking forward to it :)

johnny_ireland - infhotel.pl/sopot/zacisze Prices on this site are outdated. It's 240pln (52 euro) per night for 2 persons in the summer.

I was there a few weeks ago - it was brilliant! I really recommend it. Funky room, and friendly staff - and the bar is quite lively place to hang out at night.

The only downside is that its not really in the town centre, so there's about a 20 walk (30 if you're in heels... 40 if you're in heels and you get a bit lost), though a cab is only a couple of zloty.

Note that during the later part of the summer, the water is often out-of-bounds due to algae. The water is very quiet, gets very warm, and then turns red and icky.

We've given up heading for the beach there and head north instead -- either the north coast proper, or somewhere on the north side of the Hel peninsula.

Chałupy, on the Hel peninsula, gives easy access to both the Baltic and the Bay of Gdansk.
villabaltic.pl/ : never stayed there but know the people who own it and they speak fluent English.