Kołobrzeg is Poland's most popular Baltic resort — a spa town, a historic fortress city, and a seaside playground rolled into one. Its long sandy beach draws Polish families in summer, while the old harbour and cathedral quarter give the town a depth that purely seasonal resorts rarely have.
The city has a layered history. A bishopric as early as AD 1000, it became one of Pomerania's first chartered towns in 1255 and grew wealthy on salt production and trade. It was a fortress until the late 18th century, then reinvented itself as a spa. Heavy fighting in 1945 destroyed much of the old town, which was patiently rebuilt in the 1990s along its medieval street plan, so the bones of the historic city are still legible even where the buildings are newer.
The seafront is the main draw in summer: kilometres of wide golden sand, a working lighthouse, a long pier, and a marina from which you can take fishing trips or even a cruise to the Danish island of Bornholm. For health-seekers, the town's brine springs and therapeutic peat make it one of Poland's largest certified spa destinations — the Spa Park is full of clinic hotels where guests come for weeks at a time. Inland, the old town centres on the great medieval Cathedral of the Assumption and the Schinkel-designed Town Hall.