Poland · City break

Warsaw City Guide

Two cities in one. An old town rebuilt façade by façade, a UNESCO site since 1980, and beside it the towers around the Palace of Culture. In between lie the Royal Route, the POLIN museum, the new Vistula banks and Chopin's heart in the Holy Cross Church. Two ready-made day routes plan it all, right into rough Praga.

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Our walking tours of Warsaw

Ready-made routes from the station guide you through Warsaw, to the right spots from the very first step, with no planning needed.

Old Town & the Royal Route

Day one starts at the Barbican, the round bulwark of the old city wall, crosses the rebuilt Old Town Market Square with its colourful burgher houses and enters the Royal Castle with the state rooms of the Polish kings. Then down the Royal Route along Krakowskie Przedmieście, past palaces, churches and the university, and on to the redesigned Vistula boulevards. If you still have energy, finish with the Copernicus Science Centre right on the bank.

Barbican (Barbakan). The walk starts at the Barbican, the round red-brick bulwark that guarded the northern city gate in the 16th century. What you see is a reconstruction. Like almost the whole old town, the tower was rebuilt after the destruction of the Second World War, partly from the bricks of demolished houses. Today it is the seam between the Old Town and the New Town, and in summer buskers and portrait painters sit along the wall. A good starting point, because from here it is all southwards and downhill.
Old Town Market Square (Rynek Starego Miasta). The Rynek Starego Miasta is the heart of the old town and at the same time its greatest feat. In 1944 the square lay in rubble, today the narrow, colourful burgher houses stand again, reconstructed from old paintings and photographs. That is exactly why Warsaw's old town was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. Not for its age but for this rebuilding. In the middle stands the mermaid with sword and shield, the city's heraldic figure. Cafés put tables out all around; to see the square without crowds, come before ten.
Royal Castle (Zamek Królewski). The Zamek Królewski was the seat of the Polish kings and later of parliament. In 1944 German troops deliberately blew it up; reconstruction only began in the 1970s and was largely financed by donations. Inside you see the rebuilt state rooms. Throne room, marble cabinet, the Great Assembly Hall. And two genuine Rembrandts from the Lanckoroński collection in Vienna, given to the castle in 1994. Allow at least an hour. Mondays it is closed, Wednesdays the tour is free, but then you queue.
Krakowskie Przedmieście. From Castle Square the Royal Route runs south as a broad, tree-lined axis. The finest street in the city. Along a good kilometre stand aristocratic palaces, the Presidential Palace with its equestrian statue, the university and several baroque churches. In the Holy Cross Church, Frédéric Chopin's heart is walled into a pillar; the rest of him lies in Paris. Look out for the black stone benches at the kerb. Press the button and they play Chopin. At the end the street becomes Nowy Świat, the city's shopping and café stretch.
Vistula Boulevards. For decades the Vistula banks were a concrete desert; today they are among the city's favourite open spaces, with broad wooden terraces, ramps down to the water, cycle paths and a row of beach bars in summer. On the opposite Praga side the bank has deliberately been left wild. A real sandy beach in the middle of the capital, with the best view of the skyline. In the evening the whole strip fills up, with barbecues and music. If you want the photo, cross the Świętokrzyski bridge to the east bank.
Copernicus Science Centre. The Centrum Nauki Kopernik is a huge hands-on museum right on the river, with hundreds of stations to touch and try out, plus a planetarium under a silver dome. It is clearly aimed at families, but it is fun without children too if you have two hours to spare. Tickets are timed-entry only and at weekends they often go days in advance. On the roof there is a freely accessible garden with a view over the Vistula. A good way to end the day.

POLIN, Uprising Museum & Palace of Culture

Day two belongs to the two great museums and to high-rise Warsaw. First POLIN in the former ghetto area, telling a thousand years of Jewish life in Poland, then the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising with the 63 days of 1944. To finish, up to the observation deck of the Palace of Culture, Stalin's gift to the city, and if you like, on into Łazienki Park with its palace, peacocks and Chopin monument.

POLIN Museum. POLIN stands in the middle of Muranów, where the Warsaw Ghetto once was and where after the war literally nothing was left standing. The building alone is worth it, with its wavy canyon of glass and concrete inside, but what matters is the permanent exhibition, a thousand years of Jewish life in Poland, chronologically through eight galleries, with the reconstructed painted ceiling of a wooden synagogue and a 17th-century market street. It is explicitly not only about the destruction but above all about the life before it. That is what makes the museum so strong. Allow two to three hours; closed on Tuesdays.
Museum of the Warsaw Uprising. Housed in an old tram power station, this museum tells the 63 days of the uprising of August 1944, when the Polish Home Army tried to liberate the city itself and the Red Army halted on the far side of the Vistula. The staging is dense and loud, with a heartbeat coming from the walls, a rebuilt sewer tunnel you can crawl through, weapons, letters and film footage. At the end hangs an aerial photograph of the destroyed city that explains in one glance why almost everything in Warsaw is new. The audio guide really is worth it; without it much stays opaque. Closed Tuesdays.
Palace of Culture (observation deck). The Pałac Kultury i Nauki was Stalin's gift to the Polish people and is still the city's most contested building, 237 metres high, in Stalinist wedding-cake style, loved by many and felt by just as many to be a monument to foreign rule. An old Warsaw joke says the view from the top is the best in the city, because from up there you cannot see the palace. Inside are theatres, cinemas, museums and a congress hall; a lift takes you to the 30th floor and the open terrace running all the way round. On a clear day you see far beyond the city limits, and all around the new glass towers, of which only the Varso Tower rises higher.
Neon Museum. A whole warehouse of restored neon signs from the Eastern Bloc era, rescued from walls and shopfronts all over Poland. Best just before closing, when dusk falls outside and everything glows at once inside.
Łazienki Park. The royal park in the south is the green counterworld to the concrete of the centre, a sprawling site with old trees, ponds and free-roaming peacocks that let nobody bother them. In the middle, on an island, stands the Palace on the Isle, the summer residence of Poland's last king, plus an amphitheatre with a stage on a second island. At the edge of the park sits the great Chopin monument under a windswept willow; from mid-May to the end of September there are free open-air piano recitals here on Sundays. The park itself is free, the palace needs a ticket.

Planning your visit

Two days fit well. The first route from the Barbican runs 3.5 kilometres across the old town market and the royal castle, down the Krakowskie Przedmieście to the Vistula boulevards. The second takes in the POLIN museum, the Warsaw Rising Museum, the viewing terrace of the Palace of Culture and Łazienki park over 2.1 kilometres. The old town was reconstructed façade by façade after 1945 and has been on the UNESCO list since 1980. Five evening tips are ready.

Going out & nightlife

Rooftop bars

Panorama Sky Bar. On the 40th floor of the Marriott opposite the main station you sit behind floor-to-ceiling glass looking at the Palace of Culture and the towers of the new Warsaw. In return you get the view nobody else in the city charges admission for. Honest heads-up. The panorama only faces one side, and without a reservation you can easily wait over an hour on a busy night.

Nightlife quarters

Plac Zbawiciela & Nowogrodzka. South of the centre, around Plac Zbawiciela and along Nowogrodzka, lies the city's most relaxed going-out quarter, with small bars, terraces and bistros side by side. On mild evenings everyone sits outside on the steps and kerbs, talking rather than being drowned out by music. It's almost all Warsaw locals here rather than old-town tourists. And you notice that in the prices too.

Food & restaurants

Rozbrat 20. A Michelin star near the Vistula bank, tasting menus built almost entirely on Polish produce, very precise and without any show. Honest heads-up, it is expensive. With wine pairing you are quickly into three figures per person, and you have to book well ahead. If you would rather have pierogi on a budget, go to Zapiecek on Nowy Świat instead and pay a fraction.

Bars & clubs

Woda Ognista. A cocktail bar with no menu at all. You say what you like, sweet, sour, smoky, with or without alcohol, and the bartenders mix something to match. It takes longer than elsewhere, but that is exactly why the place has been rated among Poland's best for years. Small, dark and filling up fast late in the evening, so drop in early.

Stage & concerts

Teatr Roma. The Teatr Roma is Warsaw's musical house, with the big licensed productions, lavishly staged and performed in Polish. That sounds like a barrier, but it works surprisingly well if you roughly know the story. Music, sets and choreography carry the evening without a single word. Tickets online or at the box office, curtain usually at 7pm.

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Practical information for Warsaw

Public transport

Operator. The Zarząd Transportu Miejskiego (ZTM) organizes Warsaw's public transport under the umbrella brand Warszawski Transport Publiczny (WTP). ZTM sets routes and timetables, sells tickets and inspects them. Services are run by several municipal operators, namely Miejskie Zakłady Autobusowe for buses, Tramwaje Warszawskie for trams, Metro Warszawskie for the metro, and Szybka Kolej Miejska for the S-Bahn-style lines marked with the letter S. The fare is uniform, one ticket is valid on all these vehicles. Beyond the city boundary, the so-called zone lines numbered 700 to 899 extend the network further. Under the joint offer Wspólny bilet ZTM-KM-WKD, day, three-day, weekend and long-term tickets are also recognized on trains of Koleje Mazowieckie and the Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa. On the red SKM trains, however, only ZTM tickets are valid, tickets from other rail operators are invalid there.

Network. Two metro lines, trams, buses and suburban trains.

Modes of transport. Bus · Tram · Metro · S-Bahn (SKM) · Regional rail (KM and WKD) · Vistula ferries (seasonal tourist lines)

Operating hours. ZTM states the daytime lines' framework as 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., after which the night lines take over. According to the operator, the two metro lines run roughly from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., and until about 3 a.m. on the nights from Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday. For the S-Bahn lines, the framework can be read off specific departures. At the Warszawa Lotnisko Chopina station, line S2 departs from 4.56 a.m., then at minutes 26 and 56 of every hour, with the last departure at 11.56 p.m. Line S3 leaves the same station hourly at minute 11, between 6.11 a.m. and 11.11 p.m. The main station Warszawa Centralna itself is open around the clock.

Night service. The night network is structured differently from the day network. The base lines connect the outer districts with the center and run every 30 or 60 minutes. Their schedules are coordinated at the stops by Dworzec Centralny station, so you can transfer there. The buses mostly depart there at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. Lines numbered N01 to N09 are ring lines that don't touch the center but connect to the base lines at selected stops. Lines N50 to N59 are peripheral supplementary lines and run only on certain weekdays. The fare is the same as during the day, including the rule on the two fare zones. At night, line N32 runs from Chopin Airport to Dworzec Centralny. In addition, on the nights from Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday, the metro extends its service until about 3 a.m., at a frequency of around 15 minutes.

Buying tickets. ZTM sells through a dense network. Vending machines are on all buses except the blue L lines, on all trams and on all SKM trains. A pictogram at the entrance shows where the machine is located in the vehicle. Stationary machines stand at many stops and at the metro stations. Added to that are the Punkty Obsługi Pasażerów, ZTM's customer centers, post offices, marked kiosks and shops, and the sales points of the STREFA network. Time and short-period tickets are paper cards with a magnetic stripe, while long-term tickets are encoded onto the Warszawska Karta Miejska. Validation matters. Any ticket not yet validated must be inserted into the validator immediately after boarding, or validated before entering the metro platform. Only tickets bought from an on-board vending machine are already valid at the moment of purchase. ZTM explicitly points out that a broken vending machine or a malfunctioning app does not exempt you from liability for fare evasion.

App and payment. ZTM lists five providers whose apps let you buy tickets, namely moBilet, SkyCash, jakdojade.pl, zBiletem.pl and GoPay. Available through them are time tickets, single tickets with transfer rights, and day, three-day and weekend passes. After purchase, the ticket must be activated by scanning the matching QR code. Selected long-term passes are stored in the mobiWAWA app. ZTM has ended its earlier partnership with mPAY S.A., refunds there now run directly through the provider. Anyone with an app ticket cannot get through the narrow metro turnstiles, and instead uses the wide luggage gates with a QR reader.

Which ticket. The fare includes time tickets and short-period cards. The 20-minute ticket is valid in Zone 1 and 2 and costs 3.40 am zloty, 1.70 zloty discounted. The 75-minute single ticket for Zone 1 costs 4.40 am zloty, 2.20 am zloty discounted, and allows unlimited transfers during that time. The 90-minute version for Zone 1 and 2 costs 7 zloty, 3.50 am zloty discounted. A 75-minute group ticket for up to ten people in Zone 1 costs 22 zloty. Among the short-period cards, the 24-hour card costs 15 zloty for Zone 1 and 26 zloty for Zone 1 and 2, discounted 7.50 am or 13 zloty respectively. The 72-hour card costs 36 zloty for Zone 1 and 57 zloty for Zone 1 and 2, discounted 18 or 28.50 zloty respectively. The weekend card for Zone 1 and 2 costs 24 zloty and is valid from Friday 7 p.m. to Monday 8 a.m., and as a group card for up to five people it costs 40 zloty. The verifiable thresholds work out as follows. The 24-hour card for Zone 1 corresponds to the price of 3.4 single 75-minute journeys. The 72-hour card for Zone 1 corresponds to 8.2 single journeys and is cheaper than three separate 24-hour cards, which together would cost 45 zloty. Anyone caught without a valid ticket pays a 266-zloty penalty fare, or 159.60 zloty if paid on the spot to the inspector.

Fare zones. Warsaw itself lies entirely within Zone 1, including Chopin Airport. Zone 2 only begins beyond marked boundary stops. The 20-, 75- and 90-minute tickets are not valid on the blue L buses of the neighboring municipalities, but day, three-day and weekend cards are.

Tip. Tickets are time-based and valid across all modes together.

Getting there

Main station

Location. Centrally located beneath the Palace of Culture. Long-distance trains also call at Warszawa Wschodnia.

Long-distance trains. Warszawa Centralna is officially named Dworzec Centralny im. Stanisława Moniuszki and sits at the junction of Al. Jerozolimskie and al. Jana Pawła II right in the center. Long-distance service runs via PKP Intercity with the EIP, EIC, IC and TLK train categories, while Koleje Mazowieckie handles regional service. A large share of long-distance train and coach connections is also spread across the Warszawa Wschodnia and Warszawa Zachodnia stations, with Zachodnia also serving as the long-distance coach station. PKP Intercity ticket counters are in the main hall, vending machines stand in the main hall and in the shopping galleries, and Koleje Mazowieckie's machines are outside on the pavement by the bus loop. Right next to the long-distance station is the suburban station Warszawa Śródmieście, from which S-Bahn trains run to the outer districts and the surrounding area. It's about 400 meters to the nearest metro station, Centrum, and bus and tram stops line both adjoining streets. The station has free Wi-Fi under the name _PKP_WIFI, a restroom in the south section is open 24 hours, and the others operate from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and cost 5 zloty.

Opening hours. The station is open around the clock. The InfoDworzec information desk operates daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., the PKP Intercity customer center from 9.10 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. Luggage lockers are accessible 24 hours, the staffed luggage storage from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Airports

WAW

Into the city. About 30 minutes to the Centrum stop. The S3 takes 15 minutes to Warszawa Zachodnia and 21 minutes to Warszawa Centralna, the S2 takes 22 minutes to Warszawa Śródmieście. A 75-minute Zone 1 ticket is sufficient.

Frequency. Three train departures per hour. The S2 departs at minutes 26 and 56, the S3 at minute 11. First departure 4.56 a.m., last 11.56 p.m. At night, bus line N32 runs to Dworzec Centralny, and during the day bus line 175 also runs to the center.

WMI

Into the city. Warsaw public transport does not serve Modlin. Koleje Mazowieckie trains run to Modlin station, with a shuttle bus from there to the terminal, or alternatively direct buses from various operators.

Local quirks

The Old Town is a reconstruction. It was rebuilt after 1945 from rubble and old paintings and is now a World Heritage site.
A mobile ticket only opens the wide gate. Anyone who bought their ticket on board or in an app cannot get through the narrow metro turnstiles. The wide luggage gates are the ones to use, only there is the QR reader that opens the barrier.
At Chopin Airport, buses depart from downstairs. Buses into the city start on the arrivals level at the Lotnisko Chopina – Przyloty 02 stop. Boarding on the upper departures level is not allowed, anyone waiting there just watches the buses go by.

Good to know

Currency: PLN zł
Emergency number: 112
Plug type: C · E
Time zone: Europe/Warsaw
Driving: right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 90 km/h, expressway 100–120 km/h, motorway 140 km/h

Within built-up areas, 50 km/h applies around the clock, there is no higher nighttime limit. Dipped headlights or daytime running lights are mandatory on every trip, even in sunshine. Pedestrians have right of way as soon as they step onto a crosswalk. Anyone caught driving more than 50 km/h over the limit within a built-up area has their license confiscated on the spot.

Tipping. Ten percent in restaurants. State the amount when paying, otherwise it counts as change.

Tolls. On state motorways you pay electronically via the e-TOLL app, on concession sections such as the A4 at toll booths.

Access restrictions. Krakow and Warsaw have set up clean transport zones, graded by emission class and year of registration.