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Bike Trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach

On our trip to Gdansk we also wanted to see the Baltic coast. So we took bikes and spent a day on a lovely bike trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach.

Sopot, Poland, is a postcard-pretty spa town a bit north of Gdansk, famous for its warm thermal baths, long sandy beach with wooden piers, and Sopot also has music festivals.

In cooperation with: Polish Tourist Organisation

Sopot Pier

Sopot beach and pier in North Poland

We found a good bike lane running all the way from Gdansk to Bzezno. Bzezno is the first town when you reach the Baltic coast. From there we took the bike lane to Sopot, all the way along the long sandy beach.

In Sopot again we walked on the famous pier, saw some other top attractions and finally had a good lunch. This program finally took us so much time that we had to take a train back to Gdansk as it was getting dark by the time we wanted to return.

Bike Trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach on the Map

 

This is the biking itinerary from Gdansk to Sopot Beach, first to Brzezno and north along the beach to Sopot. We took the train back but you can well cycle back and choose another itinerary back to Gdansk.

Renting Bikes in Gdansk

The bikes were booked in advance so we just walked from our hotel to the bike rental in the outskirts of the old town of Gdansk.

In the picture you can see an old tower that is a part of the red city wall of Gdansk. To the right is the old market hall of Gdansk.

Gdansk Old Town and a tower

The garage where the bikes were kept turned out to be on a back yard, in fact we had to walk through two or three back yards to find the right place. I saved their contact information in the picture, just in case someone is interested in renting a bike in Gdansk. But check with them where the bike rental is!

 

You can click on the small photos to open them up in a slideshow.

Starting a Bike Trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach

The bikes were good and we set off towards Sopot Beach, first along small side streets. We saw pretty houses and quiet streets on the way to the central railway station of Gdansk that you can see in the picture below.

 

After the train station we had to cross some busy main streets, but no problem, a bike lane began here and it continued all the way to the Baltic coast that was only  7 or 8 kilometers away. On the way we stopped and examined at a green tank that was placed on the roadside to remind of the Second World War.

 

In this part of the city there were no suburbs with high buildings as we had expected to see, it was more like a quiet residential area.

Bike trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach

Between Gdansk and Bzezno there is an open green area with small garden plots where people used to grow their vegetables in the Communism period. And the garden plots are still in use and why shouldn’t they? Growing your own potatoes and vegetables always is a good idea.

The Baltic Coast: Bzezno

Bzezno beach and Sopot pier

We didn’t go to the center of Bzezno but headed straight to the long wooden pier that is similar to the Sopot Pier, but shorter. The Sopot Pier is the longest wooden pier in all Europe, 511 meters long. You can see it in the distance. And in between it’s all sandy beach – all the way from Bzezno to Sopot!

 

Like Sopot, Bzezno, too, has sand on both sides of its pier. It was a cold Friday morning and yet there were lots of locals walking along the long pier.

A restaurant by Bzezno pier, Gdansk

Bzezno beach has a restaurant, or wine-bar, where locals were sitting on the terrace and enjoying the spring sunshine.  We locked our bikes in the nice modern red bike holders that you can see below.

Sopot, a Baltic Sea Spa Town

Biking towards Sopot Beach

The bike road to Sopot follows the beach which mostly you don’t see as it hides behind the massive sand dunes.

There are beautiful old villas and other kind of holiday accommodation all the way to Sopot., As we were there in May, cafes and restaurants were preparing to open for the high-season that was to begin in a few weeks.

Bike Trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach

Before reaching central Sopot we passed by a group of houses called the Fishermen’s Village. It’s designed in the early 1900’s for fishermen and only a few houses remain. The Fishermen’s Village then had to give way to the huge crowds of bath tourists that found the area.

Today many artists stay and paint in the pretty houses around Fisherman’s Square. You can see the Fishermen’s Village and some Sopot villas in these photos:

 

This picture shows the Kosciol Zbawiciela church that is the only Lutheran church is the Sopot area. As Poland is a Catholic country all other churches are Catholic.

Kosciol Zbawiciela church, Sopot

In a lush park in front of the Lutheran church you can find a fountain that has natural thermal water, coming from a spring deep down in the earth. In fact Sopot and its beach area are well known for these natural springs and baths. Sopot has lots of bath hotels providing different beauty and health treatments.

Sopot Beach and Pier

Sopot Pier

In these pictures you can see the 511 meters long Sopot Pier. Originally the wooden pier has not been that long, it has gradually been lengthened. In the summer there is a pier restaurant, a pier cafe and – a marina at the very end of the pier.

 

Ferry from Sopot to Hel

You can make a day trip to a place called Hel from Sopot in the summer, there is a boat connection from the end of Sopot Pier.

Hel is a long, narrow peninsula that protects the bay from storms of the Baltic Sea, and the peninsula also makes Sopot waters keep warm.

Hel is a good destination for biking trips and I would love to go there. But outside the summer season you would first have to drive a long way around the bay, to get to Hel.

Bike trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach

Sopot Beach originally was where rich citizens of Gdansk built their summer houses. Later Sopot got popular with people that wanted to improve their health in the area’s thermal baths, and in the 1920’s Sopot grew to an international spa resort and became a well-known holiday resort in all Europe.

 

Today the city has 40 000 inhabitants and a dozen quality spa centres and hotels. You can see some beautiful old Sopot hotels in my pictures. The most famous of them are the Grand Hotel and Sheraton.

Bohaterow Monte Cassino Promenade

Monte Cassino Promenade, Sopot

Bohaterow Monte Cassino Promenade is the name of the main street of Sopot that leads straight through the city to the pier. They say the promenade is swarming with people, all times of the day. It must be true, at least when we were biking, the promenade was packed with people and we had to slow down and walk with our bikes.

The Crooked House

The Crooked House, Sopot

This is the Crooked House, one of Sopot’s main sights built in 2004. The Crooked House is listed on the top 50 strangest buildings in the world.

Inside the house there are cafes, shops and restaurants – and everything is crooked, as well as in the outside. I have to say I got the feeling I had something wrong with my eyes. The house looks like all other houses in the row, but yet so different. I really like the Crooked House!

Sopot Forest Opera

We continued up the hill towards the famous Forest Opera. The Opera is the place where the Sopot International Song Festival is held yearly. And as you can imagine the Opera is located in a deep forest, a quite pretty forest indeed.

Bike trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach

But we were not going to the Opera, there is also a well-known steak house we came here for it! We really started to feel hungry after cycling 17 km, and a demanding uphill ride from Sopot Beach made us feel even more hungry.

Delmonico Cut Steakhouse, Sopot

Delmonico Cut Steak House, Sopot

The Delmonico Cut Steakhouse is a family enterprise that has imported Wagyu cattle from the U.S.  They are serving Wagyu steak here but only at certain times as wagyu steak is something that not always is available.

 

The staff let us taste different steak types that they brought to our table in hot pans.

Wagyu steak, Delmonico Cut Steak House, Sopot

To start with we had tomato soup. Everything we tasted in this place, including their house wine, was very good. As this restaurant is located next door to the Forest Opera it must be the perfect after opera dining place.

 

I tried to learn more about Wagyu cattle on the Delmonico Cut Steakhouse website but the English version didn’t work. But maybe you can read Polish:

Delmonico Cut Steakhouse >>

More restaurants in the Gdansk area >>

From Sopot to Gdansk

After we had finished the lunch we noticed that to get back to Gdansk before dark we will have to take the train. No problem at all, there is a train every 7 minutes and you can easily take your bike with you on the train.

 

The bike holders in the train were not the least usable but we finally managed it. And the lifts at the stations didn’t work but we managed to carry our bikes up and down the stairs.

 

Then, in just 25 minutes we were back in Gdansk. Where should we go next?

Yes, we have to return the bikes to the bike rental!

Distances from Gdansk

 

I hope you liked reading about our bike trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach. We liked the trip and I can recommend  sightseeing in Gdansk by bike.

Alternatively you can take the train to Sopot both ways and just have a nice walk in Sopot. Sopot’s train station is at a short walking distance from the pier, just take the main promenade downhill.

Bike Trip from Gdansk to Sopot Beach on Sports Tracker

If you got interested in making a bike trip to Sopot, here is a more precise bike route saved with our Sports Tracker:

Bike trip to Sopot

Bike route from Gdnask to Sopot on Sports Tracker

Our trip to Gdansk was made in cooperation with the Polish Tourism Board, but like always all opinions shared in this blog post are our own.

More about Gdansk and its Surroundings:

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2 comments

  1. Great trip! I love cycling from Gdańsk to Sopot. Sometimes I choose your route by the seaside and sometimes I choose the route that is in the forest (Lasy Oliwskie) where you can get a little more tired as you go up and down the hills 🙂

    Bartek from Gdańsk

  2. Thanks Bartek. I’d love to see that forest, your forests are so pretty!

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