Gdańsk, Pomerania

Day 1

• Długi Targ and Ulica Długa (Long Market and Long Street)

  What you see did not survive the war: in 1945 the centre was rubble, and the patrician houses were rebuilt from the 1950s on using period drawings and views. That is why the facades are so regular and the colours so bright: they are a scholarly reconstruction, not an intact old town, and knowing it changes what you are looking at. The axis runs from the Golden Gate to the Green Gate and takes 15 minutes to walk; the parallel streets, Piwna and Chlebnicka, have the same facades and a tenth of the people.

• Neptune Fountain

  The fountain has worked since 1633 and is the oldest in Gdańsk. During the war it was taken apart piece by piece and hidden outside the city: what you see is the reassembled original, not a copy like most of the buildings around it. It stands in front of the Artus Court, at the most photographed crossing of the Long Market, so having it without people in the frame means 07:00 in the morning or late in the evening.

• St Mary's Basilica

  The church is one of the largest brick churches in the world, but the main event is the climb: 409 steps up to 82 metres, much of it on an original medieval spiral stair, narrow and without a lift. It costs 6 złoty, 3 reduced, about 1.40 €: the cheapest panorama in Europe. In high season the tower opens 09:00-18:00 Monday to Saturday and only from 13:00 to 18:00 on Sunday, after services. In bad weather, and during thunderstorms in particular, it closes without notice.

Day 2

• Żuraw (the medieval Crane on the Motława)

  It is a medieval port crane that ran on human power: two enormous wheels trodden from inside by men walking, hamster-fashion, to lift cargo and raise ships' masts. Today it is part of the National Maritime Museum, which is split across several sites on both banks of the Motława, linked by a small ferry. The far bank, Granary Island, is where you photograph the crane whole: from the crane's own side you cannot get it in frame.

• Ulica Mariacka (amber street)

  These are the przedproża, the raised terraces in front of the houses with their side stairs: they kept the doorways above the water level and today they are the most photographed stretch in the city. The dragon-shaped gargoyles jut from the roofs to throw water clear of the facades, which is why they are that long. Almost all the amber shops are here: real amber floats in salt water and warms to the touch, plastic does not.

• Baltic herring and fish pierogi

  Here the pierogi are not the meat ones of the interior: you find them filled with Baltic fish and with mushrooms, and the herring comes cured five or six different ways. In oil, in soured cream, with onion, with dill. This is Hanseatic cooking, not inland Polish. In the taverns along the Motława you pay for the position: the same dishes, two streets in, cost a third less.

Day 1

• European Solidarity Centre (ECS)✦ hidden gem

  The permanent exhibition costs 30 złoty, 25 reduced, audio guide included. The timetable shifts with the season and hides a trap: from October to April Tuesday is a technical day and the exhibition is closed, while the building stays open. From May to September you enter Monday to Friday 10am-7pm and at weekends 10am-8pm. It stands at the shipyard, where Solidarność actually began, twenty minutes on foot from the Long Market: it needs half a day, not an hour.

• Westerplatte✦ hidden gem

  This is where the Second World War began, at dawn on 1 September 1939, and it is not a museum: it is an open peninsula with the ruins of the barracks, the bunkers and the monument to the defenders. There is no ticket office and no timetable. You get there by bus or, far better, on the boats that run up the Motława from the centre: the trip on the water passes the shipyard and is worth as much as the destination. Budget half a day, and there is almost nowhere to shelter.

• Sopot and the Baltic beach✦ hidden gem

  Sopot is minutes away on the SKM, the urban train linking the three cities, which runs every few minutes: you take it like a metro and it costs a few złoty. The wooden pier is the longest in Europe and in season access to it may be charged, while the beach around it stays free. The Baltic is cold even in July, so this is a beach for walking rather than swimming, and the real season lasts a few weeks between late June and August.

Day 2

• Goldwasser✦ hidden gem

  It is a herbal liqueur with flakes of real gold in suspension, invented in Gdańsk in the 16th century: the gold has no taste, it was there to justify the price and to promise curative powers. It is drunk at the end of a meal, cold, in small glasses, and tastes sweet and spiced rather than strong. It is the city's liquid souvenir and every shop in the centre has it: small bottles clear hand luggage only if under 100 ml, so it goes in the hold.

• Żurek and bar mleczny

  Żurek is a sour soup of fermented rye, often served inside a hollowed loaf, with sausage and half a hard-boiled egg: the sourness is the point, not a fault. The bar mleczny are the people's canteens created in the socialist era and still subsidised: you order at the till from a handwritten menu in Polish only, pay cash, wait for your number and clear your own table. A full meal costs a fraction of what it costs on the Long Market.

Day 1

• Baltic herring and fish pierogi

  Here the pierogi are not the meat ones of the interior: you find them filled with Baltic fish and with mushrooms, and the herring comes cured five or six different ways. In oil, in soured cream, with onion, with dill. This is Hanseatic cooking, not inland Polish. In the taverns along the Motława you pay for the position: the same dishes, two streets in, cost a third less.

• Goldwasser✦ hidden gem

  It is a herbal liqueur with flakes of real gold in suspension, invented in Gdańsk in the 16th century: the gold has no taste, it was there to justify the price and to promise curative powers. It is drunk at the end of a meal, cold, in small glasses, and tastes sweet and spiced rather than strong. It is the city's liquid souvenir and every shop in the centre has it: small bottles clear hand luggage only if under 100 ml, so it goes in the hold.

• Żurek and bar mleczny

  Żurek is a sour soup of fermented rye, often served inside a hollowed loaf, with sausage and half a hard-boiled egg: the sourness is the point, not a fault. The bar mleczny are the people's canteens created in the socialist era and still subsidised: you order at the till from a handwritten menu in Polish only, pay cash, wait for your number and clear your own table. A full meal costs a fraction of what it costs on the Long Market.