Warsaw Free Tour
The SANDEMANs Free Tour of Warsaw covers the rebuilt Old Town, the Royal Route, and the communist-era Palace of Culture. Budget travelers use it to understand a city whose history is written in its architecture.
Monument in Warsaw
Palace of Culture and Science
Also known as Palace Of Culture Warsaw
The Palace of Culture and Science is Warsaw’s tallest building, a Soviet-era skyscraper gifted by Stalin in the 1950s. Locals have a complicated relationship with it. The observation terrace on the 30th floor is paid at a modest price and offers the best panoramic view of the city. Budget travelers pay the small fee for the view and decide for themselves whether the building is an eyesore or a landmark. The joke is that the best view in Warsaw is from the top, because it is the only place you cannot see the palace itself.
Practical
Before you go
- Address
- Plac Defilad 1, 00-110 Warsaw
- Good to know
On foot
Walks that pass through
Free and low-cost routes that stop at Palace of Culture and Science.
Nearby
More in Warsaw
Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
Holy Cross Basilica
The Holy Cross Basilica is a Baroque church on Krakowskie Przedmiescie (the Royal Route) that holds the urn containing Chopin's heart, sealed into a pillar on the left side of the nave. Free to enter.
Lazienki Park
Lazienki Park is Warsaw's most beautiful green space, a formal garden with a palace on the water, peacocks on the lawns, and free Chopin concerts at the monument every Sunday in summer. Free.
Nowy Swiat Street
Nowy Swiat (New World Street) is Warsaw's most elegant boulevard, running from the Royal Route to the Constitution Square roundabout. Free to walk.
POLIN Museum
The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is housed in a striking modern building on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The permanent exhibition traces a thousand years of Jewish life in Poland.
Praga District
Praga is the district on the east bank of the Vistula, historically rougher than the center but now emerging as Warsaw's most interesting creative neighborhood. Free to walk.
Royal Castle Warsaw
The Royal Castle in Castle Square was the official residence of Polish monarchs, destroyed in World War II and rebuilt from photographs, paintings, and salvaged materials. Entry is paid (free on Wednesdays).
Working out what Warsaw costs?
The whole of Warsaw