Things to do
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Crooked House
A shopping and restaurant building on Monte Cassino Street whose facade appears to melt, with warped windows, a bulging doorway and a roof like a crumpled cap. It opened in 2004 and was drawn from the fairy tale illustrations of two Polish artists. The shops inside are ordinary. The facade is the point, and the best photograph comes from across the street.
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Forest Opera
An open air amphitheatre set in a wooded hollow on the western edge of town, opened in 1909 for summer opera and now given a retractable roof. It hosts the long running Sopot song festival and big summer concerts. Tickets are for events only, so check the programme and book ahead. The walk from the pier takes about half an hour, uphill at the end.
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Monte Cassino Street
The pedestrian main street of the resort, known locally as Monciak, running downhill from the railway line to the foot of the pier. Painted villas with wooden balconies hold cafés, ice cream counters and bars that stay open late in summer. It is quietest in the morning. On warm weekend nights it fills shoulder to shoulder until well after midnight.
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Museum of Sopot
A seafront villa built for a Gdańsk merchant family at the turn of the twentieth century, furnished as the comfortable home of a resort household of that time. Rooms of carved wood, period china and paintings tell the story of the spa in its heyday. Temporary shows fill the upper floor. It is ticketed and closed on Mondays.
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Sofitel Grand
The grand seaside hotel of the Baltic coast, opened in 1927 as a casino hotel directly on the sand beside the Sopot pier. Its white facade, marble halls and sea view rooms have hosted film stars and heads of state for a century. A spa with a pool facing the water and a private stretch of beach make it a summer base. Book well ahead for July and August.
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Sopot Lighthouse
A brick lighthouse beside the old spa house at the landward end of the pier, still working and built on top of a former boiler house chimney. A narrow stair climbs to a gallery with a view along the whole beach and across the bay to Gdańsk. The tower opens to climbers in the summer season only. Expect a short queue on fine afternoons.
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Sopot Pier
A timber promenade running more than five hundred metres out into the bay, the longest wooden pier in Europe. A marina sits near its end, and boats leave from it in summer for Gdańsk, Gdynia and the Hel Peninsula. The beaches on either side are the town's main sand. Entry is ticketed in the summer season and free from autumn to spring.
