Ryan Fest will take place on Monday, 30th June 2025 in Gdańsk, Poland. A dinner on the preceding evening is also planned.
Venue
The venue is the Gdansk branch of Polish-Japanese IT Academy, Targ Drzewny 9/11, 80-894 Gdańsk, Poland. See Google Maps for the detailed location. This is right in the middle of the medieval Hanseatic Old Town of Gdańsk, and within walking distance from the main train station. The talks will be in room A507 and coffe breaks/lunch in room A503, both on the 5th floor.
The symposium starts at 10:00, but the rooms (and coffee!) are available from 9:00. We plan to finish around 18:00-19:00.
Getting to, from, and around
By air: Gdańsk has direct flight connections to Warsaw (by LOT), Munich and Frankfurt (Lufthansa), Amsterdam (KLM), Copenhagen (SAS), Zurich (SWISS) and Helsinki (Finnair). Besides that, there are plenty of cheap connections to all over Europe by Ryanair and Wizzair, see also the website of the Gdansk Airport for more details.
By train: Gdańsk has good train connections to most Polish cities (including hourly connections to Warsaw). International train connections include Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. Trains are generally cheap in Poland, and relatively reliable. You can find train connections here (only in Polish, but the interface is self-explanatory), and book your train tickets here.
Getting around Gdańsk, Sopot, and Gdynia: The city has reliable and inexpensive public transport system, consisting of metropolitan trains, trams, and busses. You can your itinerary here. When moving around the city, we advise to install the jakdojade app (android, iphone), and use it to find connections and especially buy tickets. The ticketing rules are a tricky maze here and even the locals get lost in it sometimes. Better to let the app choose the right fare for you.
You can also pay by credit/debit card using the Fala terminals at train stations, and inside the trams and buses.
Taxi: Uber and Bolt are in widespread use here. A ride from the airport to the center of Gdansk takes approximately 30 mins and costs 40-80 PLN (10-20 EUR). A regular taxi might be 50%-100% more expensive. Bolt is usually slightly cheaper than Uber, except from the airport in which case Uber is significantly more affordable.
Whenever in doubt or in need of advice, you can contact Wojtek who is a local and will be happy to answer your questions. 🙂
Accommodation
There is plenty of good accommodation close to the venue. In Poland, 3-star hotels are usually of pretty good quality (better than 4-star places in many other countries). Also, it is generally a good rule of thumb to use booking.com or airbnb to find and book a place.
Note: end of June is already the high season in Gdańsk. Better to book a place in advance!
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a beautiful and vibrant city on the Baltic Sea shore, with a long history of intercultural exchange. It is well connected by air and train to most European cities and (via Warsaw, Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Zurich and Helsinki) to places on other continents. It features the Hanseatic medieval old town and fantastic sandy beaches along the sea shore. The symposium will be hosted by the
Polish-Japanese IT Academy, right in the Old Town and within walking distance from the main train station.
Social dinner on Sunday evening
RyanFest will start on Sunday 29th June at 19:30 with a dinner at Restaurant Bulaj. Note that the the dinner is not in Gdansk, but in Sopot – a 19th century spa resort next to Gdansk. Getting there from the RyanFest venue takes ca. 50-60 mins by public transport or 30 mins by cab. For those who want to have a stroll through the town, we meet at 18:30 in the main hall of the Sopot train station, and then walk the promenade together.
Also, the restaurant is right on the beach, so take your swimming suit and a towel if you want to have a swim before the meal. 🙂
Getting to the dinner
By public transport: take the suburban train from Gdansk Glowny to Sopot (either SKM or PR line), then switch to local bus or walk 30 mins. You can find the exact itinerary here: https://jakdojade.pl/trojmiasto . Google maps are also pretty good though not perfect. Tickets can be bought e.g. via the jakdojade app. You can also pay for the ride with a contactless credit/debit card using the Fala terminals at train stations, and inside trams and buses, see here for more info: https://systemfala.pl/help/informacje-dla-turystow/system-fala-dla-turystow-pakiet-praktycznych-informacji . The price of a single ride should be less than 5 PLN (1.20 EUR). There are also options of short/long duration tickets.
Taxi: take an Uber/Bolt cab. A ride from the center of Gdansk takes approximately 30 mins and costs around 40 PLN (10 EUR). From the airport, also 30 mins with the cost of 50-80 PLN (12-20 EUR). A regular taxi might be 50%-100% more expensive. Bolt is usually slightly cheaper than Uber, except from the airport in which case Uber is significantly more affordable.