TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO WARSAW (AND DON'T CHARGE IT)

Although Krakow gets all the attention, Warsaw is an exciting city, especially if you are an urban like us. The capital of Poland conquers from its oddities, attracts by its contrasts and ends up hooking the traveler. If you have Warsaw among your next destinations, you may be interested these tips for traveling to Warsaw (and not shit), where we tell everything we would have liked to know before our trip.

There are direct flights to one of the two Warsaw airports (Chopin and Modlin). The duration is about 3 hours and there are routes with low cost companies from the following cities:

• Madrid (Ryanair to Modlin)
• Barcelona (Wizz, Vueling to Chopin and Ryanair to Modlin)
• Valencia (Ryanair to Modlin)
• Seville (Ryanair to Modlin)
• Malaga (Ryanair to Modlin and Norwegian to Chopin)
• Alicante (Ryanair to Modlin and Wizz to Chopin)
• Santander (Wizz to Chopin)
• Palma (Ryanair to Modlin)
• Gran Canaria (Ryanair to Modlin)
• Fuerteventura (Ryanair to Modlin)
• Tenerife (Ryanair to Modlin)

There are also direct flights with the Polish company LOT to cities like Madrid or Barcelona.

As we told you, in Warsaw there are two airports. The Modlin, where only Ryanair currently operates. And that of Chopin, with several companies like Wizzair.

That of Chopin It is just 10 km from the city, and is the one we recommend. Transportation to the center is much faster, more frequent and with different options. By public transport you can arrive in two types of train or by bus (4.40 PLN). You also have the possibility to go in Uber for less than € 5 (about 18-20 PLN).

Since Modlin There is an option to combine a bus to the train station in the town of Modlin and from there train to Warsaw. and go straight with a bus. The price of this round is € 8 per person (about 35 PLN).

We'll tell you everything in the article “How to get to Warsaw from the airport (and how to get around)”.

Warsaw has a very complete public transport, this surprised us positively. The meter It has two lines, one that crosses the city from north to south and another from east to west. Although it is best to move in urban buses and in trams.

If you think you are going to make a lot of use of transport, it is best that buy a bonus. There are several days, although it is calculated by hours (bieeeeen !!):

• 24 hours: 15 PLN
• 72 hours: 36 PLN
• Weekend ticket: 24 PLN. From 19:00 on Friday until 8:00 on Monday

In Poland the Zloty (PLN), so it is necessary to change your euros. We always recommend using a card when traveling. Both for payments and to get money. But watch out for commissions! Here we tell you the solutions to have money abroad. Our solution is found in this formula = 2BN + 2N26 = Save! I mean, we carry a Bnext card each, which we complement with the N26 card. They are free and we save money on commissions on trips abroad.

If you do not want to get this card, it is best to take € and change a small amount at the airport and a large part in a city exchange (which usually offer better change).

Exchange houses in Warsaw

Good news! In Poland, as in other European countries, Roaming no longer exists! With what you can use your phone package as if you were in Spain. That means you can make calls to Spanish numbers (but not to Polish numbers), receive calls, send SMS and connect to the internet, at no cost.

Remember that in order to use your data you have to enable “data roaming” on your phone.

Warsaw has a very intense (and also sad) history. In order to understand what this city is today, you first have to know its traumas, its comings and goings, its falls, its changes of territory, its occupations ... Does the Warsaw Uprising sound?

For this we always go to the wikipedia. Although there are always good books and movies that make it more entertaining. For example The pianist from Polanski.

It is best to visit Warsaw in summer, when temperatures give a truce. In the rest of the seasons it can become too cold and rain a lot. Here we leave you the predictions for the next days:

As in most European capitals, they are offered free walking tours in Spanish, to know the most important aspects of the city and its most interesting places. We always recommend making one the first day of the trip, to break the ice with the city. You can book it here.

If you prefer to hire a specialized guide for you, plan private tour, this is the contact of our guide Iza ([email protected]), we recommend it 100%: Iza speaks perfect Spanish, knows a lot and is a girl's love.

Warsaw is a city of contrasts, with very different areas, environments that change radically from one to the subway to another, and that is its greatest attraction. So you know a little of each of their faces, you can not miss visiting these 5 neighborhoods:

• Historic helmet: Reliably rebuilt after being razed in the II GM. That is why it was won as a UNESCO heritage site.
• MDM: It is the Soviet neighborhood, with large and sober buildings with a clear style of socialist realism.
• Jewish ghetto: It was one of the largest ghettos in Europe, but completely razed. Nowadays there is still a piece of the wall that delimited it.
• German occupation neighborhood: which obviously maintains the buildings of the early twentieth century. Now it hosts a few embassies and large avenues.
• Prague: the most alternative neighborhood. We loved its decadent buildings of raw brick and its vintage ambience.

We highly recommend that you visit one of Warsaw's museums, both private and national. The quality is brutal, and they are not expensive compared to other European capitals. But study their schedules and when they are free! Here we put the best ones:

• Jewish History Museum. Closed Tuesdays. Thursdays is free.
• Uprising Museum. Closed Tuesdays. Sundays is free.
• National Museum. Close Mondays. Tuesdays is free.
• Copernicus Science Center. Close Mondays.
• Fryderyk Chopin Museum. Close Mondays. Sundays is free.
• Vodka Museum Close Mondays.
• Museum of the Neons. Closed Tuesdays.
• Museum of the Communist Era. Opens every day.
• Royal Castle Close Mondays. Wednesdays is free.
• Buildings in the parqueazienki royal park. Close Mondays. Thursdays is free.
• Wilanów Palace. Only in winter it closes on Tuesdays. On Thursdays there are limited free passes.
• Terrace of the Palace of Culture and Science. Open every day from 10 to 20.

The day May 19 is the night of the museums. Many exhibitions open only that night, if you get caught that day here, take advantage of it!

We loved the Polish cuisine and there are some dishes that you should try yes or yes. Soon we will publish a more extensive post but for now stay with these 3:

• Pierogi, which would be the Polish "dumplings", some dumplings stuffed with the most varied ingredients (both salty and sweet).
• Zurek, a soup of rye flour, potatoes, meat broth, hard boiled egg and white sausage.
• Bigos, one of the national dishes, a stew that is prepared with meat, onion, bacon or bacon, fresh cabbage, sour cabbage (sauerkraut), dried plums and red wine

Be careful because some dishes are they charge for their weight. It is the case ofgolonka (the price can be 6 PLN per 100gr), whose weight is usually more than 1 kg!

In the Milk Bar that does not have an English menu, what we did was search the photos on google maps of other users and show the dish that we liked the most. Although we did not know the prices, these sites tend to be very cheap.

It is increasingly fashionable to rehabilitate large areas to host local markets, where to try the specialties of the place, with organic products, some small craft shops, etc. But also as a meeting place. The ones we recommend in Warsaw are:

• Hala Koszyki, possibly the most famous in Warsaw, perfect for a beer or lunch / dinner. Opens every day
• Hala Gwardii, a large space with food stands and common tables in the center. Open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
• Hala Mirowska, next to the previous one, it is more of a local market, where they sell from fruit and vegetables to flowers and meat. Open every day except Sunday.
• Nocny Market (night market), an open street surrounded by lots of food stalls of all kinds and lots of atmosphere. Open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 5pm.
• Breakfast Market (breakfast market), if your visit falls on the weekend and the weather is nice, don't think about it: come and have breakfast at this market. Open on Saturdays from 09:00.

The apps that we usually use on our trips and that we also recommend for Warsaw are: Uber, Maps.me, Moovit (although we almost always prefer Google Maps to calculate routes, public transport, etc.), Oandaor Zomato.

Specials for Warsaw areJakdojade for public transport,Miejska Ścieżka with different tours recorded in audio (English) in the city, and there are a few apps for travel guides.

Do you know more Tips for traveling to Warsaw? Leave us a comment!