Guide to Warsaw

[Osman Patel]

General overview

The images of Warsaw as a dull concrete jungle, a wasteland of Soviet-era housing with little appeal remain only with those who haven’t visited this vibrant city in the past 15 years. The city does undoubtedly have its fair share of problems and whole swathes of its suburbs are indeed dominated by the less-than-imaginative creations of communist-era architects. But there is far more to this metropolis, with a string of things to see, an impressive cultural scene and an increasingly lively nightlife. Warsaw is a real survivor – the city’s current day existence, especially as a new addition to the European Union’s list of capital cities, is impressive in itself.


By the end of World War II, roughly 85% of the city lay in ruins
and most of the population had fled, been killed, deported or sent to concentration camps. More than a third of Warsaw’s pre-war population was Jewish, although there are hardly any traces of this heritage remaining, as the city’s prosperous Jewish community was decimated by the end of the war. Much of Warsaw’s historic centre was painstakingly recreated in the years after World War II, in a move by the communist authorities, which surprised the citizens of the city as it much as it did the West. Some churlish critics have dismissed the ‘new’ Old Town as being nothing but an unconvincing fake, although the loss of the original was hardly Warsaw’s fault and many of Europe’s old towns have undergone similar refurbishment and rebuilding. Somewhat ironically, many of today’s Old Town buildings are closer to the original architecture than they were before destruction, as the alterations of the intervening centuries were not incorporated in the reconstruction. The strikingly successful rebuilding of Warsaw’s Old Town was finally rewarded in 1980, when the entire complex earned its place on the UNESCO World Heritage List.


Situated in the Mazowieckie province, in east-central Poland, the
city spans the Wisla (Vistula River) and most of the main tourist sites are on the left bank, while the right bank contains the increasingly fashionable Praga district. The tourist epicentre of Warsaw is the ‘Royal Route’, which runs north–south from the New and Old Towns, past the fashionable shops of Nowy Swiat, the palaces that survived the war and the royal gardens of Lazienki Park, before reaching Wilanow Palace to the south of the city centre. The city also boasts many green spaces, with leafy parks where rowing boats cruise past outdoor cafés, during the summer, and free classical concerts attract crowds in a scene far removed from the dull Communist-era images of Warsaw. The nightlife scene today is equally surprising, with clued-up and increasingly well dressed local youth flocking to the countless bars and clubs of a city that now buzzes after dark.


Although some could argue that Poland’s cultural and educational
seat of power is found, equally, in Krakow, Warsaw is still very much Poland’s largest city and the focal point of the nation’s economic growth. The peak tourist season is from May to October, when the weather is most pleasant, although there will be some odd days when the temperature rises above 30°C (86°F). January and February are the coldest months and temperatures can drop as low as -30°C (-22°F).

Sightseeing - overview

For many people, the very symbol of the city is the voluminous Palace of Culture and Science, which was gifted to Warsaw by Stalin. The viewing deck on the 30th floor is accessible via express lifts and this is the best venue for visitors to get acquainted with the layout of the city. Sightseeing in Warsaw is generally concentrated on the left bank of the Vistula river. The UNESCO World Heritage Old Town is unmissable – quite literally, seeing as many of the city’s attractions and a whole host of cafés, bars and restaurants are located within its environs. The Old Town is both a physical and symbolic expression of the city’s spirit and determination to come back from the brink of annihilation at the end of World War II. Most visitors to Warsaw spend their first day strolling around the Old Town, where one can find the opulent and impressive Royal Castle, once home of the Polish kings. Outside the historic centre is Wilanow, a charming palace on a grand scale, which was modelled on Versailles. Warsaw boasts a number of green lungs and Lazienki Park is one of the most relaxing, with its Palace on the Water and boating lake. The city is also home to an impressive array of cultural attractions, with a string of museums, including the National Museum, Warsaw Rising Museum, Chopin Museum and the haunting Pawiak Museum, which was used as a prison under the Nazis.

Sightseeing - Tourist Information

Punkt Informacji Turystycznej (Tourist Information Point) Central Railway Station, Aleje Jerozolimskie 54 Tel: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail] Website: www.warsawtour.pl Opening hours: Daily 0900-2000 (May-Sep); Daily 0900-1800 (Oct-Apr). Service is friendly, efficient, and the staff speak English. They can also make hotel reservations, and produce a weekly leaflet listing the latest on cultural events and activities for the week. There are two other tourist information points at the Okecie Airport arrivals hall and at Warsaw West coach station at aleje Jerozolimskie 144, and another one, soon to open at 36 Krakowskie Przedmiescie. A privately run Tourist Information Center, Plac Zamkowy 1/13 (tel: [phone]; website: www.wcit.waw.pl) offers guidebooks and guided tours in many languages for a fee. Passes The Warsaw Tourist Card can be purchased from tourist points and enables the cardholder to enjoy free city public transport and free or discounted entrance fees to many museums and select hotels. The cost is ZL35 for a day pass and ZL65 for a three-day pass. Sightseeing - Key Attractions Zamek Krolewski (Royal Castle) Walking through the Royal Castle, one has to constantly remind oneself that most of it was reconstructed between 1971 and 1984, although the darker elements of the decor were actually salvaged from the ruins. The castle, located on a plateau overlooking the Vistula River, was built for the Dukes of Mazovia and expanded when King Zygmunt III Vasa moved the capital to Warsaw. From the early 17th until the late 18th century, this was the seat of the Polish kings. It subsequently housed the parliament and is now a museum displaying tapestries, period furniture, coffin portraits and collections of porcelain and other decorative arts. Work is underway to recreate the castle gardens, set on the slopes of the Vistula River, which were also badly scarred when the Nazis levelled the rest of the castle complex. Plac Zamkovy 4 (ticket office situated at ulica Swietojanska 2) Tel: [phone]. Website: www.zamek-krolewski.art.pl Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1800, Sun and Mon 1100-1800. Last visitors admitted an hour before closing. Admission charge. Lazienki Park In addition to a number of palaces, Lazienki Park contains the Chopin Monument – where the annual Chopin Festival is held each summer (free concert recitals in the park twice on Sunday from June – August) – and the Orangerie, set within extensive 18th-century gardens. Palac Na Wyspie (Palace on the Island) is best viewed from near the monument to Jan Sobiewski, on the bridge where ulica Agrykola crosses the water. Originally built in 1624, for King Zygmunt III Vasa, Zamek Ujazdowski (Ujazdowski Castle) now houses the Centre of Contemporary Art. The 1764 Palac Belweder (Belvedere Palace) was the residence of King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski and later of Poland’s 20th-century presidents. On warm summer days, rowing boats offer short cruises around the park’s lake. Cycling is banned in the park. Ulica Agrykola 1 Tel: [phone]. Website: www.lazienki-krolewskie.com. Opening hours: Most museums closed on Mondays; 0900-1600; park open daily from 0800 until sunset. Free admission to the park; charge for Palace on the Water and for the Orangerie. Wilanow Palace In the mid-1600s, King Jan III Sobieski commissioned Augustyn Locci to build the Baroque palace and garden of Wilanow for his summer residence. Construction continued from 1677 until the king’s death in 1696. It remained popular with subsequent monarchs. Visitors can tour the interior and the gallery, which features portraits of famous Poles. Artistic handicrafts are on display in the Orangerie. Also here is the Muzeum Plakatu w Wilanowie (Poster Museum at Wilanow), the first of its kind in the world. Entrance to the palace requires a guide, for a group of one to 35 people, although the park is open to unaccompanied visitors. Restoration work, is ongoing but affects few visits. Ulica St Kostki-Potockiego 10/16 Tel: [phone]. Website: www.wilanow-palac.art.pl Opening hours: Palace open daily except Tuesdays, 0900-1600; Park open on Sunday until 1900 and Wed until 1800 from May-Sept; park open daily until sunset. Admission charge for both the park and the palace; free admission to the park on Thursdays. Pawiak Prison This eerie old prison symbolises the oppression that has haunted Varsovians over the last two centuries. Originally built in the 1830s, at the order of the ruling Czars, the prison incarcerated many victims of the Nazi reign of terror from 1939-1944, when it served as the largest political prison in Poland. A third of the estimated 100,000 detainees never made it out alive. The Nazis tried to dynamite the evidence of their crimes as they left but Pawiak is back as a museum and a testament to the city’s seemingly endless ability to suffer and survive. Ulica Dzielna 24/26 Tel: [phone]. Opening hours: Wed 0900-1700, Thurs 0900-1600, Fri 1000-1700, Sat 0900-1600, Sun 1000-1600. Free admission. Narodowe (National Museum) The National Museum’s impressive art collection dates from ancient times to the present day. Highlights include Jan Matejko’s monumental Battle of Grunwald, which celebrates the Polish victory over the Teutonic Knights in 1410, and a collection of Egyptian art, which is unique in Europe. Unusually, there are also galleries of Polish and European decorative arts. Frequent temporary exhibitions bring prized international works (from Andy Warhol to Caravaggio) to Warsaw. Aleje Jerozolimskie 3 Tel: [phone]. Website: www.mnw.art.pl Opening hours: Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun 1000-1600, Thurs 1000-1800. Closed Mon. Admission charge; free Sat. Katedra sw Jana (St John’s Cathedral) St John’s claims to be the oldest church in Warsaw. Although a major church in the Mazovian Gothic style, completed in the 15th century, St John’s was only upgraded from a parish church to a cathedral in 1798. Destroyed during World War II, is has been reconstructed in its original style and features major Gothic art works by Wit Stwosz. The cathedral was used in 1764, for the coronation of the last Polish king (Stanislaw II) and for the swearing in of the Sejm (Polish Parliament) after the constitution of 1791. The covered footbridge connecting it to the Royal Palace was the result of a failed assassination attempt on King Zygmunt III. Ulica Swietojanska 8 Tel. [phone]. Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1000-1800, Sun 1400-1800 (cathedral); daily 1000-1300 and 1500-1730 (crypt). Admission charge for the crypt. Getto Zydowskie (Jewish Ghetto) What is markedly absent from Warsaw contributes as much to its history as anything that has been preserved or reconstructed. Pre-war Warsaw had a Jewish population second only to New York. After the Nazi invasion, some 400,000 Jews were rounded up and forced to stay in the Jewish ghetto. A 3m-high (10ft) wall encircled the area, from the Palace of Culture and Science to the Umschlagplatz monument, corner of ulica Stawki and ulica Dzika. This stark monument, erected in the late 1980s, marks the place from where Jews were despatched by train to the Treblinka concentration camp, following the Ghetto Uprising of 19 April 1943. The centre of the ghetto is marked by the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, ulica L Zamenhofa, which was erected on a sea of ruins in 1948. Other memorials are the Monument of the Killed and Murdered in the East, ulica Muranowska, and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising Monument, plac Krasinskich. Only three sections of the actual ghetto wall remain. You can pick up the ‘Jewish Warsaw’ leaflet from tourist centres; it highlights places of interest that connect to Jewish history. Notable points include: the Nozyk Synagogue, which is the only existing Warsaw synagogue to have survived the war, possibly because it was used as a Nazi warehouse; the Jewish Historical Institute, which includes artwork exhibits and library and photographic archives; and the Jewish Cemetery, founded in 1806 and still used. There are also plans for a brand new Jewish museum highlighting Jewish culture, which will be funded by Jewish groups around the world. Nozyk Synagogue Ulica Twarda 6 Tel: [phone]. Admission charge. Jewish Cemetery Ulica Okopowa 49/51 Jewish Historical Institute and Ronald S Lauder Foundation Genealogy Project Ulica Tlomackie 3/5 Tel: [phone]. Website: www.jewishinstitute.org.pl Opening hours: Mon-Wed; Fri 0900-1600; Thurs 1100-1800. Admission charge. Warsaw Rising Museum This is a must-see museum for those with any interest in history and tales of bravery. In order to get a taste of what life in Warsaw must have been like for all Poles during the Second World War, this new and thoroughly comprehensive museum shows examples of how residents resisted the German forces through film footage, photographs, recorded interviews, life-size dioramas, soundscapes and informative plaques, written in both Polish and English. Ulica Grzybowska 79 Tel: [phone]. Website: www.1944.pl Opening hours: Mon, Wed, Fri-Sun 1000-1800; Thurs 1000-2000. Closed Tues. Admission charge. Sightseeing - Other Attractions Palac Kultury I Nauki (Palace of Culture and Science) Varsovians are somewhat divided when it comes to this marvel of Socialist Realism, for decades (at 231m, or 757ft) the tallest and largest building in Poland and a reminder of Stalin’s ambitions – it was a gift from him to the city, built between 1952-1955. The viewing platform on the 30th floor gives a terrific view over Warsaw. Besides offices, the building houses a concert hall, a cinema, an ice skating rink and a theatre. Ulica Emilii Plater Tel: [phone]. Website: www.pkin.pl Opening hours: Daily 0900-1800. Admission charge for the observation deck. Frederic Chopin Chopin only lived in Warsaw until he was 20 years old but he is an honoured Polish national. Chopin’s Parlour, in his family’s former home, is open to the public, while Chopin’s heart is interred in a pillar at the Church of the Holy Cross (Kosciol Znalezienia Swietego Krzyna) next door. His body, however, lies in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. There is also the Muzeum Fryderyka Chopina, located in Ostrogski Castle, with exhibits on the different phases of his life and career. Chopin’s Parlour Ulica Krakowskie Przedmiescie 5 Tel: [phone]. Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1400. Free admission. Muzeum Fryderyka Chopina Ulica Okolnik 1 Tel: [phone]. Website: www.chopin.pl/zabytki/muzeum/muzeum-en.html Opening hours: Mon, Wed, Fri 1000-1700, Thurs 1200-1800; Sat/Sun 1000-1400 (May-Sep); Mon-Wed, Fri/Sat 1000-1400; Thurs 1200-1800 (Oct-Apr). Admission charge. (Please note that this museum will be closed for refurbishment from July to Oct 2005) Sightseeing excursions For a Half Day Kampinoski Park: There is plenty to see and do in the countryside surrounding Warsaw – a little further afield are areas of forests, lakes and mountains. The Kampinoski Park (website: www.mos.gov.pl/kzpn/en/kamp_gb.htm), with walking trails, education centre, and abundant wildlife, lies just to the northwest of the city and is easily accessible by PKS bus from Warsaw's main bus station, also known as Dworzec Zachodni on al Jerozolimskie 144 (tel:[phone]). It is the largest park adjacent to a city of more than a million inhabitants. One of its major features is its inland sand dunes that contrast with the peat bogs. The park is open from dawn to dusk and admission is free. Zelazowa Wola: Frederic Chopin was born here, 54km (34 miles) from the capital. A museum dedicated to his life and work is located in the manor house where he spent his first months. Polish Landscape (tel: [phone]; website: www.polish-landscape.pl) offers a day trip from the major hotels in Warsaw. This trip includes Nepokalanow, with its Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Nieborow Palace, and the typical Mazovian medieval village of Brochow, where Chopin’s parents were married. Mazurkas Travel (tel: [phone]; website: www.mazurkas.com.pl) offers an equivalent service. Zelazowa Wola is located inside Kampinoski Park and can be reached by bus from Dworzec Zachodni, Warsaw's main bus station, al Jerozolimskie 144 (tel: [phone]). For a Whole Day Torun: This walled, medieval town on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites is often called the Copernician Town, because it was the birthplace of Mikolaj Kopernik (Copernicus). Its location on the banks of the Vistula River offers a popular place for people to promenade, and leads to the ruins of the 13th-century Castle of the Teutonic Knights. Regular boat tours operate on the river in summer. The city’s former wealth is expressed in the impressive Town Hall and parts of the Church of St John (where Copernicus was baptised and later taught) which date from the 13th century. The Gothic townhouse where Copernicus was born is located at ulica Kopernika 17. Torun is also famous for its gingerbread, still baked in medieval moulds according to a traditional recipe. The city is 200km (124 miles) from Warsaw and is reachable by train from Warsaw Centralna (journey time 3 hours) or by Polski Express bus, which departs every hour from the bus stop near Warsaw Centralna (journey time – 3 hours 40 minutes). Further information is provided by Torun Tourist Information Centre, Rynek Staromiejski 25, Torun (tel: [phone]; website: www.it.torun.pl).