Welcome to Szczecin!
Szczecin (Shchetsin, German: Stettin) is a maritime port city and the capital of Zachodniopomorskie in Poland. The city has a population of over 400,000, with almost 780,000 living in its metro area (2019). It is one of the seven largest metropoles in the country. It lies in the northwestern corner of Poland, very close to the German border. It is easier to get to Szczecin from some parts of Germany, notable from Berlin than it is from much of the Polish territory. For a significant part of its history, Szczecin was a part of Germany, and in other periods, of Denmark and Sweden.
Szczecin is Poland's third-largest port, and much of its industrial base used to be a part of an important shipyard. But the city is not on the seaside, but rather on the river Odra (German: Oder), some 20 kilometers south of the Baltic Sea as the crow flies, and many more by road. Many visitors to Poland are also unaware of Szczecin's architectural attractiveness, as the large parts of the city were designed by Baron Haussmann, the same man who designed the boulevards of Paris.
Szczecin is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport and Poland's seventh-largest city. As of December 2020, the population was 398,255. Szczecin is located on the river Oder, south of the Szczecin Lagoon and the Bay of Pomerania. The city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of the Oder and on several large islands between the western and eastern branches of the river. Szczecin is adjacent to the town of Police and is the urban center of the Szczecin agglomeration, an extended metropolitan area that includes communities in the German states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Szczecin is the administrative and industrial center of West Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the site of the University of Szczecin, Pomeranian Medical University, Maritime University, West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin Art Academy, and the see of the Szczecin-Kamień Catholic Archdiocese. From 1999 onwards, Szczecin has served as the site of the headquarters of NATO's Multinational Corps Northeast. The city was a candidate for the European Capital of Culture in 2016.