The Baltic Seaside & Hel Peninsula: the perfect destination in Poland for those looking for wide sandy beaches or wanting to learn windsurfing
Hel Peninsula (Półwysep Helski) is one of the most picturesque destinations in Poland. Just beautiful. It’s 34 km long, narrow (100 m at the entrance to the Peninsula in Władysławowo, 3 km at the end in Hel town), with sandy land, pine forests, and dunes.
Along the Peninsula, there is a road, bike path, and rail track – so you can get there even by train – no need to suffer in holiday car traffic;)
From the north, there are wide sandy beaches of the Baltic Sea, and from the other side, there is the Bay of Puck (Zatoka Pucka), which offers good conditions for windsurfing and kitesurfing.
The Peninsula is so narrow that walking from one shore to another is easy. It’s the perfect destination for families with smaller children and older kids who want to learn windsurfing (surf schools offer classes in the shallow waters of the Bay of Puck).
Which location to choose?
The Hel Peninsula has five towns/villages: Chałupy, Kuźnica, Jastarnia, Jurata, and finally the town of Hel. The entrance to the Peninsula leads through the town of Władysławowo.
Władysławowo is one of Poland’s most popular summer destinations, meaning it is highly packed during holidays. You may have seen the famous photos of the beach in Władysławowo during high season, filled with people.
If you would like to learn or practice windsurfing and kitesurfing, go to Chałupy (the number one destination in Poland for surfers). It’s an old fishing village. Now it is famous for its campsites and windsurfing and kitesurfing schools, catering to both children and adults.
The next village on the Peninsula is Kuźnica. The beach in Kuźnica – like on the entire Peninsula – is clean, with fine, white sand. There is a guarded swimming area on the beach during the summer holidays. The peninsula in Kuźnica is only 200 m wide, so it is very close to the Baltic Sea beach and the Bay on the other side. You can sometimes see colorful fishing boats on the beach in Kuźnica (the village is a popular fishing center).
Jastarnia offers more restaurants, stores, and hotels than Jurata, and it’s cheaper. However, it is more crowded. Regarding accommodation, in Jastarnia, you can choose from hotels, apartments, guesthouses, holiday resorts, cottages, and camping sites. A seaport in Jastarnia is located on the side of Puck Bay; it is a fishermen’s base, a passenger marina, and a yacht marina.
You can learn windsurfing in Jastarnia too.
Go to Jurata if you are looking for beaches that are not very crowded, even during the high season. It’s a perfect destination for family holidays. The only disadvantage… it’s pretty expensive. In most restaurants in Jurata, prices are higher than in Warsaw, which is considered Poland’s most expensive city. One of Jurata’s attractions is the picturesquely located pier on the side of the Bay of Puck.
You can learn windsurfing in Jurata too.
Hel – a town at the end of the Peninsula. It’s very crowded during the high season – people staying on the Peninsula go there for a half-day trip to visit the port, lantern, and seal center. A walk to the end of the Hel Peninsula is a must-see on the list of attractions for tourists visiting the Peninsula – visiting the ‘beginning/end’ of Poland.
The biggest attraction of the town of Hel is the Seal Center (Fokarium, website in Polish, location on Google Maps). It’s a seal reserve with an aquarium and seal feeding shows. Its mission is to support the recovery and protection of gray seals in the southern Baltic Sea.
Photo source: Fokarium
Find out more about other seaside resorts in Poland in our post: Beach towns and Baltic seaside resorts in Poland
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