Karlikowo, Sopot

Karlikowo is Sopot’s seaside district, where the shore, a fishing harbour and a neighbourhood of historic homes come together. As you walk along the coastal strip, look for the harbour that serves as Sopot’s only fishing port; hotels, sanatoria, a campsite and beach facilities also belong to this waterfront landscape. The district’s surprising story lies under the ordinary streets: the cellars of a former palace still survive, though they are closed to visitors.

The earliest certain record dates to 1653, when Gdańsk merchant Kolmer leased the estate and built a small palace beside the road to Gdańsk. In 1660, King John Casimir and Queen Marie Louise lived there during the peace negotiations at Oliwa, which ended the long Polish-Swedish war. The queen’s receptions earned praise for their elegance, especially beside the noisier Swedish banquets elsewhere in Sopot.

Russian troops burned the palace in 1734, and Ludwig Gralath built a baroque manor on its foundations in 1736. Later, the estate disappeared beneath modern Karlikowo, but its hidden cellars preserve the most tangible trace of that royal wartime residence.