11 Useful Tips for Visiting Warsaw Poland

When contemplating traveling in Poland, you will certainly need to determine if visiting Warsaw should be part of your itinerary. After all, it is the country’s capital city. And it is a common gateway city into Poland for many. But Warsaw isn’t quite as charming or scenic as other Polish cities, such as Gdansk or Krakow. So then, is Warsaw worth visiting?

We spent a few days in Warsaw at both ends of our month-long trip to Poland. And I’m glad that we did carve out some time for exploring the country’s largest city. Here’s some of the most useful things I learned while visiting Warsaw.

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Warsaw Rebuilt

About 90% of Warsaw was destroyed during WW2. So the city that you see today is quite different from the Warsaw of the past. It’s mostly a modern city with a great portion of its infrastructure built during Communist times. Along with an even more modern skyline that boasts the tallest building in the EU.

Now that’s not to say that Warsaw doesn’t have an Old Town and a historic castle – like other top tourist cities in Poland. It does have those. But, they were all significantly reconstructed to their former glory after the War. And for me personally, they didn’t quite match their counterparts in the other Polish cities we visited. But, they still have their charm, and do help make visiting Warsaw worthwhile.

Here’s a look at some of that reconstructed past:

Walking Through History

I think that one of the best ways to learn about Warsaw’s dark and fascinating history – from its medieval past, through the horrors of WW2, and into its Communist reconstruction – is via a historical walking tour.

And that’s exactly what we did on our first day in the city. I chose the Warsaw Historic Centre Tour offered by a company called Walkative. They seemed to offer the highest-rated walking tours to those that are visiting Warsaw. And the 2.5 hours we spent with our very knowledgeable and informative guide were excellent.

It was a great way to see all the most significant sites of Warsaw’s historic centre. But even more so, we learned all the key points of Warsaw’s history – from the 1200s to the 20th century.

Here’s a few of the stopping points:

Delving Deeper into Warsaw’s Communist Past

No matter where we travel in the former Soviet Eastern Bloc, I’m always very interested to learn about life under Communism – like when we took this Communism walking tour in Ljubljana Slovenia or toured this Communism museum in Dubrovnik Croatia.

And when visiting Warsaw, you should definitely consider spending some time at the Life Under Communism Museum. It’s a small museum. But it’s packed with information on what life was like in Warsaw under Communist rule.

Displays include faithful recreations of State-owned apartments…

And a Communist Party official’s office…

Plus, several displays explaining what life was like under Communist rule. Including this display of food shortages & food lines (in the black and white photo), and State-owned automobile manufacturing…

The museum itself is located on a corner of Warsaw’s Constitution Square. This was the city’s first socialist mixed-used commercial/residential project completed in 1952. One of the museum’s displays tells the very interesting history of these important city blocks…

(All of our Warsaw lodging was in the general vicinity of Constitution Square. Including a night at the MDM Hotel – the first post war hotel built in Warsaw and an anchor of the square. I found that this area was a great place to stay while visiting Warsaw, given its central location.)

A Can’t-Miss Building

My favorite building in Warsaw was this one….

It’s called The Palace of Culture and Science. And it’s a Warsaw landmark in the central part of the city. You can’t miss spotting it when visiting Warsaw.

It was built by Stalin as “gift” to the Polish people in the 1950s. And when completed, it was the 8th tallest building in the world. But, because it was built by the Soviets during Poland’s communist years, it’s not necessarily beloved by many Poles. However, I still found it a very fascinating building.

It’s also where you will find Warsaw’s best view. You can pay a small fee to ride an elevator to the building’s observation deck for a 360 degree look at Warsaw in its entirety.

Including a view over to the Warsaw’s more modern skyscrapers that occupy the adjacent city blocks…

But I especially enjoyed hanging out around The Palace at night, when it is all lit up in purple lights. It’s really quite a striking site.

Learning About Poland’s Jewish History

Warsaw has several great museums, but the highest-rated Warsaw museum by tourists on Tripadvisor is the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. And I agree that this museum is an essential stop when visiting Warsaw.

It’s a remarkable facility that takes you through the 1000 year history of the Jewish people in Poland. Over the centuries, Poland was generally more welcoming to Jews than other European countries. Prior to the onset of WW2, the Jewish population in Poland was larger than any country other than the United States. At the end of WW2, nearly all of Poland’s 3 million Jews had been murdered by the Nazis.

The museum covers all of that history in great detail using an impressive combination of huge set pieces, multi-media presentations, and historic artifacts.

You’ll need to set aside plenty of time in your Warsaw itinerary to see all this museum has to offer though. It took us about 2 hours to make our way through the chronologic displays – and we moved fairly quickly.

And as with every major history museum we toured in Poland, the audioguide system here was both amazing and essential. It used GPS to both direct us and track our progress, starting and stopping automatically, while teaching us about everything we were seeing.

Celebrating Chopin

If you are a lover of classical music, then your Warsaw itinerary should definitely include a visit to one of city’s other popular museums – The Fryderyk Chopin Museum.

Chopin is certainly Poland’s most famous musician and composer. He spent most of his formative years in Warsaw, before making a permanent move to France at the age of 20.

When you tour the museum, you will learn a great deal about his life and see a number of his personal belongings including one of his pianos. Plus the museum offers quite a few listening stations, where through the course of your visit, you can listen to just about everything he ever composed. That’s Mrs. TT sitting inside one such station below.

The museum is relatively small and the number of visitors are limited per hour. So I would recommend that you purchase your time-entry tickets a day or two ahead of time via the museum’s website.

You can also pay your respects to Chopin at one of his two final resting places when visiting Warsaw. While his primary burial place is in Paris, his heart was sent home to Poland, and rests inside a pillar at the Holy Cross Church located on Old Town’s Royal Route.

A Battle of Pierogis

When visiting Warsaw, you will certainly want to eat some Polish food. And there is no Polish food more famous than Pierogis. Just in case you aren’t familiar with this dish, pierogis are dumplings stuffed with various fillings (mushrooms, sauerkraut, onions, cheese, potatoes – just to name a few), and usually served with sour cream.

And it’s not hard to find Pierogis in Warsaw. Since part of your Warsaw itinerary will certainly include time in and around Old Town, you can easily find pierogis at two different restaurant chains with multiple locations throughout the general area.

One is named Gosciniec and the other is named Zapiecek

And I know what you are thinking…tourist food traps. But actually no. I have some Polish travel blog friends that specifically recommended one of them to me as quite authentic, and both seemed to be popular with Poles as much as foreign tourists.

Plus, both had a wide selection of Polish classics in addition to pierogis (like the pork goulash with potato dumplings seen below). We ate at both while we were visiting Warsaw, and I don’t think you can really can go wrong with either.

I actually think the biggest decision you will face will be what pierogi fillings to choose. And whether you should get your pierogis boiled or fried.

Polish is Hard, But Don’t Worry

While Polish is indeed a very difficult language to speak, you have no need to worry when visiting Warsaw. English is widely spoken in most places you will visit on your typical Warsaw itinerary. Nonetheless, I would encourage you to learn a few common phrases – even just Good Day and Thank You – as a gesture of respect.

Getting Around Warsaw is Easy

Warsaw is a big city and many of the main sites are spread out. But getting around Warsaw is fairly easy. Warsaw has both an underground Metro and a convenient tram system. We used the tram quite a bit while visiting Warsaw.

You can find the tram routes and up-to-the-minute schedules on Google Maps. And the tickets are easy to purchase from ticket machines located near many of the stops.

You can buy either single use tickets or passes of various lengths. And the machines offer an English language option. Just be sure to validate your ticket by using one of the yellow boxes inside the tram, or risk a fine. (Our tickets were checked on a couple of occasions by tram officials.)

Uber is also available in Warsaw. So is Bolt. We used Uber in Warsaw frequently, and it’s quite inexpensive.

And the way that the Warsaw Airport has organized Uber pickup is probably the best method I’ve yet to come across in our travels. You simply walk out to the designated pickup zones at the curb – directly outside baggage pickup. Order an Uber on the spot. And then take the next available car (showing an assigned code within your App to the driver). Very slick.

I should also mention here that the national train network in Poland is excellent, and we used it extensively to get around the country – starting and ending in Warsaw. You can read more about this in my post entitled Riding The Train From Krakow To Warsaw & Other Polish Train Tips

Safety In Warsaw

Inevitabely, whenever we return home from a trip abroad, we are always asked if we felt safe. And to this point, we have never answered negatively. Warsaw is no different. We felt completely safe in Warsaw.

Of course, just like anywhere you travel, you need to use common sense and not put yourself in dangerous situations. And always take precautions against pickpockets in crowds and on public transportation. But for normal touristic activities and general wandering in central Warsaw – no concerns whatsoever.

How Many Days in Warsaw?

When it comes to planning the length of your Warsaw itinerary, it’s always hard to give specific advice, because everyone has a different pace of sightseeing and different travel goals.

So with that said, how many days in Warsaw are best?

We spent 4 full days exploring the sites of Warsaw and I feel that was about right for our overall itinerary in Poland as a whole. But, we didn’t see everything that Warsaw has to offer, so a longer stay might be warranted if you want see it all.

But, I would dissuade you from spending the entirety of your time in Poland visiting Warsaw. While Warsaw is certainly an interesting city, the country as a whole has a lot to offer as well. And it’s quite easy to bounce around. Both Gdansk and Krakow are only 2.5 hours away by high speed train.

In fact, you can read all about our other stops throughout Poland in the following posts:

All The Reasons You Should Consider Visiting Wroclaw Poland

12 Things You Shouldn’t Miss When Visiting Gdansk Poland

How Many Days In Krakow: 3, 4, or More For Your Itinerary

Final Thoughts

This is the final post in my Poland series. We really enjoyed our time exploring this beautiful country. And while Poland doesn’t always top a lot of travel bucket lists, that’s a true shame. Whether you spend your time in Poland visiting Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Krakow, or any of it’s other cities, you certainly won’t leave disappointed

If you would like to read about our favorite day trips in Poland, then check out these posts:

The Perfect Day Trip from Gdansk to Malbork Castle

How to Visit Auschwitz From Krakow – 11 Helpful Tips

And if you would like to read about my Tips for visiting other Central European capital cities, then check out these posts:

8 Insightful Vienna Travel Tips

10 Essential Budapest Travel Tips

The Best Things To Do In Ljubljana Slovenia