Recent reviews Sopot
[AllegraFabiana, 22/01/2012] Everything, was outstanding, location, facilities, offer and above all, service. I can truly say that service is one of the most exceptional ones I have ever met in my history as a business traveler. Everything was possible. I have never heard word "no". Everything was serviced with a true smile. I am delighted with my experience with hotel Haffner. I will definitely come back as a leisure guest.
[magdadh, 18/11/2011] One should really be a bit wary of things that seem out of place, and what can be possibly more out of place that a typical Gorale koliba (Highlander log barn or house) from the Tatras plonked right on the beach in the premier Polish seaside resort on the Baltic, 700km north of its rightful location.
But then we don't object to sushi in Paris or curry in Glasgow, and Sopot has another Gorale restaurant (in a somehow more congruent setting by the Morskie Oko tarn (named after one in the Tatras) in the wooded spot of Upper Sopot. That one is called Harnas and although not spectacular, offers d
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[magdadh, 18/11/2011] The de-facto centre of the town, Dolny Sopot stretches between the railway and the sea, bordered on one side by the 3 Maja street and Karlikowo district, on the other by the Kamienny Potok district. All the major attractions of Sopot as well as the town's tourist facilities are located in the Dolny (Lower) Sopot area.
I am probably biased as I lived, studied, worked and played in Sopot until my mid-20s, but I love the place with all my heart (although slightly less so in the very peak of the tourist season when it becomes unbearably crowded).
The main attractions of Dolny Sopot include the
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[magdadh, 18/11/2011] Swiemirowo district lies in the Dolina Swiemirowska valley and stretches in a narrow crescent, following the Mikolaja Reja street into the Sopot woods towards the Lesna Polana forestry cottage. Neither particularly large nor populated, Swiemirowo is not of any interest to visitors, though its location among the woodland of Trojmiejski Park Krajobrazowy (Tri-city Landscape Park) and near several main forest roads (closed to cars) means that it offers a good access point to the trails and tracks that criss-cross the Park.
[magdadh, 18/11/2011] The southernmost district of the town, between the more central section of Dolny (Lower) Sopot and Gdansk's Jelitkowo and Zabianka, Karlikowo is divided by the Bitwy Pod Plowcami street into a wide residential section west of the street and the seaside strip dominated by holiday infrastructure. The residential area features mostly individual family houses sited in large gardens and several developments of modern, upmarket terrace housing and gated apartment complexes. The Polish Prime Minister (at the time of writing) Donald Tusk lives here as do many affluent members of Tri-city intelligentsi
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[magdadh, 18/11/2011] Stretching on the upper terrace of Sopot, Gorny (Upper) Sopot coveres the area between the railway line and the wooded hills of Trojmiejski Park Krajobrazowy (Tri-city Landscape Park). Although not as popular with visitors as adjacent to the sea Dolny (Lower) Sopot, Upper Sopot is a pleasant district with attractions of its own.
The chief of those is the aforementioned Tri-city Landscape Park with lovely walking trails and the Sopot gem the Forest Opera. In the winter, some keen (or desperate) skiers use the lift at Lysa Gora hill to practice for higher pistes.
Upper Sopot has also its s
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[magdadh, 18/11/2011] Brodwino is esentially a small estate of high-rise communist era blocks, nestling in a valley between the wooded hills of Trojmiejski Park Krajobrazowy (Tri-city Landscape Park). The buildings are as ugly as all square blocks, but the beauty of the setting and small size of the estate make up for this.
There are no tourist attractions in Brodwino, but the woodland that surrounds it is a great place for walking and several marked routes pass through or near Brodwino and it's a good starting point for a forest walk to Gdynia-Karwiny.
[magdadh, 18/11/2011] This northernmost district of Sopot has two distinct halves. The eastern half, between the railway and the sea is where the tourist facilities are located; while the western part between the railway and the Brodwino estate is residential.
While the residential part of Kamienny Potok is nothing special, with some modern villas and apartment blocks and several communist-era high-rises, the eastern section has several hotels, some good eating places (notably the Gospoda) as well as one of the prime Sopot attractions, the Aquapark.
The seaside promenade and beach stretch the whole length of So
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[magdadh, 13/10/2011] The Grodzisko (Stronghold) in Sopot is one of the town's newest attractions and one that is definitely worth a visit. Essentially a reconstructed early medieval fort, Grodzisko sits on a hillside above the lower terrace of the town, in an area covered in a lovely beech woodland towards the end of Haffnera street, near the Kamienny Potok district of the town.
The round “pan of the stronghold is surrounded by an earthen wall (the only original structure) on which stands a protective wooden palisade with a guard tower over the entrance gate. Inside, a number of buildings is arranged in a circle
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[magdadh, 30/09/2011] Wedel is an icon among the Polish brands, known for its excellent chocolate. More recently, a chain of chocolate bars have been started under Wedel's mark, and we had a pleasure of visiting the one in Sopot.
Unfittingly for the brand, we had no chocolate - neither drinking nor eating chocolate, though I can vouch for their goodness from other occasions. However, we had Wedel breakfast, which consisted of three morning rolls, a croissant and a pain au chocolate served with a selection of honey jam and (of course!) nuttela-like chocolate cream. There was also a choice of cottage cheese, turke
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[magdadh, 20/09/2011] Park Poludniowy (the Southern Park) is at the very centre of the Sopot resort-spa area. Next to the famous pier and just by the beach, the small park provides a green extension to the seaside promenade. Part of it has been recently refurbished (replanted) in a traditional style, and now offers attractive viewing axes between the promenade and the Grunwaldzka street. The Ewangelicki (Lutheran) church and the old Spa Institute (in which treatments are still given) located in the park are attractive buildings and add to the charm.
South of the church, the small square around the Inhalation Mushr
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[magdadh, 02/04/2011] The Crooked House, or as some will have The Drunken House became one of the most beloved buildings on the Monte Cassino street when it first appeared in 2003. Inspired by artwork by the illustrators Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg, it also has strong touches of Gaudi and even Dali, as much in the feel as in execution. It fits well with the other architecture on this principal Sopot promenade, apparently the architects (Szotynscy Zaleski) intended to make it appear as if it melted or sagged out of tiredness. Less kind compare it to the deflated bouncy castle: and it also fits. All in all,
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[magdadh, 16/01/2011] This is a modern church, without any particular interest for visitors. Not an ugly one, but nothing special. It's not really (or even a bit) a tourist or visitor attraction and nothing to seek out on purpose. It's not even in the centre of town or near any other points of interest.
[magdadh, 03/01/2010] Sopot doesn't exactly abound in wonders of sacred architecture (the best being possibly the modern St Bernard church in the woods), and this neo-Gothic edifice gracing the top square of the Monte Cassino street is nothing special.
It works OK where it is, built into the cliff separating the upper and lower Sopot terrace, but apart from being something of a landmark (the steeple is visible from quite a distance) it doesn't have much to offer to a casual visitor or tourist.
The interior is quite darkly atmospheric and the whole thing has quite a hint of a Teutonic Knights Castle (it was
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[magdadh, 03/01/2010] Zhong Hua is a Chinese restaurant located in the Chinese hotel of the same name, a beautifully ornate building on the Sopot's beach-side promenade.
The restaurant is accessed via the hotel lobby and a corridor, all adorned with Chinese decorations - quite tasteful as far as my judgment goes, though I am not an expert. The dining experience in Zhong Hua is on a formal side - maybe not 100% fine dining (it IS a Chinese in Eastern Europe after all) but still nearer to that than to your local take away.
The staff are dressed in Chinese silks, the wine list looks reasonable and the atmosphe
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[magdadh, 03/01/2010] This place is one of the two ostensibly "goralskie" (Highland Tatras) eateries in Sopot, the second being the beach-side Koliba. I find this somehow incongruous: after all we are 600+ kilometers from the mountains and the Gorale food is not exactly a peak of culinary sophistication.
Still, the building is very attractive (in a perfect rendition of a Tatra cabin, log built and cosy, with tall apex roof), and as a saving grace, stands by the Sopot pond that shares the name (Morskie Oko, or the Eye of the Sea) with one of the most attractive lakes in the Polish Tatras. So, maybe there is some
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[magdadh, 03/01/2010]
Sopot's Aquapark is one of the town's prime attractions both for the visitors and for the locals. Essentially, it's a large leisure complex that comprises of two distinctive parts: a pool area which in turn contains large and complicated leisure pool with whirlpool pools, water massage streams and jets, heated outdoor pool open all year, special children and toddler pool with shallow and very shallow areas and slides and water cannons, two large tube slides and a "wild river". There is also a 25m long, three lane training pool for those wanting a proper swim.
This part of Aquapark is grea
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[magdadh, 03/01/2010] It wasn't me who first compared Sopot's pier (or Molo) to an ironing board, but a famous Polish writer, bohemian personality and poetess, Agnieszka Osiecka, who, although usually a Varsovian, had a strong connection with Sopot and even lived here for a while, and now (she died in 1997) is a honorary patron of one of Sopot's theatricality stages.
Osiecka had a point, as the end piece of the pier is indeed slightly ironing-board shaped. The whole thing is jetty made of wood, on wooden posts (though the triangular head part is concrete - to protect the wooden main deck from winter storms), w
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[magdadh, 03/01/2010] For anybody getting tired of the beach and sea focus of Sopot, there is a large area of woodland that skirts the town on the side opposite of the sea. The Tri-city Landscape Park (as Trojmiejski Park Krajobrazowy translates) stretches along a significant part of the land border of the whole conurbation and provides the green lungs for the city and a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the streets and the beach (at least in season).
The Park is situated in an area of post-glacial hills and valleys, and is largely covered with mixed forest - there is a lot of pine, but also beech,
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[magdadh, 03/01/2010] The inhalation mushroom is simply a slow-flowing fountain, shaped like a mushroom after which it's named (as per picture). The water flowing over the top's surfaces spreads out in sheets and produces a mist of fine spray. The water is not just any water, but the supposedly health-giving, curative Sopot brine, and inhaling the spray is reputed to be beneficial for respiratory conditions both as a cure and preventative.
Regardless of whether you believe in the water cure or not, the Mushroom is a very pleasant spot, surrounded by benches and located in the middle of the Southern Park, surroun
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