Long Market

The Long Market (Dlugi Targ) and the Long Street (Dluga) that runs into it form the Royal Route, the ceremonial way Polish kings once entered Gdansk. It is a broad, pedestrian avenue of tall, narrow merchant houses running from the Golden Gate at one end to the Green Gate on the river. The facades reflect the wealth of a city that grew rich on Baltic trade, and almost all of them were rebuilt after 1945.

This is the single walk that shows what Gdansk looked like at the height of its trading power. It is also the natural spine of a day in the old town, with the main sights, cafes and souvenir stalls on it or just off it. You can walk it end to end in ten minutes or spend an afternoon going into the buildings along the way.

Working from the western end towards the water:

• The Golden Gate, an ornate gateway of 1612 to 1614 that marks the start of Dluga.
• The Main Town Hall, with its tall clock tower, now part of the Gdansk Museum. The tower can be climbed in season.
• Artus Court, the grand former merchants' meeting hall on the Long Market.
• The Neptune Fountain, unveiled in 1633 and long treated as the symbol of the city.
• The Green Gate, a Renaissance building of the 1560s that closes the route at the Motlawa river.

The Long Market was the commercial and ceremonial centre of the Main Town, the point where royal processions and the city's trade came together. It took its finest form in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries under wealthy merchant families. In 1945 the Main Town was left in ruins, and the route was rebuilt afterwards, closely following the old facades.

The walk itself takes ten to fifteen minutes. Add an hour or two if you go into Artus Court and the Main Town Hall, and more if you stop to eat. Most visitors pass along it several times over a stay.

Early morning is quietest and best for photographs, before the tour groups and the stalls. Evenings are pleasant when the facades are lit and the restaurant tables fill. Summer middays are the busiest. In December the route hosts part of the city's Christmas market.

The Long Market runs through the centre of the Main Town and is closed to traffic. From the main railway station it is about a ten-minute walk, and trams and buses stop around the edge of the old town. For wider transport, see the Gdansk guide.

The route is flat and largely step-free, which makes it easy going for wheelchairs and prams, though the surface is cobbled and uneven in places. Some of the historic buildings along the way have steps at their entrances.

The route sits at the centre of the old town, a few minutes from the rest of the sights:

• St Mary's Basilica, just off the market streets to the north.
• The Crane (Zuraw), the largest port crane in medieval Europe, on the Motlawa waterfront through the Green Gate.
• Mariacka Street, lined with amber shops, running parallel towards the river.

It was the ceremonial way Polish kings entered Gdansk, passing through the city gates and down Dluga to the Long Market. The name has stuck to the whole avenue.

Mostly not. The Main Town was destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt afterwards, closely following the historic facades. What you see is a careful reconstruction.

Ten to fifteen minutes to walk it, or an afternoon if you go into the town hall and Artus Court and stop to eat.