Poland is the new Croatia for Czech tourists – DW – 08/13/2025
For about a hundred years, the "Czech Riviera" was located on the Croatian coast.
Year in, year out, most holidaymakers from the landlocked Czech Republic, which has a population of about 11 million, took their vacation in the Balkan country.
But the tide has well and truly turned: A growing number of Czechs now travel north to Poland's Baltic coast instead.
"The climate has changed," explains 50-year-old Ludmilla. "I no longer want to holiday in the heat of Croatia or Greece. I'd like to enjoy my vacation in peace — without tropical temperatures."
The Czech Republic's state-owned railway company has reacted to the trend.
The direct train link to Split in Croatia, which ran for decades, has been replaced by the Baltic Express, which travels four times a day from the Czech capital, Prague, to Gdynia, Sopot and Gdansk in Poland. It is often completely booked out in the summer season.
Hundreds of thousands of other Czech tourists drive to Swinoujscie, Szczecin and Sopot on the Polish coast, making the most of the brand new, toll-free Polish motorways linking the two countries.
And unlike their German neighbors, the Poles don't delay traffic coming from the Czech Republic with checks at the border.
Poland's media and politicians have been watching this "Czech invasion" closely.
Articles about holidays in Poland are among the most widely read on Czech news websites, and all major Czech newspapers and television channels have sent special correspondents to the Baltic coast to report.
Social media are full of posts about the Polish Baltic coast, and the pros and cons of holidaying there are debated in numerous online forums.
"The presence of Czech tourists on the Baltic coast has been really noticeable since last year," journalist Jakub Medek of the Polish radio station TOK FM told DW. "I have the feeling that they make up the largest group of foreign tourists this year."
Medek says that initially, Czech tourists mostly traveled to destinations on the western part of the Polish coast, but that this has changed since the express train was launched: Now, many Czech tourists travel to Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot in the east.
Medek says that this development is "clearly seen as positive" in Poland.
This is confirmed by official statistics, too. "Statistics on overnight stays show a massive increase in the number of Czech tourists in Poland," says Pavel Trojan of the Czech branch of the Polish Tourism Association. "They already constitute the fourth largest group of tourists: right after the Germans, the British and the Americans."
Poland's Office of Statistics said that 410,000 Czech tourists stayed in hotels in Poland last year. That's in addition to those who opted for private holiday rentals.
"When mobility in the border region and day-trippers are taken into account, we are second only to the Germans in terms of the number of tourists visiting Poland," says Trojan.
Initial estimates suggest that 2025 will be a record year. According to a report on the Polish website Gazeta.pl, the number of Czechs on the Baltic Coast could hit 800,000 — a figure that puts Croatia, which used to be the darling of Czech tourists, firmly in the shade.
Nevertheless, a vacation on Poland's Baltic coast, where it can rain in August and the water temperature sometimes fails to get above 20°, can be a disappointment for Czechs — or at least for those who are used to heat, warm sea water and sunbathing when they go on a foreign holiday.
For them, the slogan "Poland is the new Croatia," which was coined by the media, might be a little misleading.
"Poland is fundamentally different from the Mediterranean, both in terms of landscape and in terms of the beaches, sights, service and food," says Trojan. "So, it's better to be open, not leave your rain jacket at home, and prepare yourself for an amazing adventure."
The Czechs' new-found love for the Polish coast was also raised at the joint meeting of the Polish and Czech governments in Prague last year.
"I come from Gdansk and live in Sopot, so, I have seen firsthand this very pleasant and welcome summer invasion of Czech tourists on the Polish coast," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the website Wirtualna Polska.
"The Czechs have broken all historical records. Over half a million of them have visited Polish beaches, the Polish coast from Szczecin to Gdansk," he added.
But Poland's Baltic coast is not a cheap vacation option for Czechs: Prices are similar to those in Prague or the world famous Czech spa town Karlovy Vary. Nevertheless, they are still less than half what they are on Germany's Baltic coast.
What's more, vacations in Croatia have become noticeably more expensive in recent years.
That being said, groceries cost much less in Polish supermarkets than they do in the Czech Republic.
But the beer is expensive. The Czech national drink can cost about €6 ($7) for 500 ml (roughly a pint) in restaurants on the Polish coast.
"It's pricey here!" says 60-year old Jirka, as he enjoys a cold beer in Sopot. "But they do have Czech beer."
The new Czech enthusiasm for Poland and the Poles is not just limited to vacations on the Baltic coast. The Czechs also admire the economic strides its neighbor has made in recent years.
Just 30 years ago, Poland was much poorer than the Czech Republic, which was the most affluent and most developed country in Central Europe after the collapse of communism.
But Poland has since caught up with — and in many respects even overtaken — the Czech Republic, for example in terms of the development of its motorway network or wages.
Although the Czech economy still outperforms the Polish economy, the same cannot be said for wages: Just three years ago, Polish wages were 25% lower than in the Czech Republic; today, they are higher.
"The day is coming when Czechs will emigrate to Poland to work," wrote the Polish website Obserwator Gospodarczy. The most striking difference is between the minimum wage in both countries: In the Czech Republic, it is a third lower than in Poland, where the monthly average is €1,120 ($1,308).
This is the result of the cost-cutting policy of the center-right government of Petr Fiala, which has reduced the country's deficit to 2.2% of GDP. In Poland, the deficit stood at 6.6% of GDP last year.
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