Grand Hotel (Sofitel Grand Sopot)

The Grand Hotel in Sopot is the most famous hotel on the Polish Baltic coast – a grand domed building right on the beach, a few minutes' walk north of the Sopot pier. Opened in 1927 as a luxury hotel for casino guests, it has hosted royalty, presidents and movie stars, and it witnessed both World War II and the crackdown on Solidarity. Today it operates as the five-star Sofitel Grand Sopot, and you can admire it freely from the beach and promenade.

From Kasino-Hotel to Sofitel

Sopot (say "SO-pot") is a spa town between Gdańsk and Gdynia. In the 1920s it belonged to the Free City of Danzig, and its casino drew wealthy gamblers from across Europe. The hotel was built in 1924–1927 for about 20 million Danzig gulden and was originally called the Kasino-Hotel. It was designed by two professors of the Danzig Technical University, architect Otto Kloeppel and engineer Richard Kohnke, on the model of the Grand Hotel in the Silesian spa of Szczawno-Zdrój. It opened on June 30, 1927, and a separate luxury casino was added in 1931.

The building's history darkened with the war. From September 19 to 26, 1939, during the German invasion of Poland, the hotel served as Adolf Hitler's headquarters, and on October 1, 1939, the capitulation of the Polish defenders of the Hel Peninsula was signed here. After the war, renamed Grand Hotel in 1946, it was run first by the Gdynia–America Line and from 1954 by Orbis, the state travel company.

A stage for postwar history

The hotel was the backstage of the Sopot International Song Festival, hosted the 1966 Pugwash Conference on disarmament, and on July 18, 1970, Poland's first discotheque, "Musicorama", opened in one of its halls. On the night martial law was declared, December 13, 1981, the communist security service arrested Solidarity activists staying here, among them Tadeusz Mazowiecki, later Poland's first non-communist prime minister. A casino reopened in 1990, and after a full renovation the hotel relaunched in 2006 as the Sofitel Grand Sopot. It has been a member of Historic Hotels Worldwide since 2018.

Famous guests reportedly include Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Josephine Baker, Charles de Gaulle and Fidel Castro.

Visiting tips: is it worth a look?

This is a working hotel, so there are no public tours. Still, it is a must-see landmark on any walk around Sopot. The best views are:

• from the beach and seaside promenade in front of the hotel;
• from the pier, which shows the whole building against the wooded hills;
• from the gallery of the Sopot Lighthouse on Spa Square.

To see the interiors, stay at the hotel or book a table at its restaurant, Grand Blue. A walk around the outside takes 15–20 minutes.

Practical information

As of October 2026:

• Address: ul. Powstańców Warszawy 12/14, 81-718 Sopot.
• Admission: viewing from outside is free; no organized tours of the interior.
• Getting there: from SKM Sopot station, walk down the Monciak promenade to the pier (about 15 minutes), then north along the promenade. SKM commuter trains from Gdańsk Główny take about 20 minutes; Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport is the nearest airport.
• Currency: Polish złoty (PLN); cards are widely accepted.

Nearby

• Sopot Pier and Sopot Lighthouse;
• Sopot Beach, lifeguarded in summer;
• Monciak promenade and the Crooked House;
• State Art Gallery (PGS) in the Spa House.