The growth of Sopot from a small fishing village to popular resort was driven and built upon a few natural factors. Along with the fresh and iodine-rich sea air, the long sandy beaches and the beautiful lush forested hills, it has been spa water that has attracted visitors for close to 200 years. It was these factors that encouraged Jean Georg Haffner to settle here at the end of the Napoleonic Wars instead of returning to his native France and to set in train the construction of what is now Poland’s premier health and leisure resort.
Sopot finds itself situated 750m above the St Wojciech (or Adalbert) spring, the waters from which flow up into the centre of the town. The waters are a 4.3% bromide and iodine natural brine which also contain significant amounts of potassium, magnesium and iodine. The waters are reportedly as saline as those of the Red Sea, which makes them about 4 times as salty as the waters of the Baltic Sea.
Waters from the spring flow, in an undiluted form (4.3%), into the fountain in front of the Balneological House and from the antique, glass-domed ‘inhalation mushrooms’ in Maria and Lech Kaczyńscy Park. An industry has sprung up around these waters over the past two centuries and these days undiluted spring waters are used in natural brine baths to treat a multitude of disorders relating to the muscle and respiratory systems.
For those interested to know more about the wide range of medical treatments on offer, it is recommended you contact the Balneological House here or contact us at Sopot Tourist Information where we will be delighted to offer you assistance. For those simply looking to experience the benefits of the Sopot spring waters, there are two obvious options which cost nothing and require no prior booking.
First of all, you can do as many Sopot residents do and take a walk through the parks on either side of the pier, before taking a moment to sit around one of the ‘inhalation mushrooms’ found in the Southern Park. Just sit back and breathe in the salty air and spray given off by the fountains. The water in this form is said to be beneficial for the respiratory system.
Your other option is to drink some of the specially diluted waters (note the emphasis on DILUTED) which you will find in the Mineral Water Tasting Room (sometimes referred around the town as the Pump Room) on the third floor of the Spa House. The Mineral Water Tasting Room is part of the café run by the Sopot Tourist Information service, which you will find on the 2nd floor of the same building. The waters in the tasting room are pumped directly from the St. Wojciech spring and delivered through special taps in a 15:1 diluted form. It is said that the water in this form can be beneficial to the digestive system as it flushes the system and clears, for instance, the bile ducts, which in turn has a positive effect on the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates the stomach pancreas and intestinal system.
***Please be warned that those who have suffered from hypertension, peptic ulcer, heart and kidney failure among other disorders are advised to consult with a doctor before commencing any treatments.)
