The small town of Gniew has one big attraction – a red-brick castle housing the local Archaeological Museum. The exhibition is in two rooms, but you will also get to see the chapel and temporary exhibitions in other rooms, and wander through most of the castle. All visits are guided and the tour takes up to 1½ hours.
The first stronghold of the Teutonic order on the left bank of the Vistula, the castle was built in the late 13th century and is a massive, multistorey brick structure with a deep courtyard. In 1464 it came under Polish rule and remained so until the First Partition of 1772. The Prussians remodelled it to accommodate barracks, a jail and an ammunition depot. It was seriously burnt out in 1921, but the 2m-thick walls survived and it was later restored.
Four buses a day run to/from Gdańsk (17zł, one hour 20 minutes) stopping at the bus terminal around 300m northwest of the castle. Otherwise head to Kwidzyn by train and change to bus there (9zł, approximately hourly, 25 minutes).
