For most foreign visitors Gdańsk is the region’s calling card but it’s Sopot that has been the region’s primary attraction for visitors and for the best part of 200 years it was one of Europe’s premiere health and spa resorts. As with much of Poland, the city was hit heavily first by the war, then a chronic lack of capital after. But this has all changed with lower Monte Cassino receiving a complete facelift. Central to this multimillion euro development is the latest incarnation of the Resort House (Dom Zdrojowy) which you will find at the head of the pier.

The First Resort House

Although there has been recorded settlement here since 1283, the history of spa in the city can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. Attempts were made by the Carl Christoph Wegner, a Gdańsk patrician, to create a resort here right at the start of the 19th century. While his attempt hit a wall, the birth of Sopot (Zoppot, in German) as a spa resort was close to hand. But it took a Frenchman to make it work, namely Jean George Haffner. Having discovered Sopot while moving through Europe as a doctor in Napoleon’s army, he returned here after the Russian campaign and became a permanent resident. In 1823, he opened the first Bath House which offered a range of treatments and baths. The first Resort House was opened in 1824, changing rooms added on the
beach and a small pier built. This opening gambit was a small, single storied building built perpendicularly to the beach. The Bath House built the year previous offered treatments, while the new building served to become the social HQ for the area with a name for concerts and parties. Haffner died in 1830, but his legacy didn’t. Stewardship passed into the hands of the Böttcher family who added another storey to the Resort House, featuring 12 modest hotel rooms, while Haffner himself entered folklore, today revered as the father of modern Sopot.

The Second Resort House

The year 1870 saw a new railway line connecting Sopot with Berlin, hence sparking a stampede for which the town was unable to cope with. The projects of Haffner and Böttcher were simply not able to meet the new demand, and the council stepped in to the rescue. The existing buildings were pulled down, and in their place rose the Second Resort House.
Opened in 1881, this was altogether a larger affair, built with half-timbered walls, filled with brick and ornamented with wooden elements. It moved slightly from its original location and could be found on what is now Powstanców Warszawy Street). A magnificent vestibule took centre stage, opening onto the restaurants and ballroom, forty hotel rooms were further added, as were spaces for reading, music and billiards. Spacious walking galleries were added in 1895, as were concert arenas, and a magnificent fountain unveiled in 1903.

The Third Resort House

Not content with what they had inherited a new set of civic authorities carried out further renovations to the resort. New complexes of baths were added in 1903 and 1907, and the pier extended by 160m in 1910. The Second Resort House, barely 30 years old, was no longer suitable for the demands placed upon it, and in 1909 it was levelled to the ground and replaced by a third.
Although a competition in 1908 had accepted two designs, these were rejected due to cost and instead Gdansk architect Carl Weber, was handed the task of designing a new Resort House. In tandem with Adolph Bielefeldt and Paul Puchmüller, Weber designed and built the new Resort House which was constructed in record time between September 30th 1909 and 15th June 1910. An impressive complex of buildings surrounding the Resort Square on all four sides, the Resort House was moved slightly to the north to allow the main thoroughfare, Seesstraße (now Monte Cassino) to reach the sea. The new Resort House was like nothing that had come before, containing snazzy mod-cons like boilers, cold storage rooms and a telephone switchboard. In 1919, and with Sopot now a part of the Free City of Danzig, the famous casino came into being. This was to become the focal point of Sopot, and not too different from the bars and ballrooms immortalized by F. Scott Fitzgerald. And while the Resort House had developed throughout the 19th century so too had the town around it. Sopot was experiencing its golden age, and even during wartime continued to thrive as the R&R destination of choice for combatants on leave. This was all soon to change. The precise story as to what happened when the Red Army arrived in March ’45 remains murky, though several eye witness accounts suggest both civilians and soldiers alike were chased into the sea by an artillery barrage directed from the hills. What is clear is that after the Soviets entered Sopot on March 23, 1945, the lower end of Seesstraße was levelled. The Resort House was not reconstructed after the war and the ruins were pulled down in 1945-1947. Only a couple of original elements remained - a single storied pavilion in the south-western corner the concert bowl, terraces, fountain and the semi-circular galleries next to the sea. Damaged glories were knocked down, replaced instead by 60s and 70s monsters, whose horrid number included the avant-garde (it was at the time) Alga building which housed the biggest food outlet on the Baltic. Today you’ll find Szeyk and Monteka operating from within. Of the other nasty single storey pavilions that shot up, most were knocked down in 2006-2007 to make way for the new development, and are now fondly forgotten as a passing blur from the communist years.

The Fourth Resort House

The latest incarnation includes around it the Sheraton Sopot Hotel, a multiplex, conference centre and an impressive range of bars, cafes and terraces. The development was formally opened to the public on July 18th, 2009, and will leave anyone who remembers Sopot of yore doing a double take. Gone are the shabby pavilions and lego architecture of the 70s, replaced instead with a sparkling development that hasn’t foregone the past – the rotunda is a faithful reproduction, while the fountain is a restored original.

The treatments

The rebirth of the city as a spa resort has seen a number of new offers spring up to compliment those established offers at hotels such as the Rezydent or Haffner. The Resort House is the newest and most impressive spa and is operated by Sheraton having been created in partnership with Wheway Lifestyle International, famous for operations in Champneys and Covent Garden’s The Sanctuary. The ancient healing waters of the St. Wojciech spring, which originally made Sopot famous are once more being used in the hydrotherapy pool while a comprehensive list of treatments are on offer with which to pamper yourself. This spa experience includes the swimming pool, a traditionally inspired Haman, a Finnish sauna, an Aromatic Steam Room, Ice fountain and Tepidarium with heated loungers. There’s also the massage room and a comprehensive range of treatments many of which are based upon scientific analysis of Sopot’s therapeutic mineral waters. Treatments range from deep cleansing and detox treatments to exotic therapies using clays, oils and Asian herbs, though the Pocket fave has to be the Rasul; after gently being massaged with therapeutic muds you get to relax in a steamy, fragranced atmosphere under a starlit dome, before a tropical rain shower washes the mud away. Bliss. The Spa at Sheraton Sopot also offer the Anne Semonin collection of skin care treatments along with a choice of grooming services to make you feel like a million dollars, including hairdressing, make-up, manicures and tanning services. For more information about The Spa at Sheraton Sopot services, give them a bell on tel. 058 767 19 00.Yet don’t think it’s just about the body. Spiritual healing hasn’t been forgotten either, with club lounge, library, and cafes and restaurants serving ‘wellness food’. But is there life after the Sheraton? Most certainly so. In Gdańsk, for instance, check out Thai Spa (www.thaispa.pl), which unsurprisingly offers traditional Thai massage techniques inside sensuous interiors stuffed with oriental keepsakes. Equally impressive, Thaiway (www.thaiway.pl) offer exclusive and exotic treatments in both Gdynia and Gdańsk, as well as three month packages for return clients.