What to do at the weekend in Warsaw with friends

Saturday and Sunday have room for the plans there’s no time for during the week: a long walk, a market, a museum, a bike ride or a trip out of town. Some places are only open in season, so each of those comes with a note on where to check the dates. You can get out of town by bus or local train, without a car.

Parks and green spaces

In a park, a meet-up can last an hour or the whole day, depending on the weather and your mood. Anyone who has to leave early doesn’t spoil the plan for the rest.

Łazienki Królewskie

Śródmieście · getting there: bus, stop Łazienki Królewskie · website

Łazienki is a royal park and a museum, based at Agrykola 1. You can break up a weekend walk here with a visit to an exhibition, and the exhibition programme is on the museum’s website. It’s a good spot for a group where some people want to walk and others want to look around: you each go at your own pace, then meet up at an agreed point. Get off at the Łazienki Królewskie stop. The gate by the Chopin Monument, on the Aleje Ujazdowskie side, is about 100 metres from there and makes a good meeting point.

Park Skaryszewski

Praga-Południe · getting there: tram, stop Rondo Waszyngtona · website

Park im. I.J. Paderewskiego, to give it its official name, lies in Kamionek, between aleja Zieleniecka and Waszyngtona. It has Jezioro Kamionkowskie (Kamionek Lake) and ponds, a cascade, a rose garden from 1925-1926, a bandstand and a playground. It’s a Praga park for a long, unhurried weekend: there’s room to walk, places to sit and things to look at along the way. If someone is bringing children, the playground sorts that out, and the rest of you can walk round the lake in the meantime. Meet at the main entrance on the rondo Waszyngtona side, and anyone who arrives later will find you by the bandstand or in the rose garden.

Markets and market halls

Shopping and food can be a day out together too. Just swap rushing round the shops for a stroll between the stalls.

Targ Śniadaniowy

Żoliborz (Saturdays) and Mokotów (Sundays) · getting there: tram, stop Plac Inwalidów (Żoliborz) and Królikarnia (Mokotów) · website

Targ Śniadaniowy, the Breakfast Market, is seasonal, running from April to September, and it already has more than ten seasons behind it. On Saturdays it sets up in Żoliborz, on the green by Śmiała and aleja Wojska Polskiego, and on Sundays in Mokotów, on Skwer AK “Granat”. Breakfast from lots of stalls is a good start to a day together: you each get something different and eat together in the open air. After breakfast, it’s easy to add a walk round the area to the plan. Before the season starts, check the market’s website to see whether the locations have changed.

Hala Mirowska

Śródmieście (Mirów) · getting there: tram, stop Hala Mirowska · Wikipedia

The hall at plac Mirowski 1 is a classic city market. The building is used by the “Społem” WSS Śródmieście co-operative, and there’s an open-air market next to the hall. It’s a good place to shop together before dinner at someone’s home: you each take your part of the list, then cook together. That way the meet-up starts long before the meal. Split the shopping list in the plan’s chat before you head in among the stalls.

Museums

In a museum it’s easy to talk about something other than work. And when you leave, you’ve got something to talk about for the rest of the day.

Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego

Wola · getting there: metro Rondo Daszyńskiego; tram or bus, stop Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego · website

The Warsaw Rising Museum is housed in a former tram power station at Grzybowska 79, on the corner of Przyokopowa. Rondo Daszyńskiego station is on metro line 2. Current exhibitions and events are on the museum’s website. It’s a powerful experience to share, and it leaves you with a lot to talk through. So after your visit, plan lunch or a walk rather than another item on the itinerary. Before you go, agree how much time everyone has, so nobody has to leave halfway through.

Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN

Śródmieście (Muranów) · getting there: tram, stop Anielewicza; bus, stop Nalewki Muzeum · website

POLIN, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, at Anielewicza 6, has a permanent exhibition on a thousand years of the history of Polish Jews, divided into eight galleries. It’s a huge exhibition, and afterwards it’s good to compare impressions over coffee or on a walk round Muranów. After an exhibition like that, it helps to have someone to be quiet with, or to talk to. The museum also puts on temporary exhibitions, and you’ll find the current ones on its website. Agree on a place to meet after your visit, because you may each go through the exhibition at a different pace.

By bike and by water

From spring to autumn you can see Warsaw from the saddle and from the deck. The two plans go well together, and with a walk by the Vistula.

Veturilo

All of Warsaw · website

Veturilo is Warsaw’s city bike scheme, with stations all over the city. The season runs from March to November. You each ride in from your own district, then carry on together, with no kit to organise and no bikes to transport. The fleet includes e-bikes too, so a longer route needn’t put anyone off, and there’s a tandem for a short ride for two. Meet at one station and agree the route in the plan’s chat.

Promy Warszawskich Linii Turystycznych

The Vistula, city centre · piers by the boulevards and beaches · website

Warszawskie Linie Turystyczne (Warsaw Tourist Lines) is a seasonal scheme run by ZTM, the city’s public transport authority: usually from May to September, it runs ferries across the Vistula. In recent seasons they’ve sailed on three routes: Pliszka from below the Poniatowski Bridge (most Poniatowskiego) to the beach by Stadion Narodowy, Wilga from Podzamcze, by the fountains, to the beach by the zoo, and Słonka from Cypel Czerniakowski to Saska Kępa. A crossing to the other bank is a little adventure that’s easy to add to a walk by the Vistula. One trip is enough to turn a walk along one bank into a walk along both. The organiser announces the routes and timetable each season, and sailings depend on the water level, so check the latest information before you go.

Out of town for a day

For a day out of town, a ZTM bus or the WKD commuter train is all you need. If the plan grows into an overnight stay, see how to organise a trip with friends.

Kampinoski Park Narodowy (Izabelin)

Outside Warsaw, Izabelin · getting there: ZTM bus 210 from the Metro Młociny terminus, stop Urząd Gminy w Izabelinie · website

ZTM bus 210 runs direct from the Metro Młociny terminus to the headquarters of Kampinos National Park and its Education Centre in Izabelin, in about 20 minutes. From the stop, it’s about 750 metres on foot along Tetmajera. Meet at the Metro Młociny terminus so you all get on the same bus. It’s a real forest without a car: one bus from the metro, then nothing but trails. The forest is also a good place for the conversations the city is too busy for. Before you set off, read the visitor notices on the park’s website.

Muzeum w Stawisku (Podkowa Leśna)

Outside Warsaw, Podkowa Leśna · getting there: WKD, station Podkowa Leśna Zachodnia · website

Stawisko is the Anna and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz Museum at Gołębia 1, with a museum park where you can stroll after your visit. It’s about a 15-minute walk from Podkowa Leśna Zachodnia WKD station, and there’s a longer route from Podkowa Leśna Główna station. The train ride itself is part of the outing: there’s time to chat before the sightseeing starts. A train trip to the Iwaszkiewicz villa is a relaxed plan for half a day, good when you’d rather talk than rack up the kilometres. The programme of exhibitions and events is on the museum’s website, so have a look before you pick a date.

Park Zdrojowy and the graduation tower in Konstancin-Jeziorna

Outside Warsaw, Konstancin-Jeziorna · getting there: ZTM buses, including 251 from Metro Wilanowska and 710 and 742 from Metro Kabaty · website

Park Zdrojowy, the spa park, is home to the brine graduation tower of the Uzdrowisko Konstancin-Zdrój spa. The spa keeps it open in winter too, weather permitting. The local council lists the ZTM routes linking Konstancin-Jeziorna with Warsaw: 251 from Wilanowska metro station, and 710 and 742 from Kabaty, so it’s one bus from the metro. A stroll round the park and a few breaths of brine make a lazy trip that’s easy to talk the whole gang into. It’s a good destination for a weekend when you want to rest, not wear yourselves out. The tower’s opening schedule is on the spa’s website, so check it before you set off.

How to get the group together

Post a plan in met with a place on the map, say a walk in Łazienki or a trip to Kampinos. Your friends will see it in the app, and whoever has a free weekend is in. You settle the meeting time, and who’s bringing the blanket, in the plan’s chat.