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Day trips by train from Warsaw

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fowler9

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Am off to Warsaw at the end of November with a few mates and we travel together on a regular basis. Apart from myself and one other lad the group isn't on the whole that interested in railways but on our longish weekends away we tend to have a side trip on the train (Or other transport) to somewhere interesting nearby, just as a day trip. Can anyone recommend somewhere near Warsaw for such a trip. To give examples of previous side trips we went from Bratislava to Vienna, Tallinn to Helsinki and Gdansk to Sopot (A very short side trip).

I have been to Warsaw once before with my brother (Last year) but that was for a gig so we didn't do much exploring of the surrounding area. Any advice much appreciated.
 
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Harbornite

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Am off to Warsaw at the end of November with a few mates and we travel together on a regular basis. Apart from myself and one other lad the group isn't on the whole that interested in railways but on our longish weekends away we tend to have a side trip on the train (Or other transport) to somewhere interesting nearby, just as a day trip. Can anyone recommend somewhere near Warsaw for such a trip. To give examples of previous side trips we went from Bratislava to Vienna, Tallinn to Helsinki and Gdansk to Sopot (A very short side trip).

I have been to Warsaw once before with my brother (Last year) but that was for a gig so we didn't do much exploring of the surrounding area. Any advice much appreciated.

If you wanted to get some loco haulage in, try basing your trips around catching one of the Koleje mazowieckie double decker trains. You'll either have a TRAXX class 146 or a PESA GAMA.

bomb_8367_51.jpg


http://www.railcolor.net/index.php?nav=1407179

800px-111Eb-001_%281%29%2C_Trako_2015%2C_2015-09-25_%28Muri_WG_2015-34%29.jpg


Aside from trains being an attraction, you've got Malbork castle and Krakow which are easy to access by train.
 
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AlterEgo

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Kraków is a fantastic place. It's less than three hours away on EIP services (the new Pendolino ones). First class can be as low as £13 each way.
 

fowler9

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Cheers guys, I've been to Krakow twice but would happily go again, not sure I could sell the three hour train journey to the other guys (Some of them have been to Krakow to). For the record I have been to Krakow, Warsaw, Gdansk/Sopot and Wroclaw.

Many thanks for the advice again.
 

dutchflyer

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Yes, to Lodz its about 1h40mins-plus that the central station in Lodz is under long time reconstr-a tunnel being built. Youll be dropped at some suburban halt.
Frankly: to Torun youre much better off -cheaper too- by polskibus-owned by stagecoach and similar to megabus.
Frankly2: there simply are no such cities within a 2 hr travel range from Waw, perhaps ecxept-with a very open mind, the town of Lublin-but again a bus gives much more choice and may even be faster. Plus that time of year in PL will not be very stimulative for just wandering.
For more rail-aimed people: the KM=the green local trains of Koleje mazowieckie offer a 24 hr ticket (you can set start-time to exact wanted departure) for 34 PLN (8 eur), which allows some long but infrequent circular trips. use the machines to buy it-takes money and cards and can be set to 6 languages.
 

fandroid

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When I saw the question I thought that the likelihood of finding somewhere in range was fairly slight. Polish trains don't go very fast and Poland is a big country with long distances between cities. I go to Warsaw fairly often, and would love to have some advice on short trips out of the city. However, I suspect the best bet is to check out the museums. The Warsaw Uprising museum is supposed to be very good, and gives an idea of what an awful war experience Poland had.
 
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fowler9

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Many thanks for the advice folks. Will have a think. Been to Warsaw once before but the rest of the chaps haven't, its pretty big and there is plenty to see just in Warsaw so I will run it past the others. There is a Museum I noticed by the river not far from the National Stadium I wouldn't mind seeing, has some cold war aircraft outside it looking at google maps.
 

Shaw S Hunter

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When I saw the question I thought that the likelihood of finding somewhere in range was fairly slight. Polish trains don't go very fast and Poland is a big country with long distances between cities. I go to Warsaw fairly often, and would love to have some advice on short trips out of the city. However, I suspect the best bet is to check out the museums. The Warsaw Uprising museum is supposed to be very good, and gives an idea of what an awful war experience Poland had.

My bold. Warsaw is not really well placed as a base for visiting anywhere else of interest in Poland. But it's a fair size in itself with plenty of attractions to see. It all depends on what peoples' interests are. Out in the south-eastern suburbs is the Lazienki palace and park - arguably a Polish equivalent to Hampton Court but predominantly Baroque. And the Old Town (not really old, all replica rebuilds after WW2) is not short of bars though in November you're not likely to be sitting outside!
 

fowler9

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Thanks for the further advice. I will be interested to see what the weather is like. I have been to Krakow in February and it was quite bitter. Last year we were in Sopot at the start of November ad were sat at the end of the pier having a beer outside. It was actually very pleasant. Not exactly hot but very mild. Not what I expected to be doing in the Baltic region in November. Ha ha.
 

TravelDream

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Yeah, there is nothing noteworthy particularly close to Warsaw. Added to that Polish trains are quite slow, and as stated above the bus can often be quicker than a train.

That said, I'd definitely recommend Torun. It is a truly beautiful city and is a world heritage site, but is about 2.5 hours by train. I really like it because it's off the tourist trail compared to many cities, yet it is one of the most stunning in Poland.

Also just over 2.5 hours on the new Intercity trains is Gdansk. Another stunning city.

For a real different experience you could try Czestochowa. It has some stunning churches and the famous Black Madonna. It's a touch under two hours from memory.

Lodz isn't particularly beautiful and I'm not sure I'd go there on holiday, but if you have a friend there it could be interesting to visit.


That said, Warsaw is a very interesting city with lots to see and do. The Uprising Museum is a must do. I agree with the poster above about the Lazienki park, but it will be a bit chilly at that time of year. The Jewish Museum is also quite moving and is interesting.
The old town and Nowy Swiat have plenty of bars and restaurants, and try to eat at some Polish 'country style' restaurants. Really delicious food.


Also, on a side note, does anyone know how the new Pendolino intercity trains in Poland are doing? I booked some tickets for family recently from Warsaw to Krakow and saw the fares were much higher (almost triple regular IC trains), for very little time difference. I can't imagine they are very busy.
 

fowler9

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Yeah, there is nothing noteworthy particularly close to Warsaw. Added to that Polish trains are quite slow, and as stated above the bus can often be quicker than a train.

That said, I'd definitely recommend Torun. It is a truly beautiful city and is a world heritage site, but is about 2.5 hours by train. I really like it because it's off the tourist trail compared to many cities, yet it is one of the most stunning in Poland.

Also just over 2.5 hours on the new Intercity trains is Gdansk. Another stunning city.

For a real different experience you could try Czestochowa. It has some stunning churches and the famous Black Madonna. It's a touch under two hours from memory.

Lodz isn't particularly beautiful and I'm not sure I'd go there on holiday, but if you have a friend there it could be interesting to visit.


That said, Warsaw is a very interesting city with lots to see and do. The Uprising Museum is a must do. I agree with the poster above about the Lazienki park, but it will be a bit chilly at that time of year. The Jewish Museum is also quite moving and is interesting.
The old town and Nowy Swiat have plenty of bars and restaurants, and try to eat at some Polish 'country style' restaurants. Really delicious food.


Also, on a side note, does anyone know how the new Pendolino intercity trains in Poland are doing? I booked some tickets for family recently from Warsaw to Krakow and saw the fares were much higher (almost triple regular IC trains), for very little time difference. I can't imagine they are very busy.

Many thanks for the advice mate. Went to Gdansk last November and loved it, we jumped a train up to Sopot as well, really nice. (I am currently wearing my Lechia Gdansk t-shirt I bought at the club shop, ha ha). I am going to mention Torun to the chaps as a possible place to visit if anyone wants to do something different. I am tempted to just stay in Warsaw even though I have been before. The last visit was for a death metal gig and even though I saw a lot I missed loads to.

I have a mate from Tychy also who lives in Liverpool and he goes over a lot. I am aiming to go over with him soon and I think Czestochowa is not far from his bit of Silesia so will definitely keep that in mind. Thanks again.
 

TravelDream

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I have a mate from Tychy also who lives in Liverpool and he goes over a lot. I am aiming to go over with him soon and I think Czestochowa is not far from his bit of Silesia so will definitely keep that in mind. Thanks again.

Ahh! Tychy. That part of the country is sometimes (very kindly!) called the industrial heart of Poland. Still some interesting stuff to do though.

Tychy is indeed fairly close to Czestochowa - probably an hour or so.

If you're in that part of the country, you've got to visit Bielsko Biala. An interesting, beautiful town and completely off the tourist trail.
Also, go for a tour of the Tyskie brewery in Tychy. From memory it's cheap, interesting and it has the sweetest bar for a drink. They have (or at least had) daily tours in English.
 

fowler9

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Ahh! Tychy. That part of the country is sometimes (very kindly!) called the industrial heart of Poland. Still some interesting stuff to do though.

Tychy is indeed fairly close to Czestochowa - probably an hour or so.

If you're in that part of the country, you've got to visit Bielsko Biala. An interesting, beautiful town and completely off the tourist trail.
Also, go for a tour of the Tyskie brewery in Tychy. From memory it's cheap, interesting and it has the sweetest bar for a drink. They have (or at least had) daily tours in English.

Ha ha. Cheers mate. I'll get over there at some point hopefully pretty soon. One of the other lads went over there with our mate Jacek last October but I was already going to Gdansk in November and couldn't afford both. I caught the train from Krakow to Katowice in February about 6 years back. It was pretty stark shall we say, the entire journey. Mislowice stood out for its, ahem, starkness. Ha ha. Still loved my trip though.

My mate who went to Tyche said he had an amazing time and despite the fact it doesn't exactly look like Venice it is worth a visit, especially with someone local. I loved his photos.
 
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TravelDream

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I wouldn't say there's a lot to do in Tychy, but I'm no expert on the town. From what I saw, it was a fairly ugly, industrial satellite town haha.
It's right next to Auschwitz too, so a depressing place.

I think Katowice has changed a lot in the last few years. There's a new train station and shopping centre in the centre and a massive new museum. There's also a very big bar and restaurant area. I thought it was very quirky, so different to nearby Krakow, but culturally quite alive.

I feel like I'm trying to put you off a bit, but I'm not! It's a pretty interesting place. I only know the area as I was very lucky to spend a few months traveling around Poland a few years ago.
 

fowler9

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I wouldn't say there's a lot to do in Tychy, but I'm no expert on the town. From what I saw, it was a fairly ugly, industrial satellite town haha.
It's right next to Auschwitz too, so a depressing place.

I think Katowice has changed a lot in the last few years. There's a new train station and shopping centre in the centre and a massive new museum. There's also a very big bar and restaurant area. I thought it was very quirky, so different to nearby Krakow, but culturally quite alive.

I feel like I'm trying to put you off a bit, but I'm not! It's a pretty interesting place. I only know the area as I was very lucky to spend a few months traveling around Poland a few years ago.

Ha ha, no worries mate. The plan is just to see where my mate is from in Tychy and move on to Zakopane (Some time in the next six months this is meant to happen).
 
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