Gdansk is the 6th largest city in Poland, its principal seaport, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodship.

The city lies on the southern coast of the Gdansk Bay (of the Baltic Sea), in a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdynia and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trojmiasto) with a population of over a million people. Gdansk is, with a population of 460 000 (2002), the largest city in the historical province of Eastern Pomerania.

Gdansk is situated at the mouth of the Motlawa river, connected to Leniwka, a branch in the delta of the Vistula, whose waterway system connects 60% of the area of Poland, giving the city a unique advantage as the center of Poland's sea trade.

Historically an important German-speaking Hanse city and a major port since the 14th century and subsequently a principal ship-building centre, today's Gdansk remains an important industrial centre together with the developed since the 1920s of the nearby port of Gdynia. In the 1970s the modern port (Port Polnocny) in Gdansk was developed, accessible for much bigger ships, including middle sized tankers.