Warsaw | How To Explore A City You Know Very Little About

I aim to fit as many holidays/trips in a year as possible, so when I found a cheap package to Warsaw last year, I text my best friend, and an hour later we were going in a few weeks time. Poland was another country I could tick off from my scratch map - I had very little knowledge about the city!

The intention of the trip was to spend some quality time with a good friend. We went through university together but now find it very hard to make arrangements together around our busy schedules in different cities. In all honesty, we would have been happy going anywhere in the world. All we wanted was a good catch up, some cocktails, and a break from the ‘real world’ for a few days.

So we arrived in Poland in mid-November, checked into our apartment in Warsaw, not knowing where we were or where we needed to be. Arriving late on a Sunday night our choice of restaurants was limited, however (with a little help from Google maps) we soon found ourselves in a warm restaurant and our weekend went from there!

Through asking restaurant staff, locals, Google, and other tourists for their recommendations, we had an incredible weekend break away. One waiter in particular wrote a list of restaurants/bars for us, showed us where the centre is, and pointed out some popular sightseeing spots. However always be careful when asking strangers for advice, particularly about where to go on a night. If someone only recommends one particular bar/restaurant, I probably wouldn’t go. I much prefer being given options and having a choice. If you are visiting Warsaw anytime soon, I highly recommend ‘Podkomorzanka’ a lovely crepe and pancake house in the old town. We may have visited here on 3 occasions alone…

Another tip when exploring new cities, check out Instagram ‘places’. This may sound cliche coming from a millennial, however it is a great source when discovering your sightseeing spots! Our search on here led to us discover we could go up the ‘Old Town Observation Terrace’ (pictured) and also to a beautiful Italian restaurant ‘Ciao’. Both were certainly highlights of our trip.

Our apartment was a taxi ride from the newer part of Warsaw, however the city uses lime scooters… if you haven’t heard of them they are communal electric scooters that are powered through an app. I would go as far to say that these made our trip. I have never laughed so much in my life. Zipping through the cobbled streets of Warsaw on our powered scooters, overtaking each other and weaving bollards, I felt like I was 10 years old again. We loved them so much that we have actually discussed basing our next holiday destination to another city that offers these scooters!

Warsaw is generally a very cheap city, and there are also plenty of free things to do. We went on a great free walking tour (technically free but please do donate!) and also learnt that the Royal Castle also gave free admission on Sundays!

In conclusion…visit new places, try the local food, explore, and go somewhere different than you normally would. I won’t be visiting Warsaw again in the near future (and certainly not in the winter months!) however we had a fantastic weekend and I can highly recommend it for anyone wanting a city break with a bit of difference.