Gdańsk

The rebuilt main street: Neptune's Fountain, Artus Court and tall gabled merchant houses. Walk it early, before the amber shops open.

Plac Solidarności 1, at the shipyard gate. How a strike here helped bring down the Eastern Bloc. Rooftop garden included in the ticket.

Plac Bartoszewskiego 1. A vast underground exhibition on the war that began just outside this city. Closed Mondays; book online.

Claimed as the largest brick church in the world. Four hundred-odd steps up the tower buy the best view over the red roofs.

The Motława quay running past the medieval Crane, with boats out to Westerplatte and a run of bars on the far bank.

Lech Wałęsa airport lies 12km west. The PKM/SKM train reaches Gdańsk Główny in about 30 minutes; bus 210 is slower and cheaper.

PKP Intercity links Warszawa Centralna and Gdańsk Główny in roughly 3 hours, running hourly through the day. Book ahead.

Car and passenger ferries cross from southern Sweden to Gdańsk and neighbouring Gdynia; a useful arrival if you are coming south.

June to early September, for the beaches and long Baltic evenings

October to April, once the coast empties out completely

July and August, especially during St Dominic's Fair

Coffee on the Motława, then Długi Targ and the Royal Way while it is still quiet. Climb St Mary's tower if the sky is clear.

Walk north to the shipyard for the European Solidarity Centre; the permanent exhibition needs a good two hours.

Fish on the waterfront, or a cheap Polish canteen a street back from it. Herring with a shot of cold vodka is the local order.

The Amber Museum in the Great Mill, then the SKM train out to Sopot for the wooden pier and the beach.

Cocktails at Flisak '76, a slow drink at Józef K, then out to the 100cznia container yard for DJs and late street food.

Twenty minutes on the SKM train. Europe's longest wooden pier, a wide sand beach and the Monte Cassino bar strip behind it.

The world's largest brick castle, 60km south and under an hour by train. Opens at 9:00; allow half a day for the historic route.