Lighthouses and ports
a post-war lighthouse on the platform of a former fort, open to visitors
Churches and monasteries
a Gothic co-cathedral with a seven-branched candelabrum from 1327 and a bronze font from 1355
Beaches and coast
a reinforced-concrete pier 220 m long from 1971, successor to a wooden pier of 1881
Historic sites
a Neo-Gothic town hall designed by Schinkel, today with a gallery, a tourist information office and a civil registry office
Museums
an Empire-style merchant palace with a ceiling painting of Flora in the banqueting hall and an exhibition on the history of the town
Historic sites
the remains of a seaside redoubt of 1832-1836 in the dunes by the spa park
Churches and monasteries
a Neo-Gothic red-brick church by the former convent, known as the Little Church by the River
Historic sites
the only completely preserved tower of Kołobrzeg's medieval walls, with four storeys
Historic sites
forts, redoubts and bastions on the Parsęta and by the sea, preserved from the 17th to 19th century fortress
Churches and monasteries
parish church set up in 2001-2004 in the modernist building of a former garrison club
Churches and monasteries
modernist church of 1932, formerly Protestant, with a Franciscan monastery since the 1970s
Museums
museum in the town hall cellars with items from the sieges of the fortress, militaria and guild mementoes
Churches and monasteries
Greek Catholic church in a former hospital chapel, with a bell turret topped with an onion dome
Churches and monasteries
former New Apostolic church in which Kołobrzeg was handed over to the Polish side in 1945
Historic sites
Museums
a Gothic townhouse from the 15th century, the oldest surviving house in Kołobrzeg, today with museum rooms
Museums
an open-air exhibition of slipped warships by the Kołobrzeg port
a Baltic amber museum with live processing workshops
a museum of art and utility glass, guided visits
pump room serving Kołobrzeg mineral water with amber, with storytelling evenings on Fridays
18th-century fortress redoubt at the mouth of the Parsęta, today among a marina
Solo in Kołobrzeg means a pier and lighthouse on the Baltic, fortress redoubts, a Schinkel town hall and six museums for a rainy day.
Kołobrzeg is easy for a traveller on their own, because by the sea, in town and in the old centre you can spend time without a plan or company: stroll, look into churches, visit museums and return to the beach. The selection covers more than twenty places, from the pier to a pump room serving amber water. To compare where else to travel alone, see the Solo section; for the town as a whole, read things to do in Kołobrzeg.
The simplest plan is an hour on the pier, then a walk through the spa park and along the dunes. You need no booking and no companion, and everything lies close together in the spa district.
The Molo w Kołobrzegu (Kołobrzeg Pier) measures 220 by 9 metres, with a walkway some 4.5 metres above the water. You enter from Mickiewicza Street, next to the Bałtyk sanatorium and the Jan Szymański boulevard. At the far end is a two-level head that serves as a berth for small tour boats.
Beside the port, on the platform of an old fort, stands the Latarnia Morska Kołobrzeg (Kołobrzeg Lighthouse). You can visit it, and from the top you see Pomerania Bay. It stands roughly halfway between the lighthouses at Niechorze and Gąski, so it fits a longer trip along the coast. For a break after the walk, step into the Pijalnia Wody Bursztynowej JANTAR (JANTAR Amber Water Pump Room), where mineral water from a local source is enriched with amber and honey. The venue is marked as accessible for wheelchair users, but it is worth confirming on the spot.
The Kołobrzeg Fortress is not a single monument but a scattered system of defences from 1653-1887. Forts, redoubts and a bastion remain, and they are easy to link into a route around the port and the spa park.
The Twierdza Kołobrzeg (Kołobrzeg Fortress) is an early modern system of fortifications, and what survives in the field is Ujście Fort, two redoubts (Morast and Solna) and the Stone Redoubt. What they look like in the field today is described in an article on the fortress in Kołobrzeg. The Kamienny Szaniec w Kołobrzegu (Stone Redoubt), formerly the Waldenfels Redoubt of 1832-1836, lies in the dune belt right by the shore and closes the spa park to the east. Today it is largely a ruin, but its position at the water's edge is striking. Reduta Bagienna (Morast Redoubt) is a five-sided work of 1770-1774 built where the Parsęta meets the sea, today surrounded by yachts.
The old town walls left two towers behind. The Baszta Lontowa w Kołobrzegu (Match Tower), at Dubois 20, goes back to the 1300s and is the one tower still intact. It is popularly called the Gunpowder Tower, according to Wikipedia wrongly, as this comes from a mistranslation of the German name. The Baszta Więzienna w Kołobrzegu (Prison Tower) is a stabilised ruin seen from outside: only the ground floor and part of a first-floor wall survive.
The Old Town is small, so within an hour you can take in the town hall, the basilica and nearby churches. It is a good choice when the weather is changeable, because most places can quickly be swapped for a museum interior.
The Ratusz w Kołobrzegu (Town Hall) was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and building began in 1829. The neo-Gothic building of pale red brick looks like a small castle, with battlements, corner turrets and a clock tower on the axis of the facade. For a comparison with other town halls in the region, read the article on the town halls of the eastern part of the region. Close by stands the Co-Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, a five-aisled Gothic brick hall that has been the local diocese's co-cathedral since 1972. Despite damage in 1945 and the rebuilding that followed, it keeps, among other things, a seven-branched candelabrum from 1327, a font from 1355 and stalls from about 1340.
Among the smaller churches, look into the neo-Gothic Church of the Immaculate Conception on Katedralna Street, called the little church by the river, a former Benedictine convent and garrison church. The Cerkiew Opieki Matki Bożej w Kołobrzegu (Orthodox Church of the Protection of the Mother of God) is a Greek Catholic church arranged in a hospital chapel from the early 1900s, which kept its classicist facade. The Kościół Podwyższenia Krzyża Świętego w Kołobrzegu (Exaltation of the Holy Cross) in Kostrzewo is a modernist building of 1932, run by Franciscans since 1972. The Kościół św. Marcina w Kołobrzegu (ul. Portowa) (St Martin's Church) was fitted out in 2001-2004 inside a former garrison club. The postwar history of the town is tied to the Kościół Chrystusowy w Kołobrzegu (Christ's Church): in this very building, on 1 June 1945, the Red Army's military authorities gave the town back to the Poles.
As many as six museums carry the "rainy day" tag, and that is enough for a whole cloudy day. Most lie near the town hall, so you can walk between them without leaving the centre.
The Muzeum Kołobrzeskie „Patria Colbergiensis” (Kołobrzeg Museum) sits in the town hall cellars and is a private institution, belonging neither to the city nor to the state. It holds mainly items from the Thirty Years' War and the sieges of the fortress, plus militaria and guild mementoes. In the Empire-style Pałac Brunszwickich w Kołobrzegu (Brunswick Palace) houses the Polish Arms Museum's city exhibition, which tells the story of the town. The same institution runs the Dom Schliffenów, Emilii Gierczak 28 w Kołobrzegu (Schliffen House), according to Wikipedia the oldest surviving house in town. The Polish Arms Museum also runs the Kołobrzeski Skansen Morski (Maritime Open-Air Museum), an outdoor display of decommissioned warships with combat vehicles, rocket launchers and artillery, near the port.
For a change, two single-topic venues. At the Muzeum Bursztynu w Kołobrzegu (Amber Museum, Waryńskiego 5) you learn about Baltic amber and watch how it is worked. The Muzeum Szkła (Glass Museum) gathers glass from many countries and is privately run; you see it with a guide, and the town hall is about 100 metres away. A day in the rain by the sea, this time with children, is covered separately in an article on a rainy day by the sea.
Pier and spa park in the morning, then the Stone Redoubt. Before noon, the old town: town hall, basilica and churches. In the afternoon a museum or the fortress, and in the evening the amber water pump room or a stroll round the port. A ready idea for two days with neighbouring Koszalin is in the text a weekend in Kołobrzeg and Koszalin, and the town's Hanseatic roots are covered in an article on the Hanseatic League in West Pomerania.
Stroll along the pier and the spa park, climb the lighthouse, walk parts of the fortress, and look into the old town and the museums. Everything lies close to the centre.
To a museum: Patria Colbergiensis in the town hall, the Brunswick Palace, the Schliffen House, the Maritime Open-Air Museum, the Amber Museum or the Glass Museum.
Yes, the Kołobrzeg Lighthouse is open to visitors. It occupies the platform of an old fort by the port.
The Match Tower, from the 14th century. The Prison Tower is a stabilised ruin.
