Popular sightseeing locations in Warsaw are mostly concentrated on the left bank of the Vistula river. Old Town is not to be missed - many of the city's attractions and a whole host of cafes, bars and restaurants are located within its walls. The Old Town is both a physical and symbolic expression of the city's spirit and determination to come back from the brink of complete destruction at the end of World War II. Most visitors to Warsaw spend their first day strolling around the Old Town, where one can find the opulent and impressive Royal Castle, once home of the Polish kings. Outside the historic centre is Wilanow, a charming palace on a grand scale, which was modelled on Versailles.

Warsaw boasts a number of excellent green spaces and Lazienki Park is one of the most relaxing, with its Palace on the Water and boating lake. The city is also home to an impressive array of cultural attractions, with a string of museums, including the National Museum, Chopin Museum and the haunting Pawiak Museum, which served as a cruel prison under the Nazis. Perhaps the most emotive testament to Warsaw's past is the location of the Jewish Ghetto, an area that gives away little today of what happened in the war years but still retains a sense of tragedy.

Zamek Krolewski (Royal Castle)
Walking through the Royal Castle, one has to constantly remind oneself that most of it was reconstructed between 1971 and 1984, although some elements of the decor were actually salvaged from the ruins. The castle, located on a plateau overlooking the Vistula River, was built for the Dukes of Mazovia and expanded when King Zygmunt III moved the capital to Warsaw. For almost 200 years, from the early 17th until the late 18th century, this was the seat of the Polish kings. It subsequently housed the parliament and is now a museum displaying tapestries, period furniture, portraits and collections of porcelain and other decorative arts. Restoration is continuing to re-create the castle gardens, set on the slopes of the Vistula River, which were ruined when the Nazis levelled the rest of the castle complex.

Plac Zamkovy 4 (ticket office situated at ulica Swietojanska 2)
Tel: (022) 657 2170 or 2338, ticket office. Fax: (022) 635 7260.
E-mail: zamek@zamek-krolewski.art.pl
Website: www.zamek-krolewski.art.pl
Transport: Tram 4, 13, 26 or 32; bus 125, 170 or 190.
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1800, Sun and Mon 1100-1800 (Jul-Sep); Tues-Sat 1000-1600, Sun 1100-1600 (Oct-Jun).
Admission: Z8 (permanent exhibits); Z14 (royal apartments); Z70 (English-speaking guide); free on Sundays.

Lazienki Park
In addition to a number of palaces, Lazienki Park contains the Chopin Monument - where the annual Chopin Festival is held each summer - and the Orangerie, set within extensive 18th-century gardens. Palac Lazienkowski (Palace on the Water) is best viewed from near the monument to Jan Sobiewski, on the bridge where ulica Agrykola crosses the water. Originally built in 1624, for King Zygmunt III, Zamek Ujazdowski (Ujazdowski Castle) now houses the Centre of Contemporary Art. The 1764 Palac Belweder (Belvedere Palace) was the residence of King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski and later of Poland's 20th-century presidents. On warm summer days, rowing boats offer short cruises around the park's lake.

Ulica Agrykola 1
Tel: (022) 621 8212.
Transport: Bus 114, 116, 118, 151 or 195.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0900-1500; park closes at sunset.
Admission: Free (park); Z10, free on Sat (Palace on the Water); Z5, free on Tues (Orangerie); Z4, free on Sat (Belvedere Palace).

Wilanow Palace
In the mid-1600s, King Jan III Sobieski commissioned Augustyn Locci to build the Baroque palace and garden of Wilanow for his summer residence. Construction continued from 1677 until the king's death in 1696. It remained popular with subsequent monarchs. Visitors can tour the interior and the gallery, which features portraits of famous Poles. Artistic handicrafts are on display in the Orangerie. Also here is the Muzeum Plaktau w Wilanowie (Poster Museum at Wilanow), the first of its kind in the world. Entrance to the palace requires a guide, for a group of one to 35 people, although the park is open to unaccompanied visitors.

Ulica St. Potockiego 1
Tel: (022) 842 8101.
E-mail: wilanowm@mercury.ci.uw.edu.pl
Website: www.wilanow-palac.art.pl
Transport: Bus 116, 130, 164 or 180.
Opening hours: Mon, Wed-Sat 0930-1400, Sun 0930-1800; park closes at sunset.
Admission: Z4 (park); Z115 (palace - with English-speaking guide), Z23 per person (palace - for a group of six or more people with English-speaking guide); free on Thurs (park, Orangerie and temporary exhibitions).

Pawiak Prison
This eerie old prison symbolises the oppression that has haunted Varsovians over the last two centuries. Originally built in the 1830s, at the order of the ruling Czars, the prison incarcerated many victims of the Nazi reign of terror from 1939-1944, when it served as the largest political prison in Poland. A third of the estimated 100,000 detainees never made it out alive. The Nazis tried to dynamite the evidence of their crimes as they left but Pawiak is back as a museum and a testament to the city's seemingly endless ability to suffer and survive.

Ulica Dzielna 24/26
Tel: (022) 831 9289. Fax: (022) 831 1317
Transport: Bus 1 and 8.
Opening hours: Wed 0900-1700, Thurs 0900-1600, Fri 1000-1700, Sat 0900-1600, Sun 1000-1600.
Admission: Free.

Narodowe (National Museum)
The National Museum's impressive art collection dates from ancient times to the present day. Highlights include Jan Matejko's monumental Battle of Grunwalkd, which celebrates the Polish victory over the Teutonic Knights in 1410, and a collection of Egyptian art, which is unique in Europe. Unusually, there are also galleries of Polish and European decorative arts. Frequent temporary exhibitions focus on international artists - from Andy Warhol to Caravaggio.

Aleja Jerozolimskie 3
Tel: (022) 621 1031. Fax: (022) 622 8559
E-mail: muzeum@mnw.art.pl
Website: www.mnw.art.pl
Transport: Metro Centrum.
Opening hours: Tues, Wed and Fri 1000-1600, Thurs 1200-1700, Sat and Sun 1000-1700.
Admission: Z9; Z13 (temporary exhibitions); free on Saturdays.

Katedra sw. Jana (St John's Cathedral)
St John's claims to be the oldest church in Warsaw. Although a major church in the Mazovian Gothic style, completed in the 15th century, St John's was only upgraded from a parish church to a cathedral in 1798. Destroyed during World War II, is has been reconstructed in its original style and features major Gothic art works by Wit Stwosz. The cathedral was used in 1764, for the coronation of the last Polish king (Stanislaw II) and for the swearing in of the Sejm (Polish Parliament) after the constitution of 1791. The covered footbridge connecting it to the Royal Palace was the result of a failed assassination attempt on King Zygmunt III.

Ulica Swietojanska 8.
Tel. (022) 831 0289.
Transport: North of the Royal Castle; tram 4, 13, 26 or 32; bus 125, 170 or 190.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1000-1800, Sun 1400-1800 (cathedral); daily 1000-1300 and 1500-1730 (crypt).
Admission: Free.

Getto Zydowskie (Jewish Ghetto)
What is markedly absent from Warsaw contributes as much to its history as anything that has been preserved or reconstructed. Pre-war Warsaw had a Jewish population second only to New York. After the Nazi invasion, some 400,000 Jews were rounded up and forced to stay in the Jewish ghetto. A three-metre-high (ten-foot) wall encircled the area, from the Palace of Culture and Science to the Umschlagplatz monument, corner of ulica Stawki and ulica Dzika. This stark monument, erected in the late 1980s, marks the place from where Jews were despatched by train to the Treblinka concentration camp, following the Ghetto Uprising of 19 April 1943. The centre of the ghetto is marked by the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, ulica L Zamenhofa, which was erected on a sea of ruins in 1948. Other memorials are the Monument of the Killed and Murdered in the East, ulica Muranowska, and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising Monument, plac Krasinskich. Only three sections of the actual ghetto wall remain.

Further information about the Jewish Ghetto is available at the Jewish Historical Institute Gallery, located on the site of the former Great Synagogue. The Institute has a permanent display of work by Jewish artists, as well as photographs and documents relating to the Jewish ghetto, plus a bookshop.

Jewish Historical Institute - Ulica Tlomackie 3/5
Tel: (022) 827 9221. Fax: (022) 827 1843.
Website: www.jewishinstitute.org.pl
Transport: Bus 107, 111,166, 171, 180 or 512; tram 2, 4, 15. 18, 31 or 36.
Opening hours: Tues-Fri 0900-1500, Admission: Free.

Palac Kultury I Nauki (Palace of Culture and Science)
For many people, the very symbol of the city is the Palace of Culture and Science, which was gifted to Warsaw by Stalin. Residents have mixed feelings and opinions when it comes to this marvel of Socialist Realism, but it is definitely not to be missed by visitors. For decades (at 231 metres) the tallest and largest building in Poland and a constant reminder of Stalin's ambitions, it was a gift from him to the city in 1955. The viewing platform on the 30th floor gives a terrific view over Warsaw. What is reputed to be the world's highest clock tower was added in 2001.

Ulica Emilii Plater
Tel: (022) 656 7136.
Transport: Tram 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 18, 22 or 35.
Opening hours: Daily 0900-2400.
Admission: Z15; Z20 after 2100.

Frederic Chopin
Chopin only lived in Warsaw until he was 20 years old but there is a monument to him in Park Lazienki, where open-air recitals are held in the summer. Chopin's Parlour, in his family's former home at the Palac Czapski Krasinski, is open to the public, while Chopin's heart is interred in a pillar at the Church of the Holy Cross (Kosciol Znalezienia Swietego Krzyna) next door. His body, however, lies in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. There is also the Muzeum Fryderyka Chopina, located in Ostrogski Castle, with exhibits on the different phases of his life and career.

Muzeum Fryderyka Chopina - Ulica Okolnik 1
Tel: (022) 827 5471.
Website: www.chopin.pl/zabytki/muzeum/muzeum-en.html
Transport: Bus 148, 150, 155 or 162.
Opening hours: Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat 1000-1400, Thurs 1200-1800.
Admission: Z7.

Chopin's Parlour - Ulica Krakowskie Przedmiescie 5
Tel: (022) 826 6251 Transport: Plac Krasinkisch, north of ulica Dugna at the end of ulica Middowa. Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1400. Admission: Free.


Tours of the city.

Walking Tours
The Warsaw Tourist Office (tel: (022) 9431) has brochures and maps detailing the major tourist areas, useful for a self-guided tour. There are also helpful tourist-locator maps mounted at major intersections and in tourist areas.

Bus Tours
Mazurkas Travel (tel: (022) 635 6633, e-mail: euromic@mazurkas.com.pl; website: www.mazurkas.com.pl) and Polish Travel Quo Vadis (tel: (022) 652 1456; e-mail: ptqv@polishtravel.com.pl; website: www.polishtravel.com.pl) offer half-day tours of the Old Town and Royal Route, with stops at Wilanow Palace or the Royal Castle. The cost ranges from Z80-100. Pick up for both tours is from a variety of city hotels.

In summer, the tourist tramline (tel: (022) 827 3747) runs along a fixed circular route from Starynkiewicza Square on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. Tickets can be purchased from the conductor for Z2.40. The recently instigated bus route 180 offers a cheap and pleasant sightseeing tour. Operating between Powazki Cemetary and Wilanow, the bus passes all the main monuments in Warsaw. The cost is the same as for a city transport ticket (see Public Transport in Getting Around).

Horse-drawn Tours

Visitors can take a trip around the Old Town in a horse-drawn hackney cab or dorozki. These are run by individuals, licensed by the city, and wait for passengers at the Old Town Square. The cost should be negotiated with the driver but will generally run to about Z50-80 for a one-hour ride.

Excursions outside the city.
Half Day

Kampinoski Park:
There is plenty to see and do in the countryside surrounding Warsaw - a little further afield are areas of forests, lakes and mountains. The Kampinoski Park (Website: http://hum.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/pnp/kamp.htm), with walking trails and abundant wildlife, lies just to the northwest of the city and is easily accessible by PKS bus from Marymont station or Dworzec PKS, Warsaw's main bus station, al Jerozolimskie 144 (tel: (022) 9433). It is the largest park adjacent to a city of more than a million inhabitants. One of its major features is its inland sand dunes that contrast with the peat bogs. The park is open from dawn to dusk and admission is free.

Zelazowa Wola:
Frederic Chopin was born here, 60km (37 miles) from the capital. A museum dedicated to his life and work is located in the manor house where he spent his first months. Polish Travel Quo Vadis (tel: (022) 652 1456; Web site: www.polishtravel.com.pl) offers a day trip for Z140, departing 0900 Saturday from the major hotels in Warsaw. This trip includes Nepokalanov, with its Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the typical Mazovian medieval village of Brochow, where Chopin's parents were married. Mazurkas Travel (tel: (022) 635 6633 or 5182; Website: www.mazurkas.com.pl) offers an equivalent service. Zelazowa Wola is located inside Kampinoski Park and can be reached by bus Dworzec PKS, Warsaw's main bus station, al Jerozolimskie 144 (tel: (022) 9433).

Whole Day

Torun:
This walled, medieval town on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites is often called the Copernician Town, because it was the birthplace of Mikolaj Kopernik (Copernicus). It's location on the banks of the Vistula River offers a popular place for people to promenade, leading to the ruins of the 13th-century Castle of the Teutonic Knights. Regular boat tours operate on the river in summer. The city's former wealth is expressed in the impressive Town Hall and parts of the Church of St John - where Copernicus was baptised and later taught - which date from the 13th century. The Gothic townhouse where Copernicus was born is located at ulica Kopernika 17. Torun is also famous for its gingerbread, still baked in medieval moulds according to a traditional recipe. The city is 200km (124 miles) from Warsaw and is reachable by train from Warsaw Centralna (journey time 3 hours) or by Polski Express bus, which departs every hour from the bus stop near Warsaw Centralna (journey time 3 hours 40 minutes). Further information is provided by Torun Tourist Information Centre, ulica Piekary 37/39, 87100 Torun (tel: (056) 621 0931; fax: (056) 621 0930; Website: www.man.torun.pl).


Tourist Information

Warszawskie Centrum Informacji Turystycznej (Warsaw Tourism Information Centre) www.man.torun.pl 89 Krakowskie Przedmiescie
Tel: (022) 9431. Fax: (022) 629 0750.
E-mail: info@warsawtour.pl
Web site: www.warsawtour.bptnet.pl
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0800-2000, Sat 0900-1700 and Sun 0900-1500 (May-Sep); Mon-Fri 0800-1800; Sat-Sun 0900-1500 (Oct-Apr).

There are also tourist information centres at the Okecie Airport arrivals hall, the Warsaw Central railway station, the Historical Museum in the Old Town and Warsaw West coach station.