Koszalin is a mid-sized city of around 105,000 in Western Pomerania, set a few kilometres inland from the Baltic coast. It is not a beach destination itself, but it serves as a practical base for the sandy coastline around Mielno and Kołobrzeg, both within easy reach. The city was a prosperous Hanseatic seaport in the medieval period — its 14th-century St Mary's Cathedral survives from that era — but the harbour silted up and Koszalin's maritime trade ended before the modern era.
The town centre, rebuilt after heavy wartime damage, is modest but workable. Chełmska Hill — a wooded summit with a pilgrimage sanctuary consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1991 and a viewing tower — offers the best overview of city and landscape. The city also has an unexpected cultural distinction: it hosts one of Poland's oldest and most respected film festivals, the Youth and Film Festival, which launched the careers of Kieślowski and Zanussi among others.
The real draw is the surrounding landscape: lakes, forests, and the coastal dunes of Słowiński National Park to the east, where shifting sand buries entire trees and the beach stretches for kilometres.