The Hel peninsula is a long sandbar closing the Bay of Gdansk from the north-east, and an obvious destination for a day or weekend trip from the Tri-City.
It is a strangely appealing place dotted with several settlements – originally mostly fishing villages, but now almost exclusively devoted to serving the holiday industry which concentrates on sea and sand pursuits. The military garrison at the tip of the peninsula has distinguished itself as the location where Polish Army managed to resist the Nazi onslaught for longest during the 1939.
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Uniquely, most villages on Hel have two sets of beaches. The ones facing the Bay of Gdansk have shallow, quiet and warm water and are ideal for water sports. The beaches facing the open Baltic sea are wider, cleaner, with white squeaky sand, much more wind and water several degrees colder.
Poles flock to Hel from all around the country, and the place has both large-scale holiday homes and camps (many of them dating to the communist era) as well as a vast number of private rooms, cottages, apartments and camp-sites.
Wladyslawowo, at the base of the peninsula is the biggest settlement – a small town or perhaps a large fishing village, and in addition to the usual beachy pursuits, has a lighthouse that can be climbed for good views.
Further up, Chalupy are pretty much exclusively devoted to tourist trade, and are known for the naturist beaches (on the open sea side) and water sports, especially windsurfing (on the Bay side). The water is warm and shallows stretch far out, making it ideal for beginners In the winter, the frozen bay attracts para-skiers. Jurata is pretty much the same: a summer resort devoted to beaches and water sports
Kuznica is a small, old fishing village and still retains a lot of its original character. There is less tourist developments and most accommodation on offer is in private rooms. Kuznica's open sea beach is perhaps the best on the whole of Hel.
Jastarnia has a marina, a fishing port and a boat connection to the Tri-City. It also has many large, communist era holiday homes and camps half-hidden in the pine woods and accordingly, a lot of more traditional, family-based holiday traffic in the summer.
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The town of Hel offers most to visitors and unless you are after windsurfing or other water sports, it's the most attractive location on the peninsula.
Hel's military past is evidenced by several new collections scattered around the town, including the Museum of the Coastal Defence (only opened in 2006), remains of the fortifications and a open-air collection of weaponry and other military kit (Skansen Broni).
Other attractions of Hel include the Fisheries Museum, a lighthouse open to the public and the ever-popular Seals' Sanctuary – all very much worth a visit.
Like all of the peninsula, the town gets very busy in the high summer season and quite busy at the hotter weekends in May, June and September; so avoid it in those crowded periods. The best times to visit are probably mid-week in late May, June and September.
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The best way to get to Hel is probably by taking a boat (the fastest and most frequent connections are from Gdynia), but it's also possible to take a train or a bus (from Gdynia bus or train station). In many ways, the train, although slow, is probably the best alternative to the boat, as it's not affected by traffic conditions.
Driving is fine on weekdays, but those leaving Hel on Saturday and especially Sunday afternoons are invariably going to be caught in a miles-long traffic jams stretching the length of the peninsula and beyond.