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.

Stops: Barbican (Barbakan) · Old Town Market Square (Rynek Starego Miasta) · Royal Castle (Zamek Królewski) · Krakowskie Przedmieście · Vistula Boulevards · Copernicus Science Centre

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.

Stops: POLIN Museum · Museum of the Warsaw Uprising · Palace of Culture (observation deck) · Neon Museum · Łazienki Park

Going out & nightlife

Panorama Sky Bar · Plac Zbawiciela & Nowogrodzka · Rozbrat 20 · Woda Ognista · Teatr Roma

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 zloty, 1.70 zloty discounted. The 75-minute single ticket for Zone 1 costs 4.40 zloty, 2.20 zloty discounted, and allows unlimited transfers during that time. The 90-minute version for Zone 1 and 2 costs 7 zloty, 3.50 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 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.