Things to do in Gdańsk, Wrocław & the North

On Gdańsk's Long Market, the Artus Court opposite Neptune's Fountain holds Europe's largest tiled stove, the Gdańsk Main Town Hall is known for its richly decorated Renaissance hall, and the Museum of Amber shows how Baltic amber has been worked over the centuries, while the medieval Gdańsk Crane on the Motława ends its maritime exhibition at 6 m treadwheels. The European Solidarity Centre beside the shipyard follows the Solidarity movement to the fall of communism, the Museum of the Second World War examines the war and its impact on civilians, and Westerplatte, the peninsula where the Second World War began, is being developed as a branch of that museum with a Visitor Centre and an archaeology exhibition. Sopot Pier runs 511.5 m into the Baltic, and Malbork Castle, the vast brick castle where the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order moved the seat in 1309, takes about two hours to explore. In Wrocław, colourful townhouses ring the Market Square and its Gothic Old Town Hall, bronze dwarfs hide all over the old town, the Panorama of Racławice surrounds viewers with a 15 × 114 m painting, and Ostrów Tumski is home to Wrocław Cathedral with its 21 chapels; in Advent, Christmas markets fill the Wrocław Market Square and Gdańsk's Targ Węglowy.

Good to knowThe Artus Court, the Main Town Hall and the Museum of Amber are closed on Tuesdays and free on Mondays, while the Gdańsk Crane is closed on Mondays and free on Wednesday afternoons, and the Main Town Hall's observation tower is closed for renovation. Tuesday admission at the Museum of the Second World War is free but capped and cannot be reserved, so expect a long queue, and the European Solidarity Centre's exhibition closes on Tuesdays from October to April. Malbork Castle's ticket includes an audio guide for the roughly two-hour historical route, the Panorama of Racławice is closed on Mondays in winter, and bring a warm layer for the sea wind at the end of Sopot Pier.