Vistula Lagoon

The Vistula Lagoon is a shallow, brackish lagoon on the southern Baltic coast, lying between the Vistula Spit and the mainland of northern Poland and Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast. It is separated from the open sea by the long sandbar of the Vistula Spit and is an important area for fisheries, coastal wetlands and maritime traffic.

The lagoon includes shallow bays, reedbeds and estuarine zones that support fish and bird populations, and it is fringed by small ports, coastal resorts and fishing villages. Recreational boating, local fisheries and birdwatching are common activities along its shores.

The basin has developed since the post-glacial period and has long served as a local shipping and fishing area; geopolitically it is notable because the water body and the spit are shared by Poland and Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia), which affects ports and navigation points.

The lagoon lies along the Baltic coast of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship and borders Kaliningrad Oblast to the north-east; it is reached from towns such as Elbląg and coastal communities on the Polish shore and from the Russian port of Baltiysk.

• International border and access: The lagoon is a brackish body of water separated from the open Baltic by the Vistula Spit and shared between Poland and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast, so access and navigation are affected by the international border.

What to See #

• Vistula Spit: A narrow sandy barrier that separates the lagoon from Gdańsk Bay and is split between Polish and Russian territory; it contains towns, dunes and access channels onto the Baltic Sea.
• Elbląg Bay: The southwestern portion of the lagoon that receives the Elbląg River and forms shallow bays and wetlands important for local fisheries and birdlife.