Practical Info for Visiting Warsaw

Warsaw Airport → city centre

The main airport, Chopin (WAW), is about 30 minutes from the centre by train (SKM lines S2/S3/RL to Warszawa Centralna, standard ZTM ticket) or by bus (lines 175, 188, 148, 331, or night line N32). A taxi costs around 50 zł to the centre depending on traffic — better to stick to a licensed company or an app (Uber, Bolt, iTaxi). The secondary airport, Modlin (WMI), is much further out (about 40 km); a combined “Airport Ticket” at 20 zł covers the shuttle and train to the centre, for a total journey best planned as longer than from Chopin.

Getting around town

The ZTM network (a 2-line metro, trams, buses) runs on tickets shared across all modes. As a rough guide: a short ticket (20 minutes) costs around 3.40 zł, a longer-journey ticket around 7 zł, and a 24-hour ticket about 26 zł. Exact fares and ticket names change, so check the operator's up-to-date price list before you go.

Photo credit: Kiclaw — Wikimedia Commons, licence Attribution.

Rough budget and best time to visit

Eating at a “milk bar” (a cheap, typical canteen-style eatery) costs around €5, a standard restaurant between €14-22 per person. These figures, gathered from general travel guides rather than official sources, should be taken as a rough order of magnitude rather than an exact reference. On climate, the best window runs from mid-May to mid-September, with average summer temperatures around 18-20°C (up to 25°C), against harsh winters (around -1.5°C in January).

From Kraków

Warsaw is about 300 km from Kraków. The Pendolino train (the fastest) links the two cities in 2 hr 20 min to 2 hr 35 min, departing roughly every hour; allow more like 3 hr 15 min on an InterCity and up to 3 hr 40 min on a TLK (the cheapest train). By car, allow around 3 hours via the S7 expressway outside heavy traffic. Long-distance coaches (FlixBus among others) also run, at lower fares but for a longer journey than the train.