Hi everyone! Have you ever thought of visiting Poland and wondered what to do in Warsaw? I will be happy to tell you my story. Why? I thought that Oslo was beautiful and that London was a great place to live (where I live now), but I fell in love with Warsaw with all my heart, and I have only been there once and just for a week.
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I have allocated 1000 pounds for my trip. I planned to spend seven days in Poland in good conditions and enjoy life, starting with discos, a movie theatre, sightseeing, and good restaurants. My friend Alice was in Warsaw last year, and she spent a similar sum of money.
What to do in Warsaw: Arrival
The first thing that thrilled me was the price of the plane tickets, 20 pounds to Warsaw and 16 for the return ticket! I did not expect such fees, the last time I flew from London to Manchester I paid 150 pounds, so these prices were terrific. Of course, I flew with inexpensive airlines, but it was still cheap. I got off the plane in Okęcie at 3 PM on a Saturday, and I was amazed that the airport is in the city and not on its outskirts, from where you have to drive 2 hours to get to the centre. This one was only 7 km away from the city centre.
I was a bit afraid to use the cabs in Poland, as I have heard from my friends a lot about Polish taxi drivers, how they cheat their customers. I have even printed out a map. I was supposed to pay 5-6 pounds, which happened; nobody deceived me. The driver was very nice; he helped me put my bag in the boot and then take it out.
Where I stayed
I stayed in the very centre of the city: in DeSilva Apartments. It is hard to call that place apartments. They are more hotel rooms than anything else, but their advantage is the localisation in the strict city centre. So since I had some thoughts of what to do in Warsaw I knew that staying at the heart of town was convenient.
There is an excellent place downstairs if you want to eat something, but the food is expensive compared to Polish standards – soup costs 3-4 pounds, and I have later found a much more exciting place, where soup costs 1.5 pounds 🙂 That’s right, 1.5 pounds! But since I have stopped there, then so be it, nothing great but not tragic either, and it cost me 35 pounds per night, which is not cheap for such conditions.
I have slept through most of the first night. I was tired, but I did wake up a few times; the walls were paper-thin, and I could hear everything from the outside. To listen to the screams of sports fans, as there probably was a game that day, was priceless.
What to do in Warsaw: Sightseeing
On Sunday, I began sightseeing, and it was not my brightest moment because I did not know which attractions would be closed on that day. I started with the Royal Baths Park, a fantastic place in Warsaw, with a beautiful museum that can be visited for 2 pounds. It features an arranged space around it, a park and a lake; this is an excellent background for great pictures.
In my beloved Norway, such places are hard to find. I will add that Baths are 5 minutes and three bus stops away from the city centre. So you need to see it, it is my number one tourist attraction in Warsaw, as far as I am concerned. Oh, and I almost forgot to recommend eating a cheesecake in the Baths restaurant. There is a beautifully preserved restaurant, and they serve delicious food there.
My whole stay in the Baths took 3 hours. I could spend the entire day there, but I wanted to wander around the centre for a bit and get ready to party in the evening, after all, I am not old, I want to have some fun!
What to do in Warsaw for nightlife
It’s the evening, and there is the question of where to go to a club or a disco. I read some opinions and found two places recommended by the folks from my country: disco-club Mirage and New Orleans Club.
First I visited the Club Mirage, a disco in the city centre, near Parade Square. Still, unfortunately, my expectations were shattered; it was a disco full of colourful lights, fluorescent elements and youths. I was tempted to say those were 15-16-year-old kids. However, I am sure that many people entered because they paid, and they were not 21.
After an hour, I was tired of the noisy music, drunk children and the lack of taste visible in the interior of that place. So I took my chances to New Orleans, and I paid 2 pounds for Uber on Sunday night!!! Finally, I got into a place that would be iconic even in the city, with a red carpet and selection at the entrance. I was only surprised that there was no queue in front of that place.
Later, I found out why 🙂 I got inside and WOW, beautiful interiors, like in Parisian burlesque clubs, although it is not a disco, or luckily, it was not a disco. Still, a club for guys, where girls strip off, but the prestige, impressive interior gained my admiration. It is also a restaurant; the food is insanely delicious. If you want to taste some sophisticated cuisine, I recommend this place wholeheartedly. It is a prestigious club with beautiful girls and great food. If you ever go to Warsaw and feel like watching a show straight from Paris, go to New Orleans Club. I came back to my pseudo-apartment at 6 AM. I lost track of time in the club, as it was my scene.
Slept till Monday afternoon
That’s what you get for coming back at 6 AM 🙂 when I woke up, it was already afternoon. Before I got ready, I only had time to walk on the Krakowskie Przedmiescie, a beautiful street. You need to take a walk on that street and pay attention to the beautiful tenement houses renovated amazingly. There are lots of pubs there, which are not bad. If you have an itinerary of what to do in Warsaw, this should be a must.
I returned to my room at 10 PM. And again there was a lot of noise!!! I was getting sick and tired of that, and all of that made me hungry and got me wondering where I would get something to eat in the middle of the night? In the hotel, they recommended a nearby restaurant Pianka z Tanka (The Froth); well, okay, I decided to go there. So many people are on the streets at 1 AM! I did not know that Warsaw is as alive at night as London.
I arrived at the pub in 7 minutes. It was in a strict city centre, and as it later turned out, it was opposite the New Orleans Club that I had been to the day before. The pub was open 24/7, the interior was great, and the food!!! WOW, amazing pasta, Polish beer, their speciality as a drink to go with the pasta, sensational. The staff was amiable. The restaurant deserves a recommendation as one of the best in Warsaw, in my opinion, because they are open all day long. Bravo.
Once I was full, I went back to the hotel; I switched to the nightlife mode.
More sightseeing and shopping
Over the following days, I visited the Palace of Culture and Science, an obligatory attraction for every tourist: you can go to one of the highest floors and take great pictures. I have also been to the Wilanow Palace, but it did not impress me much.
Shopaholic ladies, if you are ever in Poland and wonder what to do in Warsaw for shopping, you have to go to Golden Terraces. It’s full of shops, many of which are absent in London, good cafes, and the roof of that centre knocks you off your feet. It is worth it, it’s an interesting place, where you can easily spend the whole day. I recommend it with my whole heart.
A few things about me
I come from Oslo, but I have lived in London for eight years. I moved to the UK to study there, and I stayed here. London is a place that gives you an opportunity, teaches you humility and is where you can find everything you want. Now that I have returned home, and as I sit and write this story, I wonder why it was Warsaw that I have decided to visit. I don’t know, maybe it was the stories of my friends that have been to Poland, or perhaps they wish to see something else, a place that is unknown but at the same time that astounds me.
What to do in Warsaw: conclusion
Generally, I liked Warsaw a lot. Small and beautiful, and cheap for a European city, people are smiling, the town is very cosmopolitan, there are many foreigners there, I felt at home there, many young people were there. I will revisit Warsaw, but this time with my friends.
