Poland's third largest lake and the biggest coastal one - 71 km² of water averaging a metre and a half deep, separated from the Baltic only by a strip of shifting dunes. The clearest view is from the tower at Kluki, or from the top of Rowokół hill.
Lake Łebsko is the third largest lake in Poland and the largest coastal one: 71.4 km², a metre and a half deep on average, and only a belt of shifting dunes separates it from the Baltic. It lies entirely within Słowiński National Park and is protected, so there are no beaches here, no designated bathing area and no water sports. From Rowy it is worth picking one of the two viewpoints: the tower on Rowokół, from which you can see the whole lake at once, or the tower and wooden jetty in Kluki on the southern shore. Dogs are not allowed at either.
How to get to Lake Łebsko from Rowy
Almost the entire shore of Łebsko is off limits, so you do not head for the lake at random; you head for one particular spot. Two of them make sense from Rowy. Rowokół is about 15 minutes by car to Smołdzino and about a 20-minute climb to the top, although since March 2026 the direct steps to the summit have been closed and the only way up is the blue trail from the petrol station. Kluki on the southern shore has a viewing tower and a wooden jetty; the last half kilometre before the car park is a sandy road, and from the car park it is another 10 minutes or so on foot down to the shore. Kluki lies inside the park, so it is worth checking the current entry rules before you set off.
Where you get the best view of the whole of Lake Łebsko
From the viewing tower on Rowokół you can see the whole lake at once, and Gardno, the Baltic and the lighthouse at Czołpino into the bargain. It is the best viewpoint in the area, but the tower charges admission and is open from 1 May to 30 September, and in strong wind, fog or a storm it is sometimes closed. Kluki gives you something else: the tower and the wooden jetty on the southern shore let you come right up to the water's edge, rather than showing you the whole of it from a distance. The open-air museum stands right next door, so one trip can cover both.
Can you swim in Lake Łebsko
No. There are no beaches here, no designated bathing area and no water sports, and the whole lake lies within Słowiński National Park and is protected. For a swim you go to the sea, in Rowy, and for windsurfing to Lake Gardno, where shallow, warm water has been drawing boards for years. People come to Łebsko for the view and for the birds.
How big and how deep is Lake Łebsko
71.4 km² of surface, 6.3 metres deep at most, a metre and a half on average. It is the third largest lake in Poland, after Śniardwy and Mamry, and the largest coastal lake in the country. Those numbers capture its character well: a vast sheet of water that over most of its area is shallower than a grown adult is tall.
Why the water in Łebsko is brackish
Łebsko is neither an ordinary lake nor a bay. A sandbar cuts it off from the open sea, but in the town of Łeba the lake has a connection to the sea, so its water is brackish. That is why nature around Łebsko looks different from nature around an ordinary lake.
Birds at Lake Łebsko
Ornithologically, Łebsko is one of the richest places in Europe. You can see swans, cormorants, cranes and white-tailed eagles here, and in spring and autumn thousands of migrating birds stop over. Binoculars will be more use than a camera, because the birds keep their distance from the shore.
Why Lake Łebsko is shrinking
From the north the shore is being buried by the shifting dunes of the Łeba Sandbar, the same ones that are the park's calling card. The lake loses several hectares a year as a result. It is a rare case of a landscape that changes at a pace you can notice within a single human lifetime.
