Puck Bay

The Hel peninsula is a spit of sand thirty-five kilometres long that curls out from the mainland and encloses an inner bay, and the water behind it is the reason people come: the Zatoka Pucka is very shallow, flat, and in the inner part - the Puck lagoon - you can wade a kilometre from shore and still be waist-deep, with the peninsula blocking the Baltic swell while the wind comes over it unobstructed. That combination is close to ideal for learning kitesurfing and windsurfing, and Chalupy, Kuznica and Jastarnia on the peninsula are among the busier boarding spots in this part of Europe, with schools along the shore. The bay is also ecologically significant, with eelgrass meadows and a Natura 2000 designation, and it is where the Polish grey seal population is monitored. Puck itself is an old town on the mainland shore with a Gothic church.

What you actually see

• Waist-deep for a kilometre - the inner lagoon shallow and flat behind the spit.
• Wind without swell - the peninsula blocking the Baltic while the wind comes over.
• Boarding schools - Chalupy, Kuznica and Jastarnia among the busiest spots in the region.
• Eelgrass and seals - a Natura 2000 bay where the grey seal population is monitored.

When to go

May to September. Two days.

Honest expectations

July and August fill the peninsula and the single road jams badly. The water is cold until midsummer. Boarding areas are crowded and beginners share space with experienced riders. Accommodation books out and prices rise sharply.

Nearby

Hel is at the end of the peninsula; Gdynia is south.