Warsaw has four distinct seasons. Spring starts out cold and ends with warm and sunny days. Summer is warm with lots of rain. July is the hottest month with temperatures reaching the mid-20s. Autumn (September – October) is the reverse of spring, and ends with cold foggy days. There can be lots of snow from December through February, and January and February temperatures can drop to minus figures. The peak tourist season is late-April through October.
Getting around Warsaw
Within the city it’s very easy to get around between the trams, buses and the Metro. And you can always set out on your own two feet.
Getting Downtown
After catching a flight to Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport (WAW), the easiest way to get to the centre is to catch a cab, bus or shuttle bus. Since the airport is so close to the city (6 miles/10km south west of Warsaw), rates are all affordable.
What is good to know if travelling to Warsaw?- The statue of King Sigismund III looks over Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy). The Royal Castle (Zamek Krolewski) itself was built in the early 1400s, but as 85 per cent of the city was razed by the Nazis in 1944, what stands today is a reconstruction, rebuilt between 1971 and 1984 from maps and paintings that had been hidden by residents during the war and from bits of rubble that had been saved by survivors of the war.
- Also in the rebuilt Old Town (which is on the Unesco World Cultural Heritage list) are St. John’s Cathedral, Warsaw’s most important Catholic shrine, the Jesuit Church, and the Square with its beautiful Mermaid Statue. The Warsaw Historical Museum is here too.
- Staying with Warsaw’s often turbulent but defiant history, there are a number of monuments to the fallen. The Jewish Ghetto no longer exists, but Umschlagplatz marks the spot from where residents were sent by train to Treblinka concentration camp. Between Karmelicka and Zamenhofa streets is the Ghetto Heroes Monument, which pays tribute to those who fought in the Warsaw Uprising. An exact copy of the monument is in Yad Vashem in Israel. The Warsaw Rising Museum tells the story of that time through photographs, interviews, film footage and dioramas.
- Lazienki Park is Warsaw’s largest park. The Palace on the Water is beautiful. It was commissioned by King Stanislaw August Poniatowski, the last King of Poland, as his summer residence.
- Look out for the Fryderyk Chopin monument in the park, and later, the Chopin museum. During the summer months, Chopin concerts take place by the monument in Lazienki Park.
- The Palace of Culture and Science is 754 feet (230 metres) high and has a viewing deck on the 30th floor. It is Poland’s tallest building.
Warsaw airport overview
Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport is just 10km (6 miles) from the centre of Warsaw, and is the primary airport for Poland, serving nearly nine million passengers per year.
LOT Polish Airlines and EuroLOT offer plenty of flights to Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport as they use this facility as their regional hub. The airport also has plenty of flights connecting it to various cities across Europe as well as Istanbul, Casablanca, Reykjavik, Tel Aviv, Minsk, Kiev and Moscow.
Passengers with time to spend at Chopin Airport will be pleasantly surprised as there’s a lot to do. The business lounges are great and the shopping and restaurant facilities can keep a person happily entertained. Also, the airport has a number of kid-friendly facilities and shops.
Warsaw’s airport is easy to navigate with both terminals housed in the same building. The airport is also well served by public transport and taxis, making it easy to get to and from your hotel.