The forecast is good and on Thursday evening Markét and I set off to explore the northern coast of Poland – the sandy beaches of the Baltic. The trip was preceded by a thorough preparation at home with my uncle’s “google” and “list”, where we carefully used my uncle’s maps to scan the whole coast from W (Nowe Warpno, Medzizdroje, Swinoujscie) to E (Leba, Hel) and picked out places suitable for kitesurfing and also for learning this sport.

There are plenty of places for kitesurfing on the northern coast of Poland, on the open sea there are nice sandy beaches along the whole length of the coast with usually deeper water after about 50m from the shore. It is also possible to find several larger and smaller coastal or lagoon lakes along the entire length of the coast, which are often breeding grounds for many species of birds and should theoretically be shallow.

The towns we passed were mostly fully equipped and very solidly prepared for the summer season and tourists.

Our journey was planned through the following locations:

• Miedzizdroje
• Lubin
• Dziwnów – Dziwnówek
• Rogowo
• Lake Gardno
• Mielno and Osieki – Lake Jamno
• Dabki – Lake Bukowo
• Leba – Lake Lebsko and Sarbsko
• New Warp

We will briefly describe the individual locations.

1. Miedzizdroje – beautiful place, sandy beaches, romance, campsites right by the beach. Kitesurfing is allowed practically everywhere, in the summer months there will be a lot of people on the beaches, but there is always a place for a kite. Works for wind directions – everything from W to S to SSE. Very nice tourist resort.

2. Lubin – a small, dusty town on a peninsula jutting into the Szczecin lagoon. The town is all in the hill on top of which there is a great viewpoint with entrance fee of 4 zl. From it you can see a large part of the Szczecin Lagoon with its grasses peeking out of the water like islands. A very interesting place for kite surfing, but we didn’t get into the water here, we didn’t have time for it that day. It was possible to enter the water from a small sandy beach in front of the town. Wind directions: all from Z.

3. Dziwnów and Dziwnówek – the Wiking campsite is located exactly between the lagoon lake Wrsowska Bay and the open sea. There is practically no access to the lake because of the grass on its shore. The beach by the sea is beautiful, but it is for more experienced anglers who are not afraid of small waves and deeper water.

4. Rogowo – overall a nice place with sandy beaches. Excellent for kitesurfing in the open sea. Small waves and deep water about 50 m from the shore. It is also possible to kiteboard on the lagoon lake Resko Przymorskie, which is accessible from the Rogowo campsite (from the north of the lake).

5. Mielno and Osieki – Lake Jamno looked very promising on the map – big, close to the open sea, camping right by the shore. Lake Jamno has a maximum depth of 3.9 m, but already about 50 m from the shore there is a depth of more than 1.8 m and a cruel deposit of very deep “yummy” mud on the bottom. In the open sea it is practically the same as in other places here in the north by the sea – beautiful. Mielno is also the tourist centre of the micro-region and offers solid facilities for everything.

6. Dabki – Lake Bukovo is similar to Lake Jamno, it is not deep enough (about 2 m), so it is not suitable for learning kitesurfing. For those who are not afraid of depth, however, it offers an excellent area with calm water. The sandy beaches towards the open sea are clean and easily accessible. Dabki is a small but generally cosy town with campsites right on the water.

7. Lake Gardno – there is a surf camp on the lake from the south, but kitesurfing is only allowed here from July because of the national park. Otherwise a nice, shallow lake. At the southern shore very little, about knee deep.

8. Leba – Lake Lebsko, like Gardno, is located in a national park and bird sanctuary. However, nowhere did we find information about allowing kitesurfing on this lake. The shore of the lake is overgrown with tall grasses and there is not much access. We do not find this lake very suitable for kitesurfing. The sandy beaches to the W of the town of Leba, which is the tourist centre of the area, are great and reserved for kitesurfing.

9. Leba – Lake Sarbsko is another lake in the area. Lake Sarbsko is smaller, 6 km long and 1.2 km wide, and is separated from the open sea by a 500 m wide strip of dunes covered with forest. On the south shore of the lake there is a nice campsite Habenda with a pub and all the facilities and it is possible to rent a small house or a caravan. The campsite is equipped with a playground for children and a beach area. There are both windsurfing and kitesurfing courses for children and adults. The lake is shallow, with waist-deep water well away from the shore, and is suitable for beginner and intermediate kiters who have not yet ventured into deep water. The town of Leba itself, with its sandy beaches, is 6.5 km from the campsite and is therefore within easy cycling or walking distance.

10. Nowe Warpno has been interesting me since our last trip to Usedom Island (Germany), so we stopped here on our way back from the east and visited this resort in the Gulf of Szczecin as our last destination. You can see that we are again more to the west and everything is more neat and tidy. Nowe Warpno is tucked into a headland and its coastline is open from both north and south, which is great especially with the different wind directions. There is also a nice campsite in the town. The water is about 2-3 m deep just off the shore and it is rather suitable terrain for kiteboarders who are not afraid of deep water.

CONCLUSIONS:

It was practically the first time we went to Poland and we never really had any inclination towards this country, rather we used it as a transit for our snowkiting trips to Russia. After this trip, I believe that we will not be in Poland for the last time, on the contrary, I think we will visit the northern coast regularly. Campsites are about 40% cheaper than in Germany, eating out in restaurants costs almost the same as here and petrol costs the same. In addition, in Poland you can camp practically anywhere outside the campsites, for example on beautiful sandy beaches or lakesides where there are bird reserves. The only downside is the rather disastrous roads, but they are being repaired almost everywhere and will therefore be sorted out “soon”.

The last place we were still interested in, but hadn’t managed to visit, is the notorious Hel, which is said to be completely “full” during the season. Hel is quite far from Liberec, but maybe we will go there next time.

We made the trip in the first half of May and the situation in the summer season can be different in terms of the number of people on the beaches.

LINK TO MAP: HERE