Warsaw Travels [Part One]

Warsaw Travels [Part One]

Ashleigh at A Frolic Through Fiction and I visited Warsaw in Poland for our first holiday together and like my Berlin Travels post, I thought I would share some pics from our trip and some tips for those interested in visiting! This post will focus on the places in Old Town that we visited, including The Royal Castle and the Museum of Warsaw.

The Royal Castle in Old Town was one of the first places we visited. It used to serve as the official residence of the Polish monarchs from the sixteenth century. It was later bombed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War with Hitler ordering for it’s total destruction. During the war, many valuable objects were taken away, while some brave Polish historians risked their lives in order to save many priceless artefacts that are now housed in the Castle, which was rebuilt after the war.

Tips for going there: visit on a Wednesday as it’s FREE! (check before you go, in case the day has changed)

Tickets for entry to Castle and museum, 30 PLN for adults and 1 PLN for children up to 16 years old.

There are some lovely places to eat around the Castle, we visited one of the outdoor restaurants (seen below) that is directly in front of the Castle and it was really nice to sit and relax with food and drink and take in the beautiful surrounds.

   

We loved walking to and around Old Town – we were lucky that we got a cheap and cheerful Airbnb place in the centre of Warsaw. There are a plethora of small museums and palaces in and around Old Town.

Some prices for public transport within Zone 1, below. Zone 2, is quite far on the edge of Warsaw, so if you’re going somewhere far, check that you’ve got the correct zone ticket.

• 20-minute journey – 3,40 PLN
• 75 minutes – 4,40 PLN
• 90 minutes – 7,00 PLN
• 24 hours – 15,00 PLN
• 72 hours – 36,00 PLN
• Weekend – 24,00 PLN

We visited Old Town pretty much every day as it was such a wonderful place to be, in both daylight and nighttime. There are SO many ice cream shops around and of course we had to have one! Again, there are some lovely places to eat as well, Warsaw really knows how to do outdoor restaurants. The image above was from the top of the Museum of Warsaw, which was one of my favourite places to visit and one of my favourite museums I have ever visited. There are tons of history and it extends to several floors and areas.

Museum of Warsaw – closed on Mondays, tickets for core and temporary exhibitions 25 PLN (adult) and 15 PLN (concession).

Tips for going there: visit on a Thursday as it is FREE!

 

Old Town has plenty of ‘old’ elements despite the city’s turbulent history. One of those is the Barbican, a large, sixteenth-century castle defence wall with towers that was reconstructed in the mid-twentieth century. There is also a seventeenth-century monument topped with a statue of King Sigismund III which is used as a meeting place right in front of the Royal Castle called Sigismund’s Column.

The restaurants and food shops we visited were excellently priced – helped by the decent exchange rate from sterling to zloty – and we actually came back with plenty of money. There is an abundance of restaurants in Old Town, so there is no need to worry about going hungry or struggling for a place to go!

Airport information – we flew with Ryanair to Warsaw Modlin airport. We bought a joint shuttle and train ticket for 19 PLN (adult) from a stand next to the exit doors in departures. We hopped on the shuttle, which comes every 20-30 mins for a brief 10-15 minute ride to Modlin train station, it is an unusual train station and is a beige coloured building. We then got on a KM train which was heading to Warsaw Centralny – using the same ticket.

Part Two will involved Lazienki Park, Palace on the Isle, POLIN Museum and other places we briefly visited.

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