What to Do in Warsaw, Poland + Helpful Tips & Mini Visitor Guide

Map of what to do in Warsaw

This map contains all the things to do in Warsaw that I mention in this post (plus restaurants, hotels, and logistical concerns). To save this map: Click on the star ⭑ next to the map’s title to save in your Google Maps. To use this map: When you get here, open Google Maps on your phone, click “Saved” at the bottom, then click “Maps.”

Tips for visiting Warsaw

Here are the best tools and resources you’ll need to have an awesome time in Poland’s capital city:

Getting to Warsaw

Though “Poland” may feel like a faraway place, it’s actually pretty well-connected and super easy to get to. Warsaw’s Chopin airport is a major international airport which means you can get here from just about any other major city via one or two flights. (Direct flights from most if not all major European capitals and then some.)

Driving to Warsaw

If you’re already in Poland, you’ll probably be driving to Warsaw. Poland is a pretty big country but driving here is easy and entertaining and it makes for a great road trip! Drive times are not insignificant though.

If you’ll be driving on your visit to Poland, check out the best rental car deals here. (This is the company I always use and I had a great rental experience in Warsaw.)

Travel times

Here are the estimated travel times from some popular starting points within Poland and coming from outside Poland:

Also read: Prague Bucket List: 33+ Best (& Weirdest) Things to Do in Prague

Getting around Warsaw

Warsaw is a really easy city to get around. You can visit many of the best things to do in Warsaw on foot, and for everything else you can use either the local public transportation networks (bus, train, tram) or call a ride share service like Uber.

On my May/June 2024 visit to Warsaw, I mostly walked between sites. For the farther away destinations I simply called an Uber.

Where to stay in Warsaw

There are so many great hotels to choose from to experience all of what to do in Warsaw, but here are a few suggestions on where to begin your search:

• Royal Tulip Apartments – I stayed here in 2024 and it was fantastic. Comfortable modern rooms, balcony with a view, and a perfect location for exploring Warsaw. Check it out here.
• Courtyard Marriott at the Warsaw Airport – I also stayed here before I left Warsaw and it was amazing. Huge comfortable rooms and the airport terminal is just a literal 1-minute walk out the door. Check it out here.
• Puro Warszawa Centrum – Ultra modern rooms, awesome reviews, restaurant on site with a terrace, and close to many of the most popular museums and attractions. Check it out here.
• Hotel Indigo Warsaw Nowy Świat by IHG – Swanky, art-forward hotel near the Old Town with some really cool architecture and great reviews! Check it out here.

There are plenty more Warsaw hotels to choose from though; see all Warsaw hotel options here.

Breakfast

Start your days in Warsaw at these great cafés and breakfast spots:

Dobro&Dobro Café

Run by a Ukrainian couple, Dobro&Dobro serves quality coffee drinks and amazing breakfasts (with “no misogyny” so hell yeah to that). They have options like Shakshuka, omelets, classic breakfast plates, and even a brioche with poached egg and bacon which is what I got. Dobro&Dobro Café has several locations around Warsaw.

Just Like You

This adorable café offers specialty coffees and classic breakfasts (but also dinner and wine too). The place is cozy and the service is friendly.

Lunch

Here are some great places to have lunch in Warsaw:

Browary Warszawskie

Here at the Browary Warszawskie you can choose from tons of different places to eat. There are nice sit-down restaurants but also a food hall inside (with a DJ). You can choose from all sorts of cuisine here—Thai, sushi, ramen, burgers, pizza, seafood, vegetarian, and more. I’m partial to pierogis, so I gravitated towards the traditional Polish offerings at Jasna Sprawa.

Zapiecek Polskie Pierogarnie

Located near Warsaw’s Old Town, this is the perfect place to grab lunch while exploring this area. If you like pierogis that is. (But who doesn’t?) You can get platters of savory pierogis, sweet pierogis, or even a combo platter where you pick and choose. Plus, they have lots of other great traditional Polish meals as well.

Dinner

Check out these great restaurants for dinner in Warsaw:

Warsaw Brewery

Of all the great places to eat and drink in Warsaw, the Warsaw Brewery is the place my friend Amanda and I still talk about. The Warsaw Brewery is located at the Browary Warszawskie food hall mentioned above.

Not only did Warsaw Brewery have the best beer I had in all of Poland, they also had the best meal of my entire trip. Like, by a mile. When I posted about them on Instagram, the chef personally DM’ed me with the absolute most gratitude. The whole experience was beautiful, delicious, and heart-warming. Highly recommend.

I had the Grodziskie (beer), fried duck pierogis, and the “salad with goat cheese” which doesn’t come close to describing how incredible this salad is. And then I ordered the baklava cheesecake which was so decadent and literally sparkled with a gold crust. 10/10.

Food Town at the Norblin Factory

Another fantastic place to eat in Warsaw is at Food Town—another collection of incredible restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, and another food hall. This is the largest venue of its kind in Poland and boasts 24 “unique culinary concepts from around the world.” In other words, there’s lots to choose from.

I ate at Soul on the Grill and loved it. I had halloumi fries and a delicious cheeseburger. (The most basic of the “unique culinary concepts,” I know.) But everything was fantastic.

Food Town is set inside the former Fabryka Norblin (Norblin Factory)—a metal production factory dating back to 1882. They’ve incorporated tons of historical pieces from the factory throughout the space.

What to do in Warsaw

This list of what to do in Warsaw contains all the best things to see and do, some cool tours and day trips, and more.

1. Warsaw Old Town

The thing about Warsaw’s Old Town is that it isn’t actually that old. By the end of World War II, Warsaw had been nearly completely destroyed. (Seriously, about 85% of it, flattened.) The city began reconstruction efforts in the 1950s and modeled their work after the city’s original look and plan using historical paintings and documents. So, what you see today looks like Warsaw in the 17th and 18th centuries, but is only actually a few decades old.

Warsaw Old Town tour options

If you’d like someone to show you around the Old Town and provide you with some of the city’s interesting history, check out these available tour options:

• Warsaw: Old Town Highlights Walking Tour in English
• Small-Group Historical Guided Tour of Warsaw with pick-up and drop-off
• Warsaw Old Town Highlights Walking Tour – private tour
• See all available Warsaw tours here on Viator and Get Your Guide.

2. Warsaw Royal Castle

Warsaw’s Royal Castle in its original state dates back to the 1600s, but what you can visit today opened in 1984. Now a museum and national historical monument, it used to be the royal residence of the Polish monarchs.

Today, you can take a couple of different routes through the museum to see many of its *recreated* historical rooms. You’ll visit the throne room, some lavish ballrooms, the Canaletto Room (which holds the paintings that were used to reconstruct Warsaw after WWII), and many others.  

3. St. Anne’s Bell Tower

While in the Old Town, definitely head up to the top of the bell tower at St. Anne’s Church, pretty much right next to the Royal Castle. For just 10zł (about $2.50US), you can climb the 147 steps to the top where you’ll get the best views of Warsaw’s colorful Old Town.

4. Warsaw Rising Museum

The Warsaw Rising Museum is dedicated to one of the most significant historical events in this city’s history—the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. During this conflict, towards the end of WWII, Polish resistance fighters revolted against the Nazi occupation to try and take back the city.

It lasted from August 1 to October 2, 1944 and ended for the Poles in defeat. Tens of thousands of Poles died in the fighting and the Nazi SS sent the remaining civilians to concentration camps. This event is widely considered one of the greatest acts of rebellion in WWII. As such, this is one of the most important museums in Warsaw.

5. The many other WWII sites

Poland is pretty much Ground Zero for World War II history, and as its capital city, Warsaw has a ton of related sites to see here. There are several museums, monuments and memorials, and original historical sites to check out if this interests you.

As a WWII historian, I’ve written an entire post that covers Warsaw’s best WWII sites (on my WWII travel blog), which you can see in that link. You can also read more about the city’s WWII history. For example, you can see:

• Warsaw Uprising Monument (pictured below)
• Monument to the Ghetto Heroes (of the Ghetto uprising in1943)
• Pawiak Prison Museum
• Remnants of the Warsaw ghetto wall
• Stumbling stones
• One of the largest cemeteries in Europe
• and much more

Pro tip: Be sure to watch The Pianist before your trip to Warsaw! Currently available on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

6. POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews

Before WWII and the Holocaust, Poland was home to the largest Jewish community in the entire world. The POLIN Museum covers the entire 1,000-year history of Jews in Poland. This place is huge and has some seriously beautiful and interesting exhibits. (You can also take this highly-rated Jewish heritage tour around Warsaw afterwards.)

Pro tip: The POLIN Museum is free on Thursdays.

7. Chopin Museum

Frédérick Chopin was a famous composer and pianist from Warsaw who lived from 1810-1849. You’ll see many references to him around Warsaw (like the Chopin Airport), and you can learn all about him at this museum. Chopin was one of the OG child prodigies and was composing and performing public piano concerts by the age of 7.

Fun fact: All of the music in the movies The Pianist and A Real Pain are Chopin compositions.

8. Take your picture with the I Love Warsaw sign

Over in the business district of Warsaw you can find the “Kocham Warszawę” sign which means “I Love Warsaw.” (I’ve included its exact location on the map at the top of this page.)

9. Find the Chopin benches

All around Warsaw, you can find public benches that play Chopin’s music. There are 15 of them and they’re found at many of the most important places in the city. One such bench sits just next to the Warsaw Uprising Monument (which you should definitely visit).

These black granite benches also show maps of the other bench locations and some information. Push the button on top and you’ll hear one of Chopin’s beautiful songs.

Don’t miss all the interesting Mozart places of interest if you find yourself in Salzburg, Austria at some point.

10. Take a food tour of Warsaw

On the list of what to do in Warsaw, this should really rank higher because the food here is amazing. (And that goes way beyond pierogis even though I’m a fan. Big fan.) Take a look at these popular Warsaw food tours and pick one that works for you:

There really are so many great options though. See all available Warsaw food tours here on Viator and Get Your Guide.

11. Attend a Chopin concert

Another cool thing to do in Warsaw is attend a Chopin concert. If you’d like to hear Chopin’s music the way it was meant to be heard (straight from the piano keys), then check out these popular options. They take place in different locations but all last just one hour so it’d be easy to squeeze into any itinerary.

12. Take a river cruise

I always recommend river cruises while traveling around Europe because you get to see these beautiful cities in such an interesting way. Warsaw’s river cruise options are no different. (One even has a… mermaid?) Check out these available tours:

13. Check out some more museums

Warsaw actually has a ton of interesting museums—too many to write about or this post would be way too long. Here’s a short list of some more museums that might interest you:

• Museum of Polish Vodka – I think the name explains it
• Neon Museum – Collection of Polish and Eastern Bloc advertisements created after WWII
• Life Under Communism Museum – Detailing what living in Poland was like during this time
• Warsaw National Museum – One of the largest museums in Poland; dedicated to ancient art

14. Day trip to Treblinka

Admittedly, this won’t be the most fun you have in Warsaw, but it’s still some seriously important history you should see. Treblinka was one of the six major Nazi death camps built specifically to exterminate Poland’s Jewish population.

Treblinka is about an hour and a half northeast of Warsaw. If you don’t have your own car, there are several organized tour groups that visit Treblinka from Warsaw. Here are some options:

And if you really want to, you can also take a day trip from Warsaw to Auschwitz Concentration Camp as well. But do know that this is going to be a much longer trip. Auschwitz is really best visited with your own car, from Krakow. And if that is in the cards for you, check out my full guide to visiting Auschwitz here.

Visiting Warsaw: FAQs

Here are some quick answers to the most popular questions about visiting Warsaw:

1. Is it worth visiting Warsaw? In my opinion, yes, absolutely. Especially if you like amazing food and World War II history. Regardless, this is still a vibrant European capital that’s super hip and offers plenty to see and do.

2. Is English widely spoken in Warsaw? Relatively, yes. English is not the predominant language for sure, but you’ll be able to explore the city without issue. However, there were several times when I had a hard time communicating with someone who spoke only Polish, but we survived.

3. How many days in Warsaw is enough? For a general tourist, I’d say two days would be good to see the top sites and eat your way around the city. If you’re a history buff, I’d dedicate at least three.

4. Is Warsaw expensive? I’d say, not overly expensive, but not a “budget” destination either. At restaurants, I typically paid only slightly less than I would for meals here in Boston. Museums are definitely cheaper (as is typical in Europe) but hotels are what I would consider “normal” when compared to other European capitals.

More info for your trip to Poland

Like this post? Have more questions about what to do in Warsaw? Let me know in the comments below. Have fun in Poland!

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