Need advice (urgently!) on vacationing at Baltic Sea, Poland (or Germany)

In My Humble Opinion
1

So my mom’s coming to visit me in Berlin next week. I’d really like to get out of the city with her and I’m desperately trying to plan a trip to the Baltic Sea for the first week of August (of course this is the absolute height of the season and this is also quite late, but that’s me). Almost any place I’d want to go in Germany is booked, or just very, very expensive at this point. I’ve search every hotel and vacation rental site I can find.

I’m wondering if I might have better luck in Poland? Does anyone have any experience or advice with what areas I should be looking at or how I might best go about finding a place? I need to accommodate 3 adults and a 2 yo. Preferably in a nice, touristy beach town with lots of shops and restaurants and charm.

(Incidentally, if anyone has any advice on finding a place on the German side, perhaps something beyond the obvious places I’ve been looking, I’ll certainly take that too).

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I’be been to Gdasnk, that’s quite nice.

A beach, lots of shops, stuff like an opera hall, plenty of German tourists.
I was there during the annual amber fair (probably their biggest annual event), which is at the end of August, and didn’t have trouble finding a room. I was staying in a backpackers though, so it may be a bit harder to get anything more upscale, I don’t know. It’s a fair trip from Berlin, but I did it in one day on the train. Just don’t be in a rush on Polish trains…

3

Yeah that’s a bit far. We’ll be going by car (and with a 2 yo even the closest point on the Sea will be pushing it).

I was just reading about Kolobrzeg which looks like a nice possibility. Anyone ever been there?