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.
Castle in Warsaw
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). The Throne Room, the Marble Room, and the Canaletto Room (with paintings of pre-war Warsaw used to guide the reconstruction) are the highlights. Budget travelers visit on the free Wednesday and see a castle that is both a royal palace and a monument to the Polish determination to rebuild what was destroyed.
Practical
Before you go
- Address
- Plac Zamkowy 4, 00-277 Warsaw
- Good to know
Nearby
More in Warsaw
Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
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.
Palace of Culture and Science
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.
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.
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The whole of Warsaw