Practical Information for visiting Pomerania

Coverage for mobile networks is comprehensive, with 5G across the Tricity and strong 4G along the coast and inland.

EU and EEA roaming applies at domestic rates; prepaid SIMs are cheap for everyone else.

Wi-Fi is free and fast in hotels, cafes and on trains. Gdansk has a substantial technology sector and good co-working provision.

Signal is reliable on the Hel peninsula and thinner in the Slowinski dunes and the Kashubian forests.

Contactless payment works essentially everywhere, including at harbour smokehouses.

Pomerania is safe, and the Tricity is a comfortable place to move around. The hazards are mostly the sea and the weather.

• Baltic swimming: rip currents form along the sandbars, the water is cold enough for cold-water shock in early summer, and drownings occur each year. Swim at beaches with lifeguards and heed the flags, which are used properly here.
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• Storms and coastal flooding in autumn and winter, particularly in the low-lying delta.
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• Pickpocketing in Gdansk’s tourist streets and at Saint Dominic’s Fair.
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• Sopot nightlife in summer, where stag groups and heavy drinking can make Monte Cassino street unpleasant late on.
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• Unexploded ordnance is still found on the coast and in the sea; if something is uncovered on a beach, do not touch it and report it.
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• Ticks in the forests inland.

Healthcare is good, with a university hospital in Gdansk and a substantial private sector. EU and EEA visitors are covered by the European Health Insurance Card; others need insurance.

Vaccinations: routine cover. Tick-borne encephalitis is present in the forested inland areas; consider it for a walking trip, and check for ticks. Lyme disease is common.

The Baltic: summer cyanobacterial blooms occur in warm still weather, particularly in the bay, and beaches are closed when they do. The bacteria can cause skin and stomach reactions; the closures are published and should be observed.

Cold water is the more serious risk — the sea is cold enough into June for cold-water shock, which incapacitates quickly.

Tap water is safe.

Wind and sun: burn happens easily on a breezy beach where you do not feel hot.

At Westerplatte and Stutthof, behave as at a war grave. Stutthof, near Sztutowo, was a concentration camp where tens of thousands died and is a memorial site, not an attraction.

The Solidarity sites are treated as national patrimony and visitors are expected to take them seriously.

Amber: buy from certified workshops. Fakes are common on the beach and at markets, and heated plastic is sold as amber routinely.

Beach etiquette: nudity is permitted only at designated beaches, which are signposted. Windbreaks are a Polish beach institution and pitching one too close to someone else’s is the local faux pas.

Greetings: dzien dobry on entering anywhere, and formality with strangers.

Churches are in use; dress modestly.

Alcohol in public, including on beaches, is prohibited and fined.

Emergency numbers: 112 across the EU, or 999 for ambulance, 997 for police, 998 for fire. Operators on 112 speak English.

Medical. The university clinical centre in Gdansk is the regional referral hospital. EU and EEA visitors should carry an EHIC; private clinics are quick and inexpensive.

At sea and on the beaches, WOPR lifeguards cover the designated beaches in season and are reached through 112 or 601 100 100. Outside July and August there is no lifeguard cover at all.

Beach closures for algal blooms are published by the sanitary inspectorate and posted at the entrances; they are worth checking in a hot still August.

Storm warnings matter on the coast and in the delta; follow local instructions.

Several countries maintain consulates in Gdansk; embassies are in Warsaw, under three hours by train.