Poland is situated in Central Europe and the country is neighboured by Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. The northern border is the Baltic Sea coast. The country has an area of 312,700 square kilometres and a population of over 38 million people. The official language is Polish. The capital is Warsaw (1.7 million inhabitants), situated in the central part of the country on the banks of the Vistula river - Poland’s longest river. The climate in Poland is temperate.

Among Poland’s largest cities are Gdańsk, Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Łódź, Katowice and Szczecin. Administratively, Poland is divided into 16 voivodeships. Poland is a country with a very varied terrain. Lowland areas are prevalent, particularly in the northern and central parts. The coastal area has beautiful broad and sandy beaches along the Baltic Sea. Further south, but still in the north and west of the country, we have the Pomorskie, Mazurskie and Wielkopolskie Lake Districts, where, among picturesque hills and beautiful forests, there are thousands of lakes, including Śniardwy, the biggest of them all, with a surface area of 113 square kilometres.

In the south of Poland there are uplands and mountain ranges: the Sudety mountains with their highest peak, Śnieżka (1,603 metres above sea level), and the Karpaty mountains, whose central part is formed by the Tatry mountains, which are Alpine in formation and which boast Poland’s highest mountain, Rysy (2 499 metres above sea level). Nature in Poland also includes primeval forests, a widespread river network and a wealth of flora and fauna.

The Pomorskie Voivodeship lies along the Baltic Sea, at the mouth of the Vistula River. To the west it borders the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship, to the south the Wielkopolskie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeships, to the east the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship and to the north the Baltic Sea. The coastal location has to a great extent determined the economy of the region. The capital of the region is Gdańsk, a city of almost half a million inhabitants.

Apart from Gdańsk, the biggest cities and towns are Gdynia, Słupsk, Tczew and Sopot. The voivodeship covers an area of 18,293 square kilometres and is divided into 20 poviats. Two national parks (Słowiński National Park and Bory Tucholskie National Park) can be found in the Voivodeship as well as 9 landscape parks and many nature reserves, which are open to the public. The landscape has wide geographic variations: from lowlands (1.6 metres below sea level) to the highest peak of the Central European Uplands - Wieżyca (329 metres above sea level).

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