Renaissance townhouses-turned-pubs, a brewery in the old town hall, shipyard container bars, and beachside beer gardens - nightlife in Gdańsk Poland has a lot to offer!
Within the gaze of Germany, Scandinavia, and the Baltic states, Gdańsk's historic centre and ideal coastal situation makes it an attractive romp for weekenders in the Eurozone, not to mention hinterland Poles who need a break from the inland big smoke. As your trusted nightlife guide, we have come to the following conclusion: Gdańsk is great for bars, pubs and live music. Those looking for mainstream nightclubs and going hard in that direction are better off heading up the coast to Sopot! That being said, it's not as if Gdańsk is devoid of your typical DJ-fueled madness, and there are some hard-hitting options to speak of, so we'll colour that in below. Before we continue...
...you might find what you're itching for in our What's On section for events and concerts taking place afterdark. If not, then continue onwards and downwards!
Located so centrally it hurts, Piwnica Rajcow is the Polish name for what was once the city's Ratskeller, the cellar of the Town Hall, where food and drink were served often to the council employees. The entrance is right between Artus Court and the equally-iconic Neptune fountain, and, upon entry, you will find a small labyrinth of large and small rooms, all of which have been beautifully remodeled. The major draw at Piwnica Rajców is the beer, which you can see being brewed in huge vats in the main bar area. Additionally, you can make use of the very good and well-priced menu, making this a perfect spot for those who enjoy that bierkeller experienc. If there's a big game on the broadcast schedule, you can typically find it across their small army of tv screens. If not, don't hesitate to ask!
We've been to a lot of microbreweries across Poland, and Brovarnia is certaintly at the top of the list. Found in a restored granary building, this pub features stout wooden fittings, black and white pics of dockside Danzig, and small little hatches that allow beams of sunlight to slant inside. Even better, if your head goes boom after test-driving their beer menu then just check into the excellent Hotel Gdańsk upstairs. But we digress... the beers – including an award winning dark beer are brewed on-site – are faultless! The more recent smoking bans have also done its bit to really exaggerate the pungent smell of malt and hops. The staff may appear to have that Bavarian beer wench kind of vibe, but remember that Gdańsk (formerly Danzig) has had a strong Germanic influence over the centuries, which is why there's a street called ul. Piwnica (Beer Street) where all the breweries could be found. We digress... again... the point is its quite appropriate, so don't assume that it's tacky tourism. As for food, you can expect a menu with a strong love for various Central European fixtures - sausages, pork knuckle, sour cabbage - Sounds very German, you say? Well, Polish cuisine has them too! If it sounds a little too heavy, don't worry. You can find really damn seafood and vegetarian options here as well.
A short walk away from the renaissance Old Town of Gdańsk is also travelling forward a few centuries to the 20th-century Shipyard district of Gdańsk Stocznia. Like many big cities around the world who have sniffed out grimey real estate to turn it into something new and exciting, the decline of Gdańsk's shipbuilding industry has allowed for a number of awesome eat and drink ventures to sprout up. The heart of this nightlife area is ul. Elektryków(Electricians' Street), where Solidarity leader and future Polish president Lech Wałęsa spent his years wiring things up. On this strip, each assembly hall now serves a completely different purpose. B90 is now a medium-sized concert venue, acoustically-treated, yet still maintaining its industrial vibe, and has a regular program of bands and small music festivals passing through.
Drizzly Grizzly is one of the few decent club halls in Gdańsk, and extremely popular with the zoomer demographic. Here, live music (as in people who actually play instruments) is nicely balanced with DJ-driven and electronic dance music events, whilst providing a cool little lounge section allows you to just hang and look the part. Elektriczny Żuraw is one of the newer venues to set up shop, with an upper-floor private events venue looking out over the iconic shipyard cranes. Around the back is Plener 33, which comes to life in the summer as an open-air party spot, lined with street food vendors and a little bit of live music to make every evening here a mini festival!
Where are the container bars, you say? Of course Gdańsk has them, and of course you're going to find it in the shipyards! Just up the road from the aforementioned ul. Elektryków, this Mad Max-style compound is a collection of shipping containers stacked on top of each other to form its inner 'courtyard'. It's here you'll find the 100czniabar (100 is sto in Polish, stocznia means shipyard, so it's a nice little wordplay!) and a collection of street food joints and fashion stores operating out of the others. Throw in artificial beaches and deckchairs, a couple of sundecks and a performance area and I think you can picture the rest. Similar to Plener 33 and ul. Elektryków? Yes, and while there may be less partying, 100cznia's more chill vibe is a better option for a relaxed beer and pizza with friends.
While it may seem a little kitschy for those in the know, the ‘drinking room’ (as it roughly translates) is actually a great opportunity to experience a bar from the PRL (Polish People's Republic) Communist era of Poland - newspaper'd walls, brightly lit so that the authorities can keep an eye on you, and a discernably retro vibe that was stylistically several decades behind its counterparts in the west, even by 1980s standards. Those who've been elsewhere in Poland may recognise this format of bar, and the winning formula of 'snacks and shots' has proven to be a hit with visitors from abroad. Aside cheap booze prices, the bar food is typical of the PRL period as well - pork in jelly, herring, bread and lard and pickles, bigos and żurek (sourdough soup), as well as a short list of toasted sandwiches. In brief Pijalnia and the student budget were made for each other and this is a thoroughly recommended stop for a night cap and a bit of ‘soakage’.
A converted corner shop in what's become the hipster central of Gdańsk. By the way, we don't mean that as a perjorative - we just want you to find the right crowd for you. This may be it. This may not be. When you enter, however, you may roll your eyes at the design incorporating leftover black paint, some furniture nicked off a scrap heap and what looked like a 1980s Space Invader machine. It hardly screams interior design award nominee, but the amiable and free-spirited crowd here make up for the bar's attempt at being edgy. We're sure that the crowds that pour out onto the street in the warmer months are drawn here to find like-mined sentients as well as the stock of locally-brewed ales. Some notable names here include Wing of Hop and Rowing Jack and are reminiscent of British ales in colour and taste. Live music, in particular the more jazz-school'd type, is a regular thing here, and it is additionally packed when that happens. English-speaking events Gdańsk, like trivia and bingo, are also frequently organised here and those interested should keep an eye on their Facebook events.
Oh boy... Bunkier... Let's take a moment here! Just on the edge of the Old Town at ul. Olejarna stands a six-storey, re-enforced concrete cube built as an air-raid shelter, bunker and anti-aircraft battery by the Germans during WWII. The only building in the area to survive the war, for many years it stood empty, save being used as a climbing wall, until someone with a magnificent imagination and access to a colossal amount of money decided to turn it into a club. The results are as we say breathtaking. Get past the rather large, black-suited chaps on the door and you’ll be met with the original corridors flanked by 1.2 metre thick walls which lead into a labyrinth of bars, dancefloors, seating areas and some of the most fantastic toilets we’ve ever seen. Each of the 4 levels is different with our favourite being the caged seating featuring military bunks and for some reason an electric chair on level 3. The bars are well-stocked and manned by friendly staff; prices are surprisingly low and the mix of original features (lighting, exposed pipes) and artistic touches will have you reaching regularly for your camera phone. As a club the music’s a bit of a hotchpotch while the air-conditioning has a huge job on its hands particularly seeing as there's 2 smoking section upstairs in the cell block. The place is so huge that anything short of a few hundred people makes it look virtually empty but we’ve spent a few good nights in here and urge you to do the same.
A mightily impressive building plays host to a two-floored, 300-seater, microbrewery and restaurant. There’s 6 homemade brews on offer including a Pils with the others regularly changing and all are brewed on-site in one of the 8 huge vats you’ll see. There is a very decent menu including an excellent cod in a beer dough, dumplings with veal, fish soup and kotlet schabowy (schnitzel) and a rather novel range of beer cocktails too.
While your main reason for visiting Stary Maneż in the Garnizon complex will be to see a performance in the main hall, it doesn't have to be the only excuse. The bar/restaurant on the ground floor offers an eclectic menu of snacks as well as a concise choice of starters, salads and mains, including ribs and seafood curry. They also have, as you’ll immediately notice from the large brass vats, their own beer called Vrest, which is made using German hops and named as a wordplay on an early name for the Wrzeszcz district – Wrzos (ENG: heather). On this note, Stary Maneż Browar Vrest serve 'tasting boards', where you can buy 100ml of each taste of vrest brewery's beers (100ml x 5 tastes). Furthermore, every day of the week has Happy Hours from 16:00 till 19:00, when beer is half-price! Reaching the highests standards, the brewery have light, wheat, dark, pilsner and piwko niecodzienne (Unusual Beer), all of which pair up well with their tapas to provide some sustenance before and after a concert next door.
Gdańsk Wrzeszcz is very much associated with being the gentrified, alternative neighbourhood in the city, and while it may surprise you to hear that this recommendation is in a shopping centre, just hear us our for a moment. Stacja Food Hall is located on the top floor of Galeria Metropolia, and the entire floor is dedicated the food hall. Furthermore, this is no tacky fluorescant-lit food court - Stacja Food Hall is a young-and-happening restaurant market, with 7 continents worth of cuisine at your fingertips - Asian, Indian, Spanish, Greek and plenty of other street food options and bars to cover the rest! Gluttony and drinks aside, weekends are also a great time to catch live music here, as well as karaoke and DJs at others. Highly recommended for groups of young wanderlusters who are moving through Gdańsk!
For all the hard rockers and metal heads visiting town, this place is a must-visit! The first thing to mention about this little house next to Gdansk Oliwa station (hint: it's super easy to get to) is rock 'n roll karaoke, with a huge list of classics for you to live your rockstar singer fantasies without the hard yards of touring, drugs and negotiating with promoters. The second thing to mention is beer - they have 70 types of craft beer in stock plus another 6 on tap, which is what you should expect when you ascend to hard rock heaven (or descend, whichever you prefer). Concertsare often held in the outside area and BBQsare not uncommon in the warmer months either. Card and board game tournaments are also hosted here, which is also fun to participate in. Check out their Facebook page to see what's happening!
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