Novotel Gdansk Marina - Gdansk, Poland 

Stayed here for 3 nights as part of a stag weekend and there weren`t too many grumbles from 14 lads. The hotel stands right on the Gdansk/Sopot border and is a pleasant 20 minute walk to Sopot pier (probably longer to Gdansk but we didn`t get round to trying that side at all). The huge, fine sandy beach is a stone`s throw away. The sea looked a wee bit on the murky side for swimming although this didn`t stop large numbers of locals braving the brine. You can even watch the action on the beach from t.v. monitors in the hotel lift! None of us made it to the indoor swimming pool (it was very warm outside during the day) although we did manage a few games of tennis on the 2 clay courts which were about ?12/hour to rent. The staff, if a little sullen at times, were all quite pleasant and patient considering we were one of 2 stag groups staying on the premises. Our rooms on the fourth floor were all a lot plusher (as per hotel website) than the two on the sixth which were a little tired and garish looking. I believe that they are still working their way up through the floors with their modernisation programme. As previous reviewers have stated, breakfast leaves a lot to be desired and was particularly disappointing after some of the exceptional buffets I`ve had at other Polish hotels. However, it did set a precedent being the first hotel I`ve stayed in outside of Scotland to offer haggis for breakfast - I kid you not! On a slightly sour note, we were charged for a number of breakfasts that should have been included in the price of two of the rooms booked as a city break. As I had no proof of this (my printed booking confirmation didn`t show the full conditions) and the reception staff denied all knowledge of it we had to pay up. The hotel bar was very reasonable - only 5zl for a bottle of beer and there are plenty of bars and cafes close to the hotel for snacky pub type grub (the mini golf bar and the windsurfing club to name 2). Sopot is an up and coming resort town and the building of a Sheraton opposite the Novotel is evidence of this.

Novotel Marina Gdansk is located on the beach between Gdansk and Sopot, but it means it is a bit of a distance to both Sopot and Gdansk city centres. I believe it is about 20-25 minutes walk to the centre of Sopot but I have not tried talking there yet. There is a fairly large swimming pool in the hotel if you prefer to swim in a pool, although other facilities are a bit basic, including the restaurant which looks rather dreary. (The restaurant issue can be resolved by catching a taxi to Sopot where there are decent restaurants - it costs about 10-15 Zloty to get there.) The breakfast is somewhat disappointing, especially compared to other Polish hotels I have stayed in (having said that, I have only stayed in 4-star hotels in Poland, so maybe this is what you normally get in a 3-star hotel). It does offer hot and cold food for breakfast, but it is quite basic and the selection is quite limited. It is not particularly 'bad' as such, but I am definitely not impressed with it. The room is clean and is of OK size (the room I have is what I would call 'average' size), with somewhat dated but OK decor. The curtains block out the light very well, so it is good for when I want to sleep in. There are good areas in the room for storing suitcases and the wardrobe space is adequate. I have not noticed any air conditioning control in the room, so it may be a problem in summer when it gets hot, although it is not a problem at the moment (still cold and the central heating is on). The bathroom is again clean and of decent size. There is a heated towel rail which is a nice addition. The bath tub is of decent size, and the bench area around the sink is of adequate size to put my toiletries on. The shower water pressure is quite adequate not to cause washing long hair to be a long process. (As a somewhat random comment, shower gel provided by the hotel is of rather scary dark blue-ish green colour, although it does the job quite well.) The staff are generally quite friendly, and most of them understand English enough for me to get by.