mauld

I'm flying into Warsaw next July and will be in Poland for only 1 1/2 days, so I guess I can't see much other than the city. I'll be at the Sheraton which I believe is pretty central. Any suggestions for a woman traveling alone with limited language skills (no Polish, limited German, fairly good French)?? Any quick side trips by bus or train that are worthwhile??

jim

Mauld, you won't really have mucht time but the (restored) Old Town of Warsaw is interesting; most of the rest of the city is not. If you could somehow plan to visit Krakow for at least a day you would have seen a fantastic city. Do not overlook the Cathedral with its fantastic altar. Presumably you have travelled a long way, why not see more than just Warsaw?

George Steed

Cancel Sheraton, I suggest "Polonia" hotel, fax 48 22 625 30 14. This is a comfortable Polish hotel. Site of USA Embassy after WW2. Take Airporter from Okecie airport (now Chopin)..Driver will drop you at Polonia hotel. Change a few dollars for zlotych at airport to pay bus. Ignore taxi touts. Marriott has a van..You will end up a block or so from Polonia Hotel. . Visit Lazienki park.

Ewa

Mauld, I'd like to help you as I live in Warsaw.<BR> Near Sheraton there is some interesting places. You ought to see the Lazienki Palace (summer palace of last king of Poland) and big lovely garden there. In July in fine weather it's really charming place. In Lazienki Garden you'll see the the big monument of Frederic Chopin. On sudays are giving the Chopin's piano concerts there. Of course near the Old Town you must visit the marvellous Royal Castle. If you are interesting music for example, you could visit very interesting Saint Cross's Church where is Chopin's heart.<BR>There are so many places worthy of your notice, but you will have not enough time. That's a pity. I wish you nice time in Warsaw. If you have any question, feel free to email me. <BR>

mauld

Thank you all for the information, and yes while I know there is lots more of interest to see in Krakow, unfortunately I won't have the time to get there. <BR>The big question I have is concerning language. As I mentioned my Polish is pretty non-existant, will my english, french, limited german be enough for the major areas of the city (including restaurants)??

Ruth

We had no problems last year with virtually no Polish. Restaurants generally had English and/or German translations printed alongside the Polish. The trams, buses and subway were quite easy to figure out, and we bought day tickets at our hotel which allowed unlimited journeys on all these. <BR><BR>I agree that Lazienski Park is lovely. We also enjoyed a visit to Wilanow Palace, on the outskirts of Warsaw (on a bus route).

Ewa

Mauld, don't worry that you can't speak Polish. A lot of people here /especially young/, can speak English /worse or better/.

Carroll

We can't speak the language and had no problems. We were told by a tour guide that English is now their second language. Also, we found the people in Warsaw to be very friendly, and they seemed to want to engage us in conversation. 1 1/2 days is probably just the right amount of time.

Nick

Agree with everyting said re: language etc, but would stay at Sheraton as I think is is very well located and in the evening it is one of the very few hotels with any atmosphere - the bar is very popular (admittedly with majority expats and locals working with expats). Lots of other hotels have no atmosphere in their bars - largely because no one there(e.g Merkur, Holiday Inn, Sofitel -Intercon). Some may say, go to a real local bar for atmosphere, but that is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea anyway and still convenient to go downstairs in your own hotel at times.