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Tours - Excursions |
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Walking Tours
The Tourist Information Points (tel: (022) 9431) have brochures and maps detailing major tourist areas, which are useful for a self-guided tour. There are also helpful tourist-locator maps mounted at main intersections and in tourist areas. Trakt Guide Office (tel: (022) 827 8068) offer personalised English speaking tour guides.
Bus Tours
Mazurkas Travel (tel: (022) 635 6633) and Polish Travel Quo Vadis (tel: (022) 322 8500) offer half day tours of the Old Town and Royal Route, with stops at the Royal Castle or Wilanow Palace. Pick up for both tours is from various city hotels. The bus route no. 180 offers an inexpensive and pleasant unofficial sightseeing tour. Operating between Powazki Cemetary and Wilanow, the bus passes all the main monuments. The cost is the same as it is for a city transport ticket.
Boat Tours
Have a pleasing and relaxing jaunt on the Vistula River between May and September with Vistula Boat Trips (tel: (022) 697 7810).
Other Tours
Visitors can take a trip around the Old Town in a dorozki or horse-drawn hackney cab. These are run by individuals, licensed by the city, and they wait for passengers at the Old Town Square. The cost should be negotiated with the driver but will generally run to about approximately between Z50-80 for a one-hour ride.
Excursions For a Half Day
Kampinoski Park
There is alot to see and do in the countryside surrounding Warsaw – a little further afield are areas of forests, lakes and mountains. The Kampinoski Park, with walking trails, abundant wildlife, and education centre, lies just to the northwest of the city and is easily accessible by PKS bus from Warsaw's main bus station, also known as Dworzec Zachodni on al Jerozolimskie 144 (tel:0300 300 130). It is the biggest park adjacent to a city of more than a million inhabitants. One of its main features is its inland sand dunes that contrast with the peat bogs. The park is open from dawn to dusk and admission is free of charge.
Zelazowa Wola
Frederic Chopin was born here, 54km from the capital. A museum dedicated to his life and work is situated in the manor house where he spent his first months. Polish Landscape (tel: (022) 824 3911) offers a day trip from the main hotels in Warsaw. This trip includes Nepokalanow, with its Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Nieborow Palace, and the typical Mazovian medieval village of Brochow, where Chopin’s parents got married.
Mazurkas Travel (tel: (022) 635 6633) offers the same service. Zelazowa Wola is located inside Kampinoski Park and can be reached by bus from Dworzec Zachodni, which is Warsaw's main bus station, at al Jerozolimskie 144 (tel: 0300 300 130).
Excursions For a Whole Day
Torun
This walled, medieval town on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites is repeatedly called the Copernician Town, because it was the birthplace of Mikolaj Kopernik (Copernicus). Its location on the banks of the Vistula River offers a popular place for the people to promenade, and leads to the ruins of the 13th century Castle of the Teutonic Knights. Regular boat tours operate on this river in summer. The city’s former wealth is expressed in the remarkable 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 situated at ulica Kopernika 17.
Torun is famous for its gingerbread, still baked in medieval moulds according to a traditional recipe. The city is 200km 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). Detailed information is provided by Torun Tourist Information Centre, Rynek Staromiejski 25, Torun (tel: (056) 621 0931). |
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