Attractions

Landmarks of Warsaw

Old Town

This is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its cobblestone streets and charming gothic and baroque architecture. Closed off to traffic, it is ideal for walks, resting or horse drawn carriage rides. The heart of this area is the ‘Old Town Market Square’, with restaurants, cafes, shops, street vendors and artists.

Royal route

Take a stroll down this delightful thoroughfare, lined by beautiful palaces, historical churches, bourgeois tenements, seats of government, Warsaw University, boutiques, restaurants, statues and parks. It runs from Castle Square to Wilanów Palace.

Wilanów Palace

Referred to as the Polish Versailles, this baroque palace and garden complex is one of the finest in Poland. Once the residence of King John III Sobieski, the palace has been converted into a museum of interior decorations. Its landscaped gardens are dotted with statues, pillars and decorative flowerbeds

Lazienki Palace

Once the summer residence of King Stanislas August Poniatowski – Poland’s last monarch, this is one of Europe's most beautiful palaces. Most of the palace buildings are now open to the public as museum facilities.

Lazienki Park

Surrounding Lazienki Palace, these grounds are perfect for a leisurely stroll. Scattered around the park are the Palace on the Water, the art-nouveau Chopin Monument and the classicist amphitheatre. Open-air concerts are performed by the Chopin monument on Sundays in summer.

Jewish Ghetto

In 1940, the area of Muranów was sealed off from the rest of Warsaw by a 10 foot barbed wire wall and all Jews were forced to live within its compound. Destroyed after the ghetto uprising, only a small stretch of the ghetto wall remains – a chilling reminder of the Nazi occupation.

Path of Remembrance

This path leads though the site of the former ghetto. At the center of the site is the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes – a tribute to those who fought and died in the ghetto. The walk ends at the Umschlagplatz Monument – the railway site from where many Jews were sent to their deaths.

Jewish Historical Institute

This is the oldest and largest institute of its kind in Poland. The museum, library and archival material are all housed in this building. The museum features an impressive art collection and religious items as well as exhibits documenting the horror of the Holocaust.

Jewish Cemetery

This is Warsaw’s largest Jewish cemetery, housing around 250,000 tombs. Mass graves for victims of the Nazis can be found, as well as gravestones for Warsaw ghetto residents and Jewish WWII soldiers. In spite of neglect, this remains a beautiful and poignant place to visit.

Zelazowa Wola

This tiny village, 60km west of Warsaw, is the birthplace of Fryderyk Chopin – Poland's greatest composer and pianist. The manor, in which Chopin spent his early childhood years, is now a museum with portraits of him and his family as well as furniture from the time of his birth.