Puck

Peaceful for most of the year, Puck starts life for real when summer arrives and brings with it flocks of people who want to enjoy their summer holidays in this seaside picturesque setting. Puck is perfect for both active and passive tourists. You may lie on a beach, go on a cruise on the Bay of Puck, practise water sports or sightsee. Everyone will surely have a good time here.

Puck TOURISM

Puck is a paradise for active tourists, especially those who appreciate water sports. Enthusiasts of sailing and windsurfing may practise on the Bay of Puck. Annually, European and World Championships in various classes of sailing and windsurfing are held here.
Apart from water sports, Puck offers a few foot and bike trails. Keen bikers will surely love the Seaside Cycle Path from Gdynia to Hel that runs through the town.
Puck and its neighbourhood are full of monuments. In Puck itself you ought to visit: the gothic church of St. Peter and Paul from the 13th century, the baroque hospital from the 1720s, which is now the seat of Florian Ceynowa’s Museum of Puck Land, the remains of the medieval Teutonic Knights’ castle and the neo-gothic town hall from 1865. Interesting monuments may be also found in neighbouring towns. Worthy of interest are especially caves in Mechowo (10 km from Puck), a castle in Rzucewo (6.5 km) and a sanctuary in Swarzewo (6.5 km).

GEOGRAPHY

Puck is a town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship and a seat of county and commune, populated by over 11.500. It lies on Gdansk Pomerania at the point the river Plutnica flows into the Bay of Puck, in the northeast part of Kepa Pucka.

HISTORY

Puck beginnings date back to early Middle Ages. Since 1309 it was under the rulings of Teutonic Knights and it obtained town rights in 1348.
During the Thirteen Years war (1454–1466) Puck’s inhabitants sided with Poland. In 1457 Swedish King Karol VIII Knutsson Bonde found a shelter in Puck. Puck Land was given to him as a security by Casimir IV Jagiellon. Three years later Puck was taken by the Teutonic Order and the king was forced to move to Gdansk.
In 1466 Puck was annexed to Royal Prussia. It was a good time for the town, which was then a seat of county, a place of sejmiks and municipal courts and, during the reigns of the House of Vasa, a fortress and a base of Polish navy.
A golden age for Puck ended in the half of the 18th century. The town fell into decay then and in 1772 was joined to Prussia. In the beginning of the 19th century the town regained its significance. Puck became then a county seat in Gdansk governmental district and a famous brewery – the beer which was produced here was famous all over the Pomerania.
Until 1926 Puck and Hel had been the only Polish ports by the sea. In the same year Puck county was liquidated and the town together with neighbouring villages was joined to the Marine County with the seat in Wejherowo.
During the Second World War Puck was under German occupation. In between 1941 and 1944 there existed a work camp, in which prisoners were manufacturing airplane parts.