From cold baths to official spa status
It began with bathing. The first modest bath-houses appeared around the turn of the twentieth century, and the cure consisted of cold and hot sea-water baths together with walks in the pine forest. Patients came recovering from influenza, or with lung complaints, asthma and rheumatism, and the treatment season ran from mid-June to mid-September.
In 1911 a new treatment house replaced the old baths. Before the First World War the town received some three and a half thousand guests a season, and the figure barely changed between the wars. Ustka was then a seaside resort rather than a spa in the present sense.
After 1945 the cure business stalled. Organised stays for patients resumed only in 1974, a state spa enterprise was set up in 1978, and Ustka was formally recognised as a spa in 1988 — one of the younger ones on the Polish coast. The spa was privatised in 2010, after which the range of treatments widened considerably.
What is treated here
Ustka is a climatic and balneological spa, meaning it works both with its own raw materials and with the air itself. There are two documented deposits: a sodium chloride, iodide and ferrous brine of over three per cent concentration, drawn from a borehole inside the town, and a healing peat deposit just outside it.
Treatment covers orthopaedic and post-trauma conditions, disorders of the nervous system, rheumatic complaints, cardiac conditions and hypertension, and the upper respiratory tract. Several spa facilities operate in the town — sanatoria, treatment houses and a spa clinic.
The third factor cannot be moved anywhere: the sea aerosol. Air along the shore carries salt and iodine particles, and the pine forest covering nearly half the town's area adds shelter from the wind and its own essential oils. A walk by the water is therefore counted as part of the cure here, not as something to do afterwards.
The promenade, the park and what stands along them
The spa quarter of Ustka is above all its seafront promenade. It goes back to 1875, when a park with walking avenues was laid out here; Otto von Bismarck was among those who strolled it and liked to take breakfast on the way. The promenade now runs more than two kilometres, starting at the harbour channel and heading east.
Behind it, towards the town centre, lies the spa park. In the adjacent seaside park stands a monument to Fryderyk Chopin unveiled in 1979, the work of Ludwika Nitschowa, who also made the Warsaw mermaid. Nearby, foundations and a scale model mark the church of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Nicholas, pulled down in 1889.
Visitors who pay the spa levy have travelled free on local transport since 2018. A small thing, but a useful one in a town stretched out along the shore.
Getting there
- By train — a line connects Ustka with Słupsk, about eighteen kilometres away, where long-distance trains run inland.
- By bus — regular services to Słupsk; since 2003 the two towns have been linked by an agreement locally called the Twin Town.
- By car — north from Słupsk; in season traffic around the harbour and promenade is heavy and parking in the centre is hard to find.
- On foot — the spa quarter, the harbour and both beaches are all within walking distance, and a footbridge links the banks of the harbour channel.
Worth knowing
If you come for the climate rather than the treatments, go to the shore early in the morning or late in the afternoon: that is when the aerosol is strongest and the promenade emptiest.
The western stretch of coast is quieter and more wooded, the eastern one more urban, with the esplanade and all the spa buildings. Walking both and then choosing is the sensible approach.
Baltic weather changes fast even in July, so a windproof jacket earns its place all year. After the winter storms the beach is noticeably narrower than in summer photographs.
How to get there and practical info
- Location
- Slovincian Coast, Pomeranian Voivodeship, at the mouth of the Słupia on the Baltic, about eighteen kilometres north of Słupsk
- What it is
- a statutory climatic and balneological spa; status granted in 1988
- Healing resources
- sodium chloride, iodide and ferrous brine from a borehole within the town, and healing peat
- Conditions treated
- orthopaedic and post-trauma, nervous system, rheumatic, cardiac and hypertension, upper respiratory tract
- Earliest treatments
- first bath-houses around 1900, new treatment house in 1911
- Seafront promenade
- over two kilometres; the park with walking avenues was laid out in 1875
- Lighthouse
- octagonal red-brick tower of 1892 at the root of the eastern breakwater, 21.5 metres tall, on the heritage register
- Time needed
- half a day for the spa quarter and promenade, a full day with the harbour and beaches
- Current opening times and tickets
- official website of the town of Ustka
When to go
The promenade empties and the air is unusually clear. A good time for a climate cure without crowds, though the sea wind can still be cold.
Peak bathing season and the busiest period in the spa quarter. The pine forest behind the beach offers shelter when the shore gets too hot.
The water is warmer than the air, and the storms deliver the most sea aerosol. For patients this is often the best season of the year.
Treatments carry on as normal and the beach belongs to walkers. After storms the shore is visibly narrower and harder to cross dry-shod.
Other sights in Ustka
Straight-line distances from „Ustka — spa town" — calculated from real coordinates. By road it is often further.
Where to stay nearby
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