Introduction to Warsaw
#Warsaw tour guide #Warsaw city guide # guided tour in warsaw #Warszawa tour guide #Warszawa city guide #guided tour in Warszawa
Take the metro in Warsaw
I wrote my first guide to Warsaw in 2012, and with the dynamic development in the Polish capital, it was gradually becoming outdated. The technology behind my website was perhaps not the most modern either. At the beginning of 2022, I therefore started a new guide, which in principle should be clear and in book form. The problem is that this kind of projects tends to grow in scope. First one subject should be included, then the other. Then you cut a little, so as not to use so much space, after which it is more like an encyclopaedia – about as exciting as a telephone book. And then you expand again. I have tried to find a compromise between writing everything I find interesting and what I think other people find interesting. We’ll see if I have succeeded.
I have used the metro as a starting point, and really the metro is brilliant if you want to get quickly around to Warsaw’s sights. It also means that, with a little persistence, you can plan a trip around the city yourself, which can possibly be supplemented with a bus route or a bicycle.
I have included 12 metro stations (plus a quick mention of another four), combined with (so far) 12 themed articles about Warsaw. To a certain extent these cover the same things, so in order not to repeat too much, I have put a slightly broader orientation into the theme articles and placed references in the articles from the metro stations.
Michael Hardenfelt – tourist guide in Warsaw and the rest of Poland – take a look across the Wisla River. Write to m@hardenfelt.pl to arrange a guided tour.
My guide is the result of a lot of compromises, but the main thing has been that I want to include my own story of Warsaw. I describe the things that I myself know and care about – or rather – a small part of it, because there are still plenty of interesting places in Warsaw that are not described here.
The background is my many years of experience as a tourist guide, and I recognize that I have included what most visitors can see while visiting the city – both in terms of time and if they also need to relax a bit while they are in the city.
The preparation of this guide has also served a concrete purpose for me. Having worked as a guide since 2010, the order books was completely empty for two years due to COVID-19. This Warsaw guide has given me the opportunity to rehearse the city and look at it with new eyes. See all that has changed…renovated, closed, newly built. It’s almost like experiencing a new city.
The guide does not necessarily have to be read from article one onwards. It could easily have been put together in a different way, so in reality you probably have browse the contents and find the subjects you want to know something about.
The content partly consists of stories from walks around the city. Here I write about what I usually talk about when I go around as a guide, which means that I sometimes also include my own stories in the description.
Warsaw – a city full of contrasts
There are different types of guides and guidebooks; some concentrate on the history, anniversaries and names of architects, others only want to show the most beautiful things the city has to show. My presentation is neither. I emphasize history, but only when it relates to the present, and it is important for me to show both the beautiful as well as the ugly and dilapidated as well as the people who are around in the city. The tour I offer is a story about today’s Warsaw, about the contradictions, politics, living conditions, gastronomy and many other things that are relevant to a foreign visitor.
As mentioned at the beginning, the guide was meant to be in book form. Here I have changed my mind – the guide is too comprehensive for a book, and will only be read/bought by a small group of Poland freaks, and I would like it to be read – also because the purpose is, after all, that I would like customers for my own guided tours in Warsaw, which can be supplemented by lectures on relevant topics at the hotel, if you gather a group of inquisitive travellers.
About this guide: This guide was written by Michael Hardenfelt. I have lived in Poland for over 20 years, and I deal with translations between Polish/English and Danish, interpretation and guided tours in Warsaw and the rest of Poland.
My tours range from a 2-hour tour to the most important points in Warsaw, which can be interrupted by a coffee or beer break along the way (350 zloty). If you are an inquisitive group, such a tour can be supplemented with a lecture at the hotel before we go out into the city.
I also like to organize longer trips and help with the choice of restaurants and things to do. Longer trips can be made by metro, tram or a bus (possibly an old bus from the communist era). I’m also up for a bike ride around the city (maximum 8 people).
Guided tours are also possible everywhere else in Poland – but this requires a minimum reservation of a whole day. Wroclaw, Krakow and Gdansk are all located so that I can get there and back from Warsaw in a day. And then once in a while I go on tours in Poland with organized groups.
Please send an email to m@hardenfelt.pl if you would like an English-speaking tour guide to show you the most important places in Warsaw.