Windsurfing and kitesurfing on the Hel Peninsula

A narrow, sandy strip of land called the Hel Peninsula juts into the Baltic Sea with a distinctive “cow’s tail” about 35 kilometers long and is one of the most interesting places on the Polish coast. You can get there by ferry or regional train from Gdańsk.

In the summer, it is a popular vacation spot, but also a Polish mecca for windsurfing and kitesurfing fans. Board amateurs are attracted to Hel by the gusty wind that blows most of the year – and by the beautiful, wide and sandy beaches for which the Baltic Sea is famous.

The Hel Peninsula was formed by sand from the sea coast, deposited over the centuries from west to east, according to the most frequent direction of the wind.

At its narrowest point, the spit is only 150 meters wide and is slowly but steadily growing. At its very end is the fishing town of Hel with a small harbor. Once a strategic military base, it now attracts numerous tourists, especially in summer. A small Seal Sanctuary operates there, which is engaged in restoring the seal population in the Baltic Sea. After critical moments in the 1970s, when the number of gray seals in the entire basin dropped to about 3,000, it managed to restore the population to 30,000 individuals. However, this is still barely 30% of the population from before the era of mass fishing, and we cannot forget about today’s threats – climate warming and the gradual decline of fish in the sea.

The constant wind, waves and shallow water at the shore have created ideal conditions for windsurfers and kitesurfers.

Even in the middle of the season, the sea is cold and you usually surf in special body-warming wetsuits, but the shimmering graphite of the sea and the white of the sand of the vast Baltic beaches are second to none. See for yourself! In the town of Hel and the central peninsula towns of Jastarnia and Chałupy there are many schools offering lessons and extended courses – in Polish and English. You can easily find them on Tripadvisor or by typing the appropriate words into a search engine.

Tip: the peak season on the Polish Baltic Sea is in July and the first half of August. Already at the end of August, the beaches become decidedly looser, and the weather is stable at least until the end of September. The average temperature of the sea in summer does not exceed 20 degrees Celsius.

More about the Hel Peninsul