Top Poland hotels
Dining and Drinking Krakow
4 Reviews You will notice people walking around eating a long sandwich covered with pasta sauce and cheese. In actuality, it is a baguette, split in half. cooked in the over until the cheese is melted. Here...
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Culture Warsaw
39 Reviews Warsaw has not one but two legends of mermaids. - One is the story of a fisherman named WARS , who while fishing in the river found a mermaid named SAWA, they fall in love and she asked him to found...
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Language Warsaw
6 Reviews Whenever travelling abroad, it's a good idea to remain in touch with your respective consulate and/or embassy. Just in case you need their assistance (lost passport, marriage arrangements, etc.)...
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Palace of Culture and Science Warsaw
3 Reviews A controversial gift from Stalin is called the Palace of Culture and Science (Palac Kultury i Nauki, PKiN). For most (but not all) Poles, including me, this building is a symbol of communism and...
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In the weekdays small local shops are usually open between 9 am (sometimes 7 am) and 5 pm. On Saturdays - between 9 am (or 10 am) and 1 pm. On Sundays they are usually closed.Different situation is with big supermarkets, which are usually open til late (sometimes 24h) even at the weekends.And of course most of petrol stations are open 24h.
Tiping is voluntary in Poland. No one expect you to give a tip for the service and no one would be discontented. It's always up to you, however would be nice if you requite the staff for a good service. We usualy tip barmen/barmaids, waiters/waitresses (10% of the bill), taxi drivers (usually about 5 zl) and the hotel service in more posh hotels ;-)
I know that letting women through the door it's not only Polish custom or manner, but Polish people are absolutely mad if it comes to letting through the door. All men do it even if it's not convenient for a woman to go first (e.g. in the narrow lift when she is standing in the end). Sometimes you can even see in Poland two men arguing at the door about who should go first ;-)
If you are traveling by bus or tram you should give your place to the older or disabled person, or the person traveling with a small child.In my opinion in should be obvious, so maybe I shouldn't write it among Polish custom tips, but traveling to different countries, I noticed that it's not so obvious for everyone (even for people with good manners in general).
John Paul II may be dead, but this only means that for many of his countrypeople he is even closer to sainthood. Even while he was still alive, both religious and non-religous Poles would not be delighted when hearing joking remarks about "their" pope, and things have defintitely grown even tighter since his death. so if you don´t want to end up as a social outcast, don´t sneer at the JPII-mania visible everywhere...
It may be an interesting thing to know that here in Poland we celebrate namedays rather than birthdays. It's especially true about adults; at least among my family and friends we have parties on our nameday (or rather our patron saint day) and tend to forget our birthdays. Another thing connected with names is a large number of diminutive forms that we make up. Let's take my name as an example: Malgorzata ( Margaret in English). My friends hardly ever use it, they prefer to call me: Malgosia, Gosia, Gocha, Gosienka, Malgorzatka, Gosiunia, Malgoska, Goska...
Poland is the number 1 country in Europe when it comes to fatalities in car accidents.Reason: Poles drive like complete idiots.I once drove with a local through the streets of Warsaw. The self comments were "No rules", "No brakes". And that pretty much explained the stuntdrive I had including high speeds, near misses with trams, crossing red lights on busy crossings and... ah well, try it out yourself if you're up to it.
Sure, the Poles like their Wodka, but they do have an excellent taste when it comes to beer as well.Just like the English, Poles go for a decent sized Pint without any with as less white foam as possible. They love the alcohol in beer, so there's a lot of dark beer available as well. Also quite popular is to order beer with a strawberry flavoured sirup. The red sirup looks like a waste of good beer, but you'd be surprised.The most popular beer brand in Poland is Zyviec, other well known brands include Okocim and Tyskie.For those who preffer a foreign beer, Carlsberg and Heineken are widely available.
Question: Is Poland so religious because of Pope John Paul II? Or was John Paul II Pope because Poland is so religious?Whatever the answer is, Poland is very religious. Go to Poland and you will find that Catholisism is very alive here. Unlike any country in western Europe, loads of people go to church here. Not only the older people. Go inside a church and you will be surprised how many young people will be in to do a prayer. On sundays churches have up to 9 services, and churches are packed with people.One of the main rules in Poland is also that Churches are not a tourist attraction. Sure, you can go in, but do respect the rules. Don't enter during services if you don't come for a prayer, and look-out for the rules of taking photographs. Dresscodes are usually not that strict, though naked shoulders/bellies are usually not appreciated. Skirts and T-Shirts are okay.And another even...
In Poland there is a custom that female name ends with "-a" , and th male name can end with any other letter apart from "-a". Thanks to it just reading the name of a person we know the gender.The most popular names in Poland:The female names ( as you see all end with - "a"): 1. Anna2. Maria3. Katarzyna4. Malgorzata5. Agnieszka6. Krystyna7. Barbara8. Ewa9. Elzbieta10. ZofiaThe male names:1. Jan2. Andrzej3. Piotr4. Krzysztof5. Stanislaw6. Tomasz7. Pawel8. Jozef9. Marcin10. MarekThe popularity of names has changed over time. Now parents tend to give other names to baby girls like : Julia, Natalia, Wiktoria, Oliwia, Weronika and baby boys: Jakub, Kacper, Filip, Mateusz, Mikolaj.
Sheraton Krakow Hotel Krakow
7 Reviews and 517 Opinions I had a very pleasant stay at this hotel. I was part of a tour group, but would recommend it to the...
Intercontinental Warszawa Warsaw
4 Reviews and 653 Opinions Intercontinental Warswawa is one of the 5***** hotel in warsaw but it is different from the others...
Mercure Hevelius Gdansk
7 Reviews and 221 Opinions Great view from my 9th floor room. [ half way up ]. The room is just what you expect for 450 zloty...
Reviews and photos of Poland attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Poland sightseeing.
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Q: Hello everyone, My name is Gloria from Rome and I'm coming to Poland soon for a pilgrimage following the history of your...
A: Hi Gloria! From Krakow, I'd recommend that you pay a visit to Wadowice, the home town of Pope John Paul 11 - visit the cathedral where he served - then the house where he...
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