Can Gdynia become Poland’s answer to Barcelona? Not because the two cities share the same architecture – they clearly do not – but because both show how distinctive architecture, urban planning and a strong relationship with the sea can shape a city’s international identity. After the Modernist City Centre of Gdynia was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 27 July 2026, that comparison no longer feels quite as provocative as it might once have done.
I wanted to see why for myself.
This time, I did not go to Gdynia for a conference, industry event or study visit. I went there with my camera and drone. I was staying in nearby Oliwa on a family holiday and decided to spend two days walking through the city, looking more closely at the architecture that had just received global recognition.
Gdynia is perhaps best explored in exactly this way – on foot and without rushing. Looking at balconies, staircases, windows, façades and details. From above, meanwhile, the city reveals something else: the logic behind its urban plan and the way its streets connect the centre with the Baltic Sea.
Gdynia UNESCO: a modernist city built between 1926 and 1939
On 27 July 2026, the Gdynia Modernist City Centre was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming Poland’s 18th World Heritage property.
UNESCO recognised Gdynia as an outstanding and pioneering example of early modernist urban planning. Much of the city centre was developed from scratch between 1926 and 1939, during an extraordinary period in which a relatively small settlement was transformed into a modern Polish port city.
The timing could hardly have been more symbolic.
Gdynia is celebrating its centenary in 2026. On 10 February 1926, exactly 100 years earlier, it was granted city rights. The city often described as being “born of the sea and dreams” therefore enters its second century with UNESCO World Heritage status.
Gdynia in five facts
- City rights: 10 February 1926
- UNESCO inscription: 27 July 2026
- UNESCO site: Gdynia Modernist City Centre
- Main period of modernist development: 1926-1939
- World Sailing Championships in Gdynia: 22 July-1 August 2027
That concentration of dates tells an important part of the story. Modern Gdynia is not the result of centuries of gradual urban development. Its identity was created remarkably quickly.
How to explore Gdynia’s modernist architecture
Walking through central Gdynia makes its structure increasingly easy to understand.
10 Lutego Street forms one of the principal east-west axes, leading from the area around Gdynia Główna railway station towards the sea. Świętojańska Street provides another major axis running through the city centre.
Between them are some of the best-known examples of Gdynia modernism, including:
- the BGK residential complex known as Bankowiec
- the former ZUS office building
- the Municipal Market Halls
- the Polish Sailor’s House
- the Pręczkowski tenement house
- the Orłowski tenement house
Gdynia has also developed dedicated modernist walking routes, and following them is one of the easiest ways to understand why UNESCO recognised not simply a collection of individual buildings, but an entire urban ensemble.
What drew me in most, however, were the details.
Rounded corners resembling ships’ bows. Circular windows reminiscent of portholes. Long horizontal bands of windows. Balconies and terraces shaped like decks. Light façades. Stone cladding. Elegant entrance halls and distinctive staircases.
In Gdynia, the sea does not begin at the waterfront.
It is embedded in the architecture.
Why did Gdynia remind me of Barcelona?
Looking at the undulating balconies of the tenement house designed by Antoni Ogończyk-Bloch and Leon Mazalon, a slightly provocative question came to mind:
Could Gdynia be Poland’s Barcelona?
Obviously, this is not about comparing Gdynia modernism with Antoni Gaudí. These are entirely different architectural languages, created in different periods and different cultural contexts.
What interests me is the mechanism behind the cities’ identities.
Barcelona has built a considerable part of its global recognition around architecture, urban space and its relationship with the Mediterranean. Architecture is not simply something visitors see there. It is one of the reasons they travel there in the first place.
Gdynia now has an opportunity to strengthen a similar mechanism around its own story.
Instead of Gaudí, there is modernism.
Instead of the Eixample, there is Gdynia’s own urban plan, with major streets connecting the city with the sea.
Instead of a centuries-old Mediterranean port story, there is the extraordinary history of a young Polish city that became one of the most important ports on the Baltic within little more than a decade.
The comparison does not need to go any further than that. But from the perspective of destination marketing, it is worth thinking about.
Gdynia is a city shaped by the sea
Architecture is only one part of this identity.
Gdynia’s maritime heritage is not something that needs to be created for a tourism campaign. It is already everywhere.
There is the marina, the legendary Dar Pomorza and ORP Błyskawica, Gdynia Maritime University, the traditions of the port and fishing industry, sailing events, ferries and cruise ships.
There is also contemporary culture. Gdynia hosts events including Gdynia Design Days, Open’er Festival, Ladies’ Jazz Festival and the Polish Film Festival. The Gdynia Film Centre reinforces another important part of the city’s identity: its long-standing relationship with Polish cinema.
Modernism, maritime heritage, sailing, film, music and design may at first appear to be separate themes.
In reality, they provide Gdynia with something every destination needs: several stories that reinforce one another.
World Sailing Championships 2027 will bring Gdynia back onto the international stage
Sailing adds another important chapter. From 22 July to 1 August 2027, Gdynia will host part of the World Sailing Championships 2027.
For the first time, the championships will operate across two destinations. Fortaleza in Brazil will stage the one-person Olympic events earlier in the year, while Gdynia will host the two-person Olympic events in July, alongside Para Inclusive Sailing competition.
The event will form part of the wider Gdynia Sailing Days programme.
For a city whose history, urban identity and visitor experience are so closely linked to the Baltic Sea, this is more than a major sporting event. It reinforces an international positioning that already exists.
What could UNESCO status mean for meetings and incentive travel in Gdynia?
This is where the story becomes particularly interesting from my professional perspective. UNESCO status does not automatically transform a destination.
What it can do is provide a powerful framework around which the destination creates new products, experiences and international communication.
For Gdynia, that opportunity extends directly into the MICE and business events sector.
A conference delegate does not experience a destination only inside a meeting room. Organisers increasingly look for places that provide a convincing answer to a much broader question:
Why should we bring our event here? Gdynia now has another strong answer.
Gdynia incentive travel ideas
Its modernist and maritime identity could be translated into experiences such as:
- guided photography walks through the UNESCO-listed modernist centre
- architecture-themed city games
- private modernist architecture tours
- visits to selected historic interiors and staircases
- the Gdynia City Centre Culinary Trail
- sailing experiences and regattas
- cruises and maritime activities
- programmes exploring the history of the port
- meetings with architects, historians, sailors or local storytellers
- programmes combining Gdynia with Gdańsk and Sopot
Some of these experiences already exist. Others could be packaged more deliberately for international incentive groups and conference delegates.
That distinction matters.
The strongest destination experiences do not feel like products created exclusively for tourists. They are rooted in the real identity of a place.
Gdynia has plenty of material to work with.
Gdynia for conferences and business events
The city also has conference and hotel infrastructure capable of supporting different types of meetings and events.
Among the venues and hotels that can form part of a Gdynia business events programme are the Danuta Baduszkowa Music Theatre, Courtyard by Marriott Gdynia Waterfront, Mercure Gdynia Centrum, Hotel Nadmorski and the conference facilities at the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park.
For event planners, however, the real opportunity lies in combining infrastructure with destination character.
A meeting in Gdynia can now be connected with:
- UNESCO modernism
- the Baltic Sea
- sailing
- design
- film
- local gastronomy
That is much more distinctive than simply selling meeting rooms and hotel capacity.
From the Gdynia Modernism Route to a broader city narrative
Fortunately, Gdynia is not starting from scratch. The city has been developing and promoting its modernist heritage for years through the Gdynia Modernism Route, architectural walks, exhibitions, publications and events.
During my visit, at Może Kawy café, I had the opportunity to meet Arkadiusz Brzęczek and immerse myself in his stories about the “city of dreams”.
He is the author of 100 sekretów gdyńskich kamienic na 100-lecie Gdyni (100 Secrets of Gdynia’s Tenement Houses for Gdynia’s Centenary) – and one of the people who bring the city’s architecture to life through stories rather than dates and façades alone.
That is important.
UNESCO provides international recognition. But ultimately, destinations become memorable through people, stories and experiences.
So, is Gdynia really Poland’s Barcelona?
No – and it does not need to be. Gdynia should remain unmistakably Gdynia.
But Barcelona demonstrates something worth studying: architecture can become much more than a collection of buildings. It can become part of a city’s global identity, visitor economy and international appeal.
Gdynia now has a rare opportunity to do more with an architectural story that is already authentic, coherent and internationally recognised.
The UNESCO inscription gives the city additional visibility. Its centenary provides a natural moment to tell the story.
The World Sailing Championships in 2027 will create another international spotlight.
And modernism provides something particularly valuable: a reason to explore the city slowly, street by street, building by building and detail by detail.
Some might jokingly say that Gdynia’s UNESCO inscription is simply another good reason to visit Gdańsk.
As someone from Oliwa, I would argue the opposite. It is another good reason to make time for Gdynia during a stay in Gdansk and Sopot.
Or, increasingly, simply to come to Gdynia itself.
And since this story started with Barcelona, there is one more connection.
IBTM World 2026 takes place in Barcelona from 17 to 19 November. See you there.
