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A Weekend in Warsaw
What do you do when you have a free weekend off and a couple of days off the following week? You book a weekend break to wonderful Warsaw, of course! Our most spontaneous trip to date! I booked the flights in my lunch break on Friday afternoon, and we flew at 0610 the following morning. It just so happened Joel had a week off, and I didn’t, but after I mentioned it to my boss, he asked if I wanted a couple of days off, and I said ‘yes’.
1 | Getting There
I used Skyscanner to find our trip to wonderful Warsaw and selected the destination to ‘anywhere’ and moved from one departure airport to the next, with direct flights, to find the best price from an airport we were willing to drive to. Birmingham worked out the cheapest with the best flight times to maximise our time in wonderful Warsaw.
However, the flight out was so early that we travelled up the night before and crashed at a service station on the M42 in Bumper. We paid £10 at WH Smiths and stayed the night, safe in the car park. The following morning, we got to the airport parking after a short drive from the services, and voila, the break began!
We booked the accommodation through Airbnb. The accommodation was cheap, only £22 per night, and the place was lovely, complete with Ikea furniture throughout, and it was right on the edge of Old Town. You can find the apartment on Airbnb HERE.
We flew with Wizz Air, the Hungarian budget airline, and everything worked like clockwork. We even booked the return airport transfer through them because the flight back was too early for public transport. And as usual, we flew with hand luggage only, which was backpacks only with Whiz Air. Everything had to go into the bags, satchels, and cameras…EVERYTHING.
If you haven’t flown with them before, you should be aware that Wizz Air is very strict about what you can take on board if you haven’t paid for it. They will stop you and make you pay! So check the baggage requirements before you fly. By 1100, we were sitting in the sun in the Old Town Market Square, drinking Polish beer and scoffing Polish dumplings.
2 | Things to Do
Rich in cafes, shops and restaurants, Old Town is the gem of wonderful Warsaw. Despite being heavily damaged during the Second World War, it was meticulously restored. And what a fantastic job they did. So amazing that it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site as “an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century.”
We loved Old Town so much that we spent most of our time wandering the narrow streets and squares, listening to the musicians and soaking up the relaxed atmosphere. It’s chock full of cool little bars and restaurants, so if you like a good beer or are a bit of a foodie, you won’t be short of places to visit.
We hired some Lime scooters, and they were so much fun! You can download the app and pick them up almost anywhere in the city. Stick to their drop-off rules, though, otherwise they’ll tell you off and charge you for the pleasure. We intended to visit Łazienki Park on them, but you can’t take them in. So we dropped them off and continued on foot. The park is massive. It covers about 76 hectares, so be prepared to spend a reasonable amount of time there to get around. You might even catch sight of a red squirrel. They are pretty friendly and curious to see if you have any food for them.
There’s also a trendy bar scene, and we love a good beer. Beer on the continent always tastes better than in the UK…or is this just us? Not only does Poland have some decent beer (they also export it), like Żywiec and Tyskie, but it also brews some decent ales. We came across some really cool bars near the Centrum metro station that had all sorts of beers on tap and some super cool decor. PiwPaw has beer bottle caps on almost every wall throughout the entire place – impressive in itself.
The street sign below caught our attention. It’s the most fun street sign we’ve ever seen, and it translates as “attention wedding party”, according to Google. Do you like visiting an Irish bar when you’re overseas? And why is there always an Irish bar wherever you visit? There was a couple in Old Town we went to that didn’t disappoint with their familiar beer and music. Stacey even found a new love for Murphy’s.
We had the best of the weather in wonderful Warsaw. Despite the time of year, it was still lovely and warm. And on top of that, there was amazing colour everywhere! It was also getting late in the year, so mulled wine was on the menu! We had a lot of fun with the camera during the trip too, probably helped by the conditions, colours and Stacey finally relaxing and letting me take her picture!
Warsaw turned out to be one of our favourite city breaks ever, and if you’re considering it, you should move it to the top of your list. What made it so good? The weather, the vibe, the friendliness and the variety of everything, including the architecture. It’s quite a fascinating place when it comes to its architecture, from the historic buildings of Old Town to the grand buildings of Łazienki Park and the 1950s Palace of Culture and Art (which you can, and should, definitely go up!). I should also include Keret House, described as the world’s narrowest house. It’s actually an art installation designed by the architect Jakub Szczęsny through the architecture firm Centrala.
When we go to a new city, we usually try to find an escape room. We found one. Joel booked it. We turned up. Turns out he got the date AND the wrong time! Thankfully, they weren’t too busy and let us in anyway. Joel is now banned from booking anything. Not because of this one incident, but because he does this all the time. We were in Krakow one New Year, and he booked the wrong restaurant AND the wrong time, and then there was the flight, but that’s a story for another time.
There’s so much more to wonderful Warsaw than what we have written. It really is a great place to visit, with a vast history and a super-relaxed vibe for a capital city.
3 | One last thing
One last thing before we wrap this lengthy post up – go to the Neon Museum. It’s not very big, but it’s bright and colourful, and it’ll leave you wanting your very own retro neon light for your home. It’s located in a pretty cool area too, on the other side of the river from Old Town. After catching a bus over the river, we headed the rest of the way on foot. It was quite a walk, but an enjoyable one, where we got to see some of the real Warsaw, away from the tourist locations. It’s built within a relatively new/redeveloped complex with some old train lines and cool cafes and bars.
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