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.

Free walking tour

When I was walking down the Warsaw Old Town few days ago, I incidentally bumped into a group of a dozen or so people standing in front of Royal Castle and listening to a guide. As I had some spare time I decided to hang with them for a while. And just thanks to that decision made that day you have the possibility of reading that post.

The group turned out to be a bunch of  random tourists sightseeing Warsaw with Free walking tour which is a kind of foundation that aims at promoting Poland and its culture among foreign tourists.

The good news is that walking tours organized by them are for free for everyone interested! You don't need to make any reservation, you don't need to pay anything, you don't need to make any special plans or arrangements in advance. You can just show at the meeting point at certain time and enjoy the tour for as long as you wish.

There are few different tours offered, visitors may choose from:

1) Old Town Warsaw

2) Jewish Warsaw

3) Communist Warsaw

4) Alternative Warsaw

5) Free walking special (only from 1st November to 31st March 2015)

All the above mentioned tours are held in English, and number 1) and 2) also in Spanish which is rather rare occasion for Spanish-speaking tourists to take part in guided tour in Warsaw in their native language.

The meeting point is Sigismund's Column, located in front of Royal Castle, with the exception of Communist Warsaw tour for which Charles de Gaulle statue is the starting point. Old Town Warsaw is held on a daily basis while the other ones every few days so if you're spending in Warsaw more than one day you may be lucky to attending few different routes. According to the organiser, they operate everyday, whitout regard for the weather, public or religious holidays.

If you prefer more intimate atmosphere you may also ask for private or tailor-made trip, they are not for free though: the cost of private is 300 PLN while tailor-made fee is generally 100 PLN per hour. Additionaly, if you plan to visit not only Warsaw it is good to know that guided tours are also organized in Cracow and Wroclaw.

All the necessary data, including actual calendar of tours, may be found at the foundation official site.

I honestly encourage everyone to have a try as this is a great opportunity to see the city from a different perspective, find out about things that are not described in an ordinary guidebook or just ask questions. Remember you don't need to pay for it so there is nothing to lose.

P.S. This is not an advertisement, I was not compensated in any way for this text. I'm writing about it because I see it as a great opportunity for a potential tourist and basing on few minutes spent on the tour I believe they are worth attending. And, number of excellent ratings at Tripadvisor says it all!