Fountain Park, Podzamcze

How to spend a summer Friday or Saturday evening in Warsaw? At Fountain Park! Since 2011 a great show combined of computer-controlled fountains, lasers, lights, music and animations on the water takes place each Friday and Saturday, from the beginning of May till the end of September. The breathtaking event is unique for each summer season, this year spectators wil see the "Water Lights" that will have its opening night on May, 1st.

www.estrada.com.pl

The Fountain Park is the biggest attraction of that kind in Poland, alluring both locals and tourists. Last year around 800 thousand visitors attended the show. That is not surprising given that screenings are prepared with great quality and the complex itself consists of, among others, the main fountain of 2200 sq.m. and two line fountains of 600 sq.m. altogether, as well as 367 water jets. Simultaneously they can jet even 30,000 liters of water per minute!

Each show is 25 minutes long and starts:

• At 9 p.m. in May and September
• At 9.30 p.m. in June, July and August

Please note there will be no show on June, 20th due to big summer event - Garlands over Vistula.

Author: Leszek Leszczyński, www.flickr.com, CC BY

The Park is located at the bank of Vistula river, between Wybrzeze Gdanskie, Sanguszki and Bolesc street. It may be easily reached with public transportation (buses no 118 or 185 stop almost in front of the fountains) or by foot from the Old Town.

Free entry! 

The actual show calendar, as well as photo gallery of  previous screenings may be found here .

Grzybowski Square

Located in the city center, near Swietokrzyska subway station, Grzybowski Square is a perfect illustration of today's Warsaw - where the past meets modernity. 

The Square itself is well known for All Saints' Church which was erected in XIXth century and rebuilt after The Second World War, when it was severely destroyed during The Warsaw Uprising. It is also worth knowing that the Square was widely peopled by Jews at the turn of XIXth and XXth century and was included into the warsaw ghetto during The Second World War. 

Also nowadays, Grzybowski Square is an important spot of many sightseeing tours and constitutes one of the major points of the biggest yearly festival of Jewish culture held in Warsaw - Singer's Warsaw. During the festival small stalls, reconstituted typically Jewish shops or restaurants and variety of cultural events bring back an unforgettable atmosphere of the place. Grzybowski Square is a picturesque place during the whole year, but if you happen to be in Warsaw during Singer's Warsaw you simply must be there. In 2015, the festival will take place between 22nd and 30th of August.

Author: Adam Smok, www.flickr.com, CC BY

Racetrack Służewiec, Puławska Street, 266

Tired of standard sightseeing? Looking for some adrenaline? Wanting to spend weekend like Warsaw locals? If you answered yes to any of above questions, don't hesitate and book few hours during your stay at Warsaw for a visit at horse racetrack Służewiec.

Source: my archive

It doesn't matter whether you have tried it before or not. Even if you know nothing about horse races, and even if you are not a gambling lover I guarantee that time spent there will be a great fun for the whole family. And maybe at the end of the day you will be not only happy, but also rich.

Races are organized starting from April until November, almost every Saturday and Sunday - with few exceptions that are included in the whole season programme listed at the official site of the racetrack. On each racing day there is usually 8-9 races, one every 30 minutes. The track itself is well organized, offers food and drink zone as well as additional facilities for children. 

Visitors area is divided into few zones, entrance fee amounts to:

5 PLN - zone B

15 PLN - zone A and B

20 PLN - grandstand, second floor

25 PLN - family ticket (2 adults + min. 1 child)

Source: my archive

Before every racing weekend there is programme available online that may be easily printed. It can be bought at entrance gates too. Brochure includes also short description of available bets, so you don't need to have any special knowledge of the subject. The basic bet costs only 3 PLN.

Służewiec racetrack is located in the southern part of the city, at Puławska Street. It can be reached by public transportation: subway line up to Wilanowska station, then bus number 300 (runs every 30 minutes and only on racing days) or tram number 4, 10 or 35 from the city center (you will need to take a 20-minut walk from tram stop to racetrack area though). You can easily plan your trip with jakdojade.pl , that I wrote about here .

Additional attraction resulting from visiting Służewiec are wonderful graffiti pictures painted at long concrete wall surrounding racetrack territory from Puławska Street.

Museums at Night 2015

Planning to visit Warsaw in May? If so, you definitely need to schedule your trip so as to be here on May, 16th! On this day Museums at Night will take place this year. The event attracts more and more residents and tourists every year, it is not surprising though as the city has more to offer year-on-year.

In the upcoming edition 237 institutions have declared their participation so far, including 50 museums and 31 galleries. Beyond the obvious benefits of the event - that is free entrance and long opening hours - Museums at Night enables to visit places that are normally closed for visitors, such as Parliament or Senat premises. Due to great number of attractions, it is good to check the programme in advance and choose 2 or 3 places that are most interesting for us. I'd not recommend picking too many sites as queues should be expected at most popular places.

Full programme of the event wil be available starting from the mid of April here and on the official facebook profile .

How much does it cost?

Warsaw is definitely the most expensive city in Poland, it still however remains cheaper than most European capitals. Personally, I do always check the price range of most important products before going abroad therefore I expect that also some of you, Warsaw visitors, is interested in the subject. In this post I will try to present prices of some exemplary products that may interest an ordinary tourist. All prices are in Polish local currency (PLN) and are actual as per April 2015.

The average exchange rate of EUR/PLN is 4,2. 

Eating outside:

Big Mac - 9,60 zł

Shish kebab (popular street food) - 13-16 zł

Espresso - 8 zł

Capuccino - 12-15 zł

Water (in a restaurant) - 7 zł

Beer (in a restaurant) - 8-12 zł

Burger - 25-30zł

Main course in an average restaurant - 40-60 zł

Groceries:

Bread - 3 zł

Water (1,5 L) - 2 zł

Orange juice (1 L) - 5 zł

Chicken breast (1 kg) - 15 zł

Cheese (1 kg) - 25 zł

Milk (1 L) -  3 zł

Other: 

Cinema tickets - 25-30 zł

Taxi (1 km) - 1,80-2,50 zł

Public transportation - please refer to  the post

Supermarkets are generally open until 9 or 10 p.m. including Saturdays, and closing a little earlier on Sundays. Within the city center small groceries dominate the mercantile landscape, there are also liquor stores available - some of them operating 24h/day and offering basic groceries products as well.

Payments by card are widely accepted. In some shops and restaurants it is also possible to pay directly in EUR, albeit I strongly advise checking the exchange rate that is offered as it may be significantly different from actual numbers.

Polish zloty - banknotes

Nowy Świat-Uniwersytet - new subway station

One of the newly built stations of Warsaw second subway line: Nowy Świat-Uniwersytet (Nowy Świat-University), located at The Royal Route, in close proximity to many top tourist attractions.

The platform is located 23 m below ground level making it the deepest station in Warsaw. This modern interior has been designed in violet colors, with subtle lighting and delicately undulant ceiling.

Author:PAP/ Marcin Obara, wiadomosci.onet.pl

Public transportation

Warsaw is well communicated, offers expanded network of subway, trams, buses and local trains at affordable price. For buses there are bus passes dedicated so during rush hours public transportation is much more effective than getting around by car.

In the daytime

At the moment there is one subway line connecting northern and southern parts of the city, however the second line is to be opened in 2015 linking east and west. Current line includes 21 stations and it takes approximately 45 minutes to travel from first to last stop.

ztm.waw.pl

Świętokrzyska and Ratusz Arsenał stations are located near The Old Town area while Centrum is best to reach main railway station (5 minutes walk or one tram stop), Palace of Culture and Science, National Museum. If you want to save some money on accommodation but still don't want to waste too much time in means of transport look for places loacted outside the city center but alongside subway line - you will be able to reach city center easily and within 15-20 minutes.

Buses and trams cover the whole city tightly and will be useful for reaching e.g. Warsaw Uprising Museum, Royal Łazienki, Wilanów, Invisible Exhibition (more about it here) or National Stadium. Lines numbers starting with 1, 2 or 3 are regular ones, 4 or 5 - rushed ones, 7 and 8 - suburban. Local trains provide connection with suburbia; there are few operators (SKM, KM WKD) and main rail hub is Warszawa Centralna/ Warszawa Śródmieście (central railway station).

At night.
Buses, trams and trains operate generally between 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. Beyond these hours there are 43 night buses lines running, reaching not only all Warsaw districts but also suburbia. Signage of night buses always starts with "N". It is important to know that they stop on bus stops on demand - you need to wave your hand when you see a bus arriving at a bus stop.

Subway operates from 5 a.m. until:

• Sunday - Thursday: 12:10 a.m. (last train leaving from Kabaty and Młociny)
• Friday - Saturday: 2:30 a.m. (last train leaving from Kabaty) and 2:45 a.m. (last train leaving from Młociny)

Tickets
Warsaw is divided into zones 1 and 2 in terms of public transportation ticket prices. As tickets for zone 2 are significantly more expensive than dedicated to zone 1 only, always make sure that you are buying appriopriate ticket. Most probably you will not need tickets for zone 2 because it covers pretty distant, suburban areas, rarely visited by tourists. As I've written above, buses with numbers starting with 7 and 8 are suburban but unless you cross the border of second zone, you can travel in those buses with zone 1 tickets.

As per March, 2015 types and prices of available single and short term tickets ar as presented below:

• 20 minute ticket (unlimited number of journeys for a period not exceeding 20 minutes), zones 1 and 2: 3,40 PLN
• Single fare transfer ticket (unlimited number of journeys for a period not exceeding 75 minutes), zone 1: 4,40 PLN
• Single fare transfer ticket (unlimited number of journeys for a period not exceeding 90 minutes), zones 1 and 2: 7,00 PLN
• One-day ticket (unlimited number of journeys for 24 hours from its validation), zone 1: 15 PLN
• One-day ticket (unlimited number of journeys for 24 hours from its validation), zones 1 and 2: 26 PLN
• Weekend ticket (unlimited number of journeys from 7:00 p.m. on Friday till 8:00 a.m. on Monday), zones 1 and 2: 24 PLN
• Group weekend ticket (entitles a group of up to 5 people to unlimited number of journeys from 7:00 p.m. on Friday till 8:00 a.m. on Monday), zones 1 and 2: 40 PLN

All tickets need to be validated immediately after boarding bus/tram/train or at the entrance gate before entering subway platform. For short term tickets validation is to be performed during first journey.

Public transportation is free for people over 70 years old. Unfortunately there is no discount for children, with a single exception for students possessing a valid ISIC card (entitlement to 50% discount).

The easiest way of purchasing ticket is using a stationary ticket machine. They are located in the whole city: at every subway station, Chopin Airport, railway stations, many of bus and tram stops. All machines are able to function in English and it is possible to pay either by cash or by card.
Ticket machines are also located in all suburban trains and part of buses/trams (e.g. you will for sure find one in bus no 175 running to/from Chopin Airport). The tricky part is that you never know whether the vehicle you are planning to board does possess a machine or not (with the exception of bus no 175), so it's better to purchase ticket in advance. Teoretically also drivers sale ticket on board but they offer only one type of ticket, you always need to have the exact amount of money and they may refuse sale if they are too occupied. All in all - they are generally reluctant to do it.
If you prefer eye contact you may buy tickets in one of stationary points of sale: ZTM passenger service points or post offices. Finding a closest tickets sale point is possible here.

Useful links

• jakdojade.pl - the best journey planner. If you need to find the easiest way of travelling from one point to another in Warsaw use it to schedule your trip, check which means of transport to use and where to change. Available in English.
• ZTM - official portal of municipial public transportation. timetables, search engine, maps of day and night transportation, ticket tariffs. There is also a subpage that gathers all information regarding getting to/from the airport. Available in English.

Good to know: major colors of public vehicles are yellow and red, it's really difficult to overlook them!

Source: ZTM Warszawa

The Miniature Park, Bracka St. 25

It is a well known fact that Warsaw was unimaginably destroyed during Second World War. Roughly speaking 65% of the whole city was demolished, 84% taking into consideration left-bank districts only. According to estimations, in 1945 Warsaw was covered by about 20 million cubic meters of rubble.  

Sadly, destruction did not miss Polish monuments - approximately 90% of historical treasure located in Warsaw was partly or fully demolished (674 objects).

Since 2010, Warsaw Uprising Museum provides the opportunity of seeing short animation movie The city of ruins (Miasto ruin) that presents destroyed and depopulated Warsaw during spring in 1945. The trailer of the film may be watched on the film's official site.

Although capital's population undertook an immense effort to rebuild the city, it was not possible to reinstate the whole city. The Miniature Park gives an opportunity to see some of historical monuments that were destroyed in the past, mostly during Second World War. All exhibits are made with great accuracy in scale of 1:25. The museum kicked off just in 2014 and is still developing, but the excellent quality of exhibited objects makes it a place worth visiting. Due to its relatively short history, The Miniature Park hasn't gained large popularity yet and it may be difficult to find it in Warsaw guide books.

Source: UD Wola

Duration: approximately 1 hour
Location: Bracka St. 25, DT Braci Jabłkowskich, level -1
(the above location is actual until 01/05/2015. During summer park changes its location. For actual adress please always check the official site of the musuem before visit). 

Tickets prices:
Regular PLN 12
Discount PLN 8

For further information please visit the museum's official site.

Invisible Exhibition, Jerozolimskie Avenue 123a

Operating in Budapest since 2007 and in Prague since 2011 has been also made available for Warsaw audience few years ago becoming one of the most memorable experiences that Warsaw offers. In a complete dark surroundings, during an interactive one-hour journey,  you can find out how to function without sight. Small groups and guides, who are blind or visually impaired, make it an eyeopening and genuine experience. 

If you are looking for alternative attractions, something different from standard must-sees in Warsaw, this is definitely for you.

Duration: 1 hour

Location: Jerozolimskie Avenue 123a, Millenium Plaza

Tours in English available, booking required.

Prices: 

- weekdays: PLN 21 (Regular); PLN 16 (Discount); PLN 13 (Groups)

- weekends: PLN 25 (Regular); PLN 22 (Discount); PLN 19 (Groups)

Please note that above prices are valid for online payments only. For in-house purchases prices are 3 PLN higher.

For more information please visit the official site.

Perfect holiday deal

Looking for a good holiday deal? 

Two days ago The Huffington Post published an article according to which Warsaw is number 1 among tourist must-sees in Europe in terms of attractive rental rates. The study has been carried out by Airbnb, popular vacation rental portal (I wrote about it here), and concentrated on comparison of average rental rates in various European locations. With $47/night Warsaw was ranked by The Huffington Post as a city offering the best prices amidst popular tourist destinations. 

Other cities in the ranking include among others Budapest, Hungary ($54/night), Krakow, Poland ($61/night), Tenerife, Spain ($63/night), Athens, Greece ($66/night).

For those living outside Europe there is another good news: with euro's value going down airfares are decreasing as well, enabling to reach Europe at unprecedently low cost. As for Poland, keep in mind that polish zloty will be replaced with euro currency sooner or later leading to incontrovertible rise in prices.

So, will there be a better time to visit Warsaw than now? I don't think so!

Full article may be found here.

City sightseeing bus

City sightseeing Warsaw bus is good solution for tourists looking for quick and easy way of moving between most important sites in Warsaw. If your journey time is limited or you don't like long city walks this post is for you.

The ogranizer of tours belongs to City Sightseeing Worldwide group which operates in many cities around the world therefore the service provided is of high quality and probably well known to most travellers. Buses are well identifiable as they are colorful double decker vehicles moving around Warsaw city center. They have a sliding roof and may carry up to 70 people which ensures comfort during the drive.

http://www.city-sightseeing.pl/en

The route of the bus covers some of important sites in terms of Warsaw tourist attractions although it could be far more expanded, reaching attractions located outside the city center. The list of stops includes ten locations:

Palace of Culture and Science (near Main Railway Station), Pilsudski Square, Chopin Museum, Bank Square, Old Town, Castle Square, University, Foksal, Royal Lazienki, City center.

The full route is presented below:

http://www.city-sightseeing.pl/en

Another flaw of the bus is its cost: regular ticket price is PLN 60 for 24 hs and PLN 80 for 48 hs ticket which is rather expensive comparing to average prices range in Poland and taking into account that the route of the bus is rather limited and its frequency is one drive per hour. However, as I've already written here, if you decide to purchase Warsaw Pass card the City sightseeing bus line will be for free.

All in all, this is an alternative worth considering and may considerably facilitate moving around foreign city. It is also a good option if you plan to spend only few hours in Warsaw and would like to see the most important spots in a short time. The whole route lasts approximately 1 hour (but is highly dependant on traffic).

For full details, timetable as well as ticket purchase please visit the official site of the line.

Short promotional film of the bus trip may be also found on YouTube: click here

Where to stay

Warsaw provides extremely vast range of  accommodation for tourists, suiting every pocket. As there is plenty of professional services available on the Internet, I am not going to rewrite here the content as this is not the aim of that blog. What I'd like to do, is to facilitate the proccess of looking for your perfect trip lodging by presenting in this post bunch of links to websites that will enable you to search for the most convenient accommodation, depending on your budget. 

For free

Couchsurfing - there is over 39 thousand of active hosts living in Warsaw or its close neighbourhood logged on the portal, so there is no doubt you will find someone corresponding your needs and eager to host you.

Low cost
Hostelworld, Hostels.com, Hostelbookers - hostels are popular and convenient accommodation for those looking for inexpensive place to stay. Prices per night in Warsaw hostels range from approx. PLN 30 to approx. PLN 100, depending on season and facilities.
Students' hostels (Akademiki) may be an alternative to hostels. They are usually located in more quiet surroundings and not as overcrowded as hostels are. During summer time finding a room should not be a problem, many of those hostels do not even require reservation. However, if you are going to visit Warsaw during school year you'd better ask for a free room in advance.
Airbnb - good choice for tourists preferring more intimate atmosphere or additional facilities such as equipped kitchen. On Airbnb you can find various accommodation offers, including high-standard elegant apartments, but there is also plenty of cost-effective sites made usually available as one room in a flat/house where also host lives.

Medium/High cost
Popular polish portals (available also in English):
StayPoland
eholiday
Bookwarsaw
nocowanie.eu

International portals:
Booking.com
Hotels.com
Airbnb

All the above mentioned portals are my personal subjective choice. I do also recommend using Trivago for easy comparison of hotel prices offered on different booking sites (as well as finding great deals) and TripAdvisor for checking reviews of hotels published by other travellers. Those two portals haven't let me down yet!

If there are any portals, tools you found helpful while looking for accommodation in Warsaw please let me know - I'll be happy to complement the list. As in my opinion good place to stay is an essential component of every fulfilling trip. Do you agree?

Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene, Solidarności Avenue, 52

The Metropolitan Council of the Holy Equal to the Apostles of Mary Magdalene (Parafia katedralna św. Marii Magdaleny) is a Polish Orthodox cathedral which was opened in 1869. Its stunning architecture and masterpiece interiors make it a must-see in Warsaw, although it is located a bit off the beaten (tourist) track. 

Author: Ejdzej, en.wikipedia.org, CC BY

Author: Jalme.silva, www.flickr.com, CC BY

Top 100 City Destinations

If you still haven't decided whether to come to Warsaw or not, here is something that may help to make up yours mind. 

Just few days ago, Euromonitor International released its annual Top 100 City Destinations ranking that presents 100 most popular cities in terms of international tourists arrivals, basing on data for 2013. Warsaw was ranked 42nd, outrunning such popular tourist destinations, as San Francisco, St. Petersburg, Sydney or Buenos Aires! Having hosted almost 4 million tourists, Warsaw increased 2012 arrivals by 8.9%.

First three places of the ranking are invariably in posession of Asian mega-cities: Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok that are followed by London and Paris. The only American city in first ten is New York City, ranked 7th.

For full Top 100 City Destinations ranking click here.

In Your Pocket - free city guide

Those of you who had already an opportunity to visit Europe, especially Central and Eastern regions, probably heard about In Your Pocket city guides series. For those who hadn't, today few words about the idea.

The founders of In Your Pocket series are four men who got stuck in Vilnius, Lithuania, one day in 1991 with no idea on how to spend the evening. This is how they came up with the idea of Vilnius dedicated city guide which shortly developed and spread to other cities of the region. This initial intention remained the main theme of the concept as besides standard information on how to get to the city, where to sleep or what to see there is also wide range of other popular spots presented, such as restaurants, pubs, night clubs, gyms, theaters, cinemas. But, what in my opinion is the most distinctive and most valuable at the same time, is actual information about on-going events, concerts and any other cultural attractions. So, you can easily check what is going on in the city you are planning to visit (which is not always easy if you don't know the town and where to look information about current events) or even adjust arriving dates to events you are interested in.

At the moment, the guide is published for more than 100 cities in over 30 countries, located mostly in Central and Eastern Europe. Among others there is of course Warsaw - that's why I'm writing about it here :) First good news is that the guide is regularly updated every two months in order to provide the most current data. And second good news is that it is available for free, in few formats: it may be downloaded on your mobile device either in PDF format or as an app, printed,  picked up in Warsaw tourist information offices or in some of hotels. You may also ask for a printed copy to be sent to you, however there is an extra cost of EUR 5 for that. 

All in all, In Your Pocket is a great help for visitors looking for some additional attractions. It should rather not be seen as major guide for historical places and typical must-sees, as descriptions provided are basic, but if you want to feel like locals for some time, eat lunch in popular restaurant or go to an interesting concert this is something you should definitely read before your trip.

Current issue of In Your Pocket city guide for Warsaw may be downloaded here.

Jewish Cemetery, Okopowa Street

The biggest Jewish cemetery in Mazovian district and second largest in Poland, covers an area of approximately 33,3 ha. It houses over 200 thousands of tombs (matzevah) and is still in use.

Beautiful and mysteriuos, even more afflicting while covered in snow. 

Author: Chris [KrzysztofTe], www.flickr.com, CC BY

Warsaw Pass

Today few words about an idea that is highly popular in most foreign cities that are typical tourist destinations, especially among European ones, being still in its infancy in Poland though - tourist city card. 

Merely few years ago Warsaw offer was rather not appealing as basic calculations were proving that regardless of sightseeing configuration it was more cost-effective to visit Warsaw without city card rather than with it. Fortunately, city clerks came to their senses and just recently changed the offer radically.

At the moment the card is named Warsaw Pass and is available in three variants, depending on duration:

• 24 hours (119 PLN /99 PLN)
• 48 hours (159 PLN /139 PLN)
• 72 hours (189 PLN /169 PLN)

(reduced price available for youth up to 26 years old and seniors over 65 years old)

The question is, is it worth buying?

Although the price is not the lowest (typical 2 adults + 2 children family spending three days in Warsaw will spend 716 PLN for Warsaw Pass) it is worth considering, especially for museums amateurs. Unfortunately the range of hotels and restaurants available is limited, but it is clear that originators put strong accent on  popular historical attractions and museums.

Having Warsaw Pass, you are able to visit for free (and skip the line):

Royal Lazienki Museum, Chopin Museum, Museum of the History of Polish Jews (POLIN), Viewing terrace at 30th floor of Palace of Culture and Science, Copernicus science center, Copernicus' sky Planetarium, Wilanow Palace, The National Museum in Warsaw, Zacheta - National Gallery of Art, The Royal Castle.

The entrance fee to most of above mentioned places is higher than 20 PLN.

Additionally, buying Warsaw Pass you are entitled to receive a discount at: Museum of Technology (25% discount), Botanic Garden (50% discount) or Railway Museum (25% discount). 

Another argument in favour is that holders of Warsaw Pass can use sightseeing bus line for free (regular price is 80 PLN for 48 hours, 60 PLN for 24 hours) any time as long as the card is valid, as well as receive a discount/use for free some guided tours or renting bikes and segway.

As I said, the range of restaurants and hotels available is not vast, but if you decide to book your room at some place that is a participant of the programme, you will benefit from the card even more. Let's hope the programme will develop and more institutions will engage in it in the near future.

All practical information, including places where to buy Warsaw Pass, may be found at the official site of the programme. You may believe me or not, but the site is available in English only - it seems that authors of the portal did not predict that also Polish tourists - from other cities than Warsaw (there is 38 m inhabitants in Poland) may visit the capital city :)