Lucas
This time I wanted to show to my kids, for the first time, the capital of Poland – Warsaw. That was the first part of our trip. Later on, we went to Germany to visit Legoland and Gamescon in Cologne. But today I will tell you what to see in Warsaw and why it’s worth to visit Poland.
Table of Contents
Arrival by Train Pendolino
I thought that it would be an additional attraction for kids to travel by train. Paulina, my daughter was really excited because of her first train trip. I wanted to take the fastest train in the country – Pendolino. It’s twice more expensive than regular inter-city train but it was worth to show kids the best “face” of Polish National Railway (PKP).
For those of you who would like to take a train, use the English version of Intercity website. You can buy a ticket there. Then print it out or have it with you in your cell phone. Tickets are checked by persons called train conductors. Usually, they speak English, so no worries – you can easily communicate with them.
As I said, the kids were very excited because of the train trip. Paulina did not expect that such a train has a bar where you can drink tea or buy something to eat.
It took us around 3 hours to reach Warsaw Central Station. Just after, we took Uber to get to our accommodation.
Accommodation
We booked nice AirBnB apartment in New-Town Square, close to the Old Town. The price was really good, I suppose it’s mainly because we stayed there from Monday till Thursday. I guess the cost would be double on a busy weekend. So if you want some cost-cutting when visiting Warsaw, go there during the week.
Anyway, the apartment had a great location (very close to Old Town), was really clean and well equipped – worth recommending. If you want to make your booking there, here is the link.
And here is a bonus from me – using this link to register on Airbnb, you will get around 25 EUR discount from Airbnb on your first booking.
- Check accommodations in Warsaw on booking.com
Neighborhood
Warsaw is full of history. You just feel it on every corner, on each street, just everywhere. It’s because this city suffered a lot during World War 2 and was almost vanished and burned to the ground by the Nazis. With the enormous effort of Polish people, it was rebuilt and became the most modern and one of the most beautiful cities in Poland.
The place where we stayed was a really peaceful neighborhood, close to the Vistula river. It was at the corner of New-Town Square and just 5 minutes of walk from the Old Town Square.
The closest neighbourhood was pretty nice, grocery within 100m On the way to the Old City
Old Town and Surroundings
Just after arrival and quick unpacking, we took a walk towards Old Town. Seeing for the first time Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Castle Square or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was a really great experience for my kids – you can see all that on the movie below:
Next, we went towards Little Insurgent Statue – statue to remember child soldiers who fought and died during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
Just after we headed towards another Monument of the Warsaw Uprising. Warsaw has wonderfully commemorated the Warsaw Uprising – you’ll understand it in few paragraphs later when we will visit Warsaw Uprising Museum.
On the way, we passed by the Supreme Court and National Library. Cool thing is that on each of the 76 columns of the Supreme Court Building, you can read fundamentals of law in one/two phrases written in Latin like “Dura lex, sed lex” (The law is hard, but law).
Copernicus Science Centre
Next day, after breakfast we went to the Copernicus Science Centre. Their mission is – as written on the webpage: “We inspire people to observe, experiment, ask questions and seek answers”. This place is all about the science. Moreover, you can try it all on your own. Don’t know how it works? Interact with the exhibit and you will see what is happening and why. This is how the Copernicus Science Centre works. If you would ever ask me what to see in Warsaw, this place will be on one of the first places.
We bought our tickets on-line. It’s quite a busy place so I recommend you do the same. Here is the link.
As you could see in some photos above, there are many great experiments to do in Copernicus Science Centre. But some of them are more interesting than others. Take a look below – Ames room was one of the coolest things we have seen there. Long story short – it’s a chamber/room which creates the illusion where people standing on the corners, in front of the observer are seen by an observer in non-natural size – see photos below to catch the point. This effect was widely used in movies for special effects.
I took some video shots there so please take a look on my video footage from Copernicus Science Centre:
The Royal Lazienki Garden Park
Just after the adventure in Copernicus Science Centre, we went to The Royal Lazienki Garden Park. It’s another must-have on your what to see in Warsaw list. The Royal Lazienki Park is the largest park in Warsaw created in the 17th century as a baths park for noble people. In the 20th century, it was opened for the public as a city park.
The Royal Lazienki Park consist of 15 buildings and one bridge with Jan III Sobieski monument. When the weather is good I suggest taking a long walk navigating from one building to another. It takes some hours to visit all of them but it is not as exhausting as it seems to be because the trees will protect you from the heat.
The most beautiful building in The Royal Lazienki Garden is the Palace on the Isle. That was the only one building in Lazienki where we got inside. You can do this after purchasing the ticket. If you like you can buy multi-language electronic guide and explore the Palace on the Isle with a headset. It’s worth to do that as the interiors are richly decorated and contain plenty of valuable exhibits.
What you can see on the photo below is the Fryderyk Chopin Monument. It’s a famous place because of the piano concerts which take place there. If you are going to visit Lazienki on Sunday, it’s likely that you will have a chance to see such concert in front of the monument. The entrance is for free.
Warsaw Multimedia Fountain
Not far away from our Airbnb house, maybe 150 meters towards Vistula river, we found Warsaw Multimedia Fountain. It’s a place where during the Friday and Saturday’s evenings you can watch a spectacular fountain show of light, sound, and water. It’s available in May, June, July, and August at 9.30 pm, and in September at 9 pm.
As you probably noticed, we were in Warsaw during the week so we did not have chance to see the full show which is presented on weekends but anyway, around 9 pm the fountains were dancing in the multicolor choreography. Kids loved that.
Warsaw Uprising Museum
For Wednesday we planned to visit the Warsaw Rising Museum dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. We bought our tickets in advance using the Museum’s website. If you would like to do that, use this link.
My tip for you: Go there in the morning (we’ve been there at 10:00 am) because starting from noon crowds get bigger and bigger. In the morning you will be able to explore the museum at ease.
The exhibits are located on several floors. You will see there a lot of photographs, video footages, interactive displays, 3D movie showing ruined Warsaw from the bird view and even the replica of the Liberator airplane. And no worries, all information are in Polish and English.
One of the interactive exhibits made a huge impression on me – the mirror-shaped LCD panels scanning your face and searching for a similar-looking person among insurgents. You could see the reflection of someone looking like you, who gave his life for your country – amazing experience.
If you would like to know more about the Warsaw Rising Museum, please take a look at the video footage from there:
PGE National Stadium
PGE National Stadium was the next point on our “what to see in Warsaw” list. We planned it for Wednesday’s afternoon. We bought our tickets for the stadium tour via the website. If you want to do the same, follow this link.
We get there with Uber – this is, in my opinion, the best way to travel long distances within the Warsaw with family. Way more convenient than public transport. Aver
Funny thing was that we arrived 0,5h earlier than our tour starts so we had to wait so we started to look around to find something to seat. Take a look below – we thought that the grey thing is a bench. Nope, it’s heater… they even put A4 paper explaining that it’s the heater – don’t seat there. Well, in the end, we had to stand still for a half-hour as there is no place to seat in the main reception of PGE National Stadium.
At 2 pm the guided tour started. The stadium is huge and makes a really good impression. My kids have never seen such thing before in real. What surprised us, there was no turf. As the guide explained, they roll it out 3 weeks before the game and just after they take it out again.
Above photo shows the chandelier in the Crystal VIP Lounge. This lamp is made of 400 Swarovski crystals and it’s worth ~100 kEUR. As our guide told us, the person who books this VIP Lounge is responsible for this chandelier. If even one crystal disappears, you have to pay for the whole chandelier.
For Foodies
I always try to find some good food wherever I go. A few years ago I was following only the recommendations from Tripadvisor or Google. Since it’s now so popular, you have no chance to find a good table in the restaurants from the top ten in the area where you are now. That’s why now I’m searching for restaurants on my own. Usually, I get to good places with good food and service but sometimes I’m lucky to be in the restaurant worth recommending to my readers.
This is the case with the “Gospoda Polskie Kwiaty” restaurant. They serv polish food in rustical, old-style design interior. We had a really good meal there and the kids kept asking me to recommend this restaurant on the blog – so here we go: I recommend this restaurant 🙂
Time to Go Back
On Thursday we packed our stuff, call Uber and within a couple of minutes, we were at the Central Station in Warsaw ready to come back home.
3 Days in Warsaw – is It Worth?
I’m really glad that kids have seen the capital of their country. It’s a city filled with painfull history and at the same time, it’s very modern and open. I hope this article will help you to build your itinerary and plan the list of what to see in Warsaw.
Last hint in this article – the best time to visit Warsaw in July and August as at that time all residents of Warsaw leave the city for holidays and you do not need to worry about traffic and crowds.
Ending this story I would like to highlight that this is not the last article about Poland on this blog. It’s an extremely beautiful country with friendly and hospitable local people. The only thing you need is to know where to go to see beauty of Poland. That’s why I’m going to make a series of articles about my country. Kids love the idea and just can’t wait to hit the road. And there is a lot to discover. We can choose among variety of attractions offered by Poland – mountains, sea, beautiful old cities, lakes, forest, and modern Amusement Parks. All you can imagine is here.
Following the “what to see in Warsaw” post we will start with some more Polish cities. Stay tuned to read more stories about Wroclaw, Krakow, and Gdansk.
Photos and featured image: Lucas