24904EAS
Opening days/times, entrance fees, etc. are listed in the Yellow Pages attachment
Morning city sightseeing (3 hours) with local guide.
- You may need cash entrances if an inside visit of Łazienki Palace or a visit to the top of the Palace of Culture and Science is included. Check your expenses guide and vouchers.
Sightseeing should include:
- Palace of Culture and Science
- Chopin Memorial (photo stop)
- Łazienki Park (walk through)
- Embassy District
- Krakowskie Przedmieście boulevard
- Ghetto Uprising Memorial (photo stop)
- Umschlagplatz Memorial (drive past)
- Warsaw Uprising Memorial (drive past)
- Old Town walk including Zygmunt Statue, Royal Castle (outside), St John’s Cathedral, Old Town Square, Mermaid of Warsaw
The tour is mainly conducted on the bus but will be broken up by a walk through Łazienki Park commencing from the Chopin Memorial. This takes around 45 minutes (longer if a visit to the palace is included). Make sure your driver is aware that he will be picking you up on the other side of the park and liaises with the guide as to where he will collect you.
You will also get off the bus at the Ghetto Uprising Memorial for photographs, and will end the tour close to the Zygmunt Statue and Royal Castle. Make a WC stop here (there are good free WCs at the escalator that descends to the bottom of the castle hill), before proceeding on foot to the Old Town Square. The tour will finish there.
As in most European cities, petty crime is an issue. Warn your group about pickpockets, in particular in the area of the Old Town Square.
Generally the group will then have time for lunch and a free afternoon. Bring maps from the hotel to distribute and give free time suggestions. There are plenty of ATMs in the area of the Old Town Square and numerous lunchtime possibilities.
You have two options for the return to the hotel (assuming it is not walking distance from the Old Town Square). Either take public transport back to the hotel or arrange for the bus to meet you at the small bus park at the foot of the Castle Hill (under Most Slasko-Dabrowski bridge). To get down to the bus park, either walk the group down the side of the Castle, or use the escalator direct from the square with the Zygmunt Statue on it.
FACTS AND FREE TIME
TRANSPORT
Hotels may not be centrally located, but are generally close to bus/tram lines. The same tickets are used for the metro, buses and trams and MUST be validated upon entering the metro or upon boarding the bus or tram. You can buy tickets at newspaper stands, post offices, ZTM customer service points, at the entrance to metro stations and sometimes at bus/tram stops.
Metro
There are two lines of the Warsaw metro. Line 1 has 21 stops roughly running parallel to the river from North to South, the as yet unfinished Line 2 has 17 completed stations running East to West including a tunnel under the Vistula. The service is modern and reliable.
Bus and Trams
The tram network in central Warsaw is extensive. It is possible to buy tickets from the places listed above or once aboard buses and trams. However you pay a higher fare if you do not purchase tickets in advance and it is not recommended if you taking a sizeable group with you.
Taxis
As elsewhere in Eastern Europe, taxis are generally better avoided as drivers have the reputation of rip-off merchants! Your best chance of a fair fare is if there are taxis at your hotel, if you do use one it is best to agree on a price with the driver before setting off.
Jaywalking
Warn your group that extremely strict rules apply about jaywalking (crossing on a pedestrian light or not using a designated cross-walk/”Zebra” crossing). Fines are payable on the spot for tourists. You will note that locals will not simply cross roads: the crossings are always used. Encourage your group to do the same.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Brochures and Maps
The excellent, free “Warsaw in your Pocket” guide and foldout map are usually available at your hotel. It has a whole set of general information and specific listings and is well worth a look through.
In the big hotels you will find a special desk where you can get postcards, stamps, and theatre and concert listings.
There are Warsaw Tourist Information Points at:
- Palace of Culture and Science (entrance from Emilii Plater Street, between Kongresowa Hall and Museum of Technology)
- Warsaw Central Train Station, Main Hall
- Old Town Square, Old Town
- Chopin Airport Terminal A, exit 2
Money exchange
Warsaw is well supplied with ATMs.
Credit cards are widely accepted in tourist shops.
Travellers’ cheques can be exchanged at banks and at some hotels but rates are often unfavourable. Interchange and Chequepoint Change should be avoided – their rates are a rip-off! Warn the group clearly against them and the misleading rates that they display.
Euros are less widely accepted than in the Czech Republic or Hungary even in tourist places.
Toilets
Toilets tend to be free of charge in Poland and of reasonable cleanliness and quality in Warsaw. However, there may be an ‘optional donation plate’.
THINGS TO DO
The Old Town is an extraordinary reconstruction from the rubble of 1944. The town square is full of colourful merchant houses, tourist shops, cobbled streets, restaurants and cafés. The group can easily spend time in this area.
The nearby Royal Castle (another reconstruction) has a self-guided tour through the Kings’ apartments and chambers and is well worth a visit. There are wonderful views across the Vistula River from here and also from a viewing platform at the top of nearby St Anne’s Church.
The former Ghetto area has a lot for a group interested in Warsaw’s Jewish Past. The new Museum of the History of Polish Jews is opposite the Ghetto Memorial. Both are a short walk from the Umschlagplatz memorial where trains left to Treblinka Death Camp. One synagogue has survived from before the War, the Nozyk Synagogue at Twarda 6. Close by are two streets that survived the Ghetto destruction and a memorial to Janusz Korczak, the Jewish Orphanage Director. A fragment of the Ghetto Wall remains at
ul Sienna 55. If you have a map and an adventurous group you can easily create a “Traces of Jewish Warsaw” tour with them.
The Warsaw Uprising Museum is one of Poland’s best museums. It is located on ul. Grzybowska 79 and is split over several levels. Modern exhibits take you through impressions of Nazi life with the background rattle of machine guns and divebombers, as well as giving you the chance to clamber through a sewer opening to end with the creation of the Soviet Puppet State.
There are free public concerts every Sunday from May to September in the Chopin Park, as well as numerous concerts in the many beautiful churches around the Old and New Towns. Keep an eye out for publicity and ask at your hotel for listings.
SHOPPING
There is good shopping in the Old Town for touristy type items. There are also numerous modern shopping malls. The mall between the Central Station and the Holiday Inn for example has attractive shops, cafés and an excellent range of shops.
EVENING ACTIVITIES
The nightlife in Warsaw can be quite seedy and ‘adult’. You are best keeping your group to activities organised by you such as a walking tour or attending a musical concert. The Palace of Science and Culture is open until 8pm in summer for views from the viewing platform.
There are also folklore shows available such as the one at Folk Gospoda on Waliców 13. Pre-booking is essential.