Here are a few things I know about Warsaw from my minimal knowledge.
Personally, I am very lucky as I have a sister-in-law and niece that in school term time live in the Old Town. My knowledge is mainly of that area and a few things further afield. But, this will be my base of operations.
Travel
If you fly to Chopin Airport, you are basically on the edge of the city and there will be numerous busses etc. to get where you are going.
I fly to Modlin Airport and take the shuttle bus from the airport to the Modlin train station. From there, trains to Warszawa Centralna are frequent. Ticket machines in the airport are easy to use and English language can be selected. Depending upon where you are staying, it is a hub for many bus routes and there are loads of cabs available. If it’s nice and not laden with luggage you can walk to Old Town in 30 minutes.
The Metro system is very simple. Nearest Metro to the Central station is Centrum (about 5 minutes’ walk from the front of the station). The nearest station to Old Town is Ratusz Arsenal followed by a 10 minute walk.
The Metro station Swietokrzyska is basically where the North-South and East-West Metro lines cross.
Food, Drink etc.
Food - you’re basically spoiled for choice! I’ve never had anything bad to eat and you will have no problem finding somewhere to suit your tastes. I have had one of the best Pasta Arabiattas outside of Italy in Warsaw.
My family live a few doors from the WarSaw pub in Old Town. It has a very rowdy cellar (karaoke) and some pool rooms upstairs…not sure about TVs for football but I’ll update before next Thursday as I arrive on Tuesday. I like the chaos of this place, though. There are a couple of nice little craft beer pubs (one is called Same Krafty) opposite each other on Nowomiejska in Old Town. And a few doors down is a marvellous little antique/junk shop full of Soviet and Nazi era stuff. Some expensive, some just cheap tat, but it’s always worth a browse. The main square in Old Town has loads of café-bars to choose from. For a late night “strange” drink in Old Town I cannot advise further than the Podwale Bar and Books situated on Waski Dunaj (again a few doors from “my gaff”). It is a wood-panelled whiskey bar that allows the smoking of cigars in doors. The bar staff treat customers as though you are in a Mayfair club (or how I imagine one to be). They only sell a couple of beers and they play subtitled Bond movies on a loop (volume down). It is cash only with a cashpoint outside the entrance. Gangsters? Maybe.
Further in town I have been in a few craft beer places, often down little side streets. If that’s your sort of thing, I have often been in “The Taps” (situated on Henryka Sienkiewicza) waiting for my niece to come out of her lessons and it is a pleasant place. Jabeerwocky on Nowogrodzka is also fine.
Warsaw is big and you’ll find somewhere you like. If you like Vodka there is a Vodka museum on the corner of Senatorska and Wierzbowa.
For those with an interest in history
On the bus from Modlin Airport to train station lookout for all the big brick structures, some built into the side of hills. Also on the train as it leaves Modlin look for the big brick buildings as you cross the river. This is Modlin Fort, the biggest in Europe, first built by Napoleon on his march to Moscow. The airport and town of Modlin are within the fort itself.
A neat walking tour is from the statue outside Ibis Hotel Old Town to the Jewish Museum. The statue is dedicated to those deported to the east under communism. A walk along the road named Stawki takes you to the monument to those deported to Treblinka. It is called the Umschlagplatz and it is the site of the marshalling yard collection point before being put on trains. Cross the road and head down Karmelicka and turn left onto Mila brings you to the memorial “Mila 18”. It is the site of the last survivors of the Ghetto Uprising and one of the HQs of the fighters. The bodies were left there as a war grave. Leon Uris wrote a novel called Mila 18. A short walk from here along Ludwika Zamenhofa brings you to POLIN – Museum of the history of Polish Jews. A fascinating building in itself, let alone the story told inside. It costs less than a tenner.
The Ghetto uprising was April 1942 to May 1943. Whilst walking the streets try to imagine that most of the area north of the central station to south of the Ibis Hotel Old Town and east of the main north-south road General Andersa was the Jewish Ghetto. Occasionally you will come across markings along streets and pavements that show the route of the ghetto wall. North east corner of the ghetto is between the Ibis Hotel and Polonia football ground. From May 1943 onwards this whole area would have been rubble. Just south of the Ibis and near the road called Bonifraterska was a mini concentration camp for the remaining Jews in Warsaw kept there for work.
Warsaw Uprising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego) is excellent. Well worth a visit. A short walk from Metro station Rondo Daszynskiego. The Warsaw Uprising monument is very impressive, situated on the corner of Dluga and Miodowa. A short walk will take you into Old Town and it’s churches and museums. This whole area was reduced to rubble too, but unlike the ghetto was rebuilt in its original architecture. All over Warsaw you will see plaques on walls to this period; so if you see “35 Osob” it means 35 people killed here, sometimes part of the fighting, sometimes in reprisals.
General Stuff
Remember to tip! 5 zloty is roughly £1.
A lot of places only do table service.
Always wait for the green man before crossing! You will notice most people follow this rule strictly.
Buy a 3 or 5 day travel pass ticket and keep it safe. It’ll cost you less than £10 and you can use on Metro, tram and bus. Ticket machines are at a lot of stops and easy to use with an English option.
On first use get it stamped buy the machine on the bus or tram. It is then valid for the number of days from that time.
