Sopot: a Baltic Biarritz

The Polish resort of Sopot offers "an unbeatably cheap version of the classic Mediterranean city-on-a-beach", says Ruby Warrington in the Times. Situated among forested hills between Gdansk and Gdynia on the so-called "Polish riviera", it is a kind of "Baltic Biarritz" – the climate in the summer is balmy enough to sustain the comparison.

At that time of year, tourists from all over Poland and Germany flood in – yet despite the deluge, the town remains wonderfully "quirky and unassuming".

Indeed, it sometimes brings "1950s Brighton" to mind, with its "quaint, leafy streets, café culture and ever-alluring seafront" complete with an "immense wooden pier". At night it is "charmingly bohemian", its restaurants "non-showy" and its bar scene "verging on the avant garde".

Ryanair flies from Stansted to Gdansk from £20 return.