A rebuilt town with a hint of gothic about it (Kolobrzeg)

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Kolobrzeg
Date:	20/07/09 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Of interest to Germans due to its history, quite cheap, easy enough to get to

Disadvantages: Busy trains in the summer, a lot of holidaymakers, town a bit bland

For some reason dooyoo seem to use a blurred photo of Warsaw for just about every review of a Polish city, Kolobrzeg I must add looks nothing like this!

Kolobrzeg is located on the Baltic coast in North Western Poland, I spent a bit of time there about 2 years ago, it's a busy summer resort where boats connect to the Danish island of Bornholm.

The combination of beaches, reasonably priced accomodation, a handful of medieval and gothic buildings added to its predominantly German history makes it a big holiday destination not only for Poles but for Germans too as well as a hand full of Scandanavians coming over for the cheap drinks!

Kolobrzeg is relatively small with a population of around 50,000 - trains travel along the coast between Szczecin and Gdansk but I arrived on the middle of the night connection from Poznan, a particularly busy affair in the summer as suitcase ladened holiday makers fill up the corridors of the cheaper trains.

Kolobrzeg (Kolberg in German) suffered huge damage during the war, so much of the town has been rebuilt post 1945 which means a combination of communist blocks galore on the outer parts of the town, holiday house type accomodation relatively close to the shore and a few restored remnants of the past including the impressive lighthouse. The town centre is quite heavily plied with various monuments, most of them dedicated to various battles - they are a bit band looking though and none really stand out.

The Polish seaside is a bit too busy for my liking in the summer, it's a cheap option that proves popular with natives and people from neighbouring countries, the weather is unreliable but there are some very beautiful places - Kolobrzeg isn't really one of them though. The town is pretty mediocre and the nicest part is the cycle path to Podczele where forest, swamp and beach are side by side with the park cut through the middle.

There's plenty of beer and fast food options offering standard fare (chips, the ubiqutious zapiekanka (cheese and mushrooms on toast), hot dogs) at cheap prices, you're unlikely to be writing home about the quality but on the other hand it's not particularly bad either.

Summary: Wouldn't really like to spend too long there