Public transport in Warsaw - tips & tricks

When you are going to visit a city, where you have never been before, one of the first things to check is whether is makes sense at all to use public transport, what kind of ticket you need, how to get from the airport to the city centre, etc. I hope you will find this post useful. Besides, I enjoy writing about public transport system (and I cannot explain why).

Warsaw has a very good public transport system, terrible traffic jam, and its important tourist attractions are spread among different districts, so I advise you to use public transport a lot when visiting.

You will find infomation on the official website of the pubic transport in Warsaw. But the best way to find the optimum route in every big Polish city is Jakdojade.pl portal. Make sure you have it bookmarked before arriving in Warsaw! 


Means of transport

In Warsaw we have the only subway line in Poland (no, it's not a joke!).
There are of course buses and trams, but also so called SKM (Szybka Kolej Miejska - city rapid railway, something like S-Bahn in Germany). You will recognise these trains by the S and a number in the name (e.g. S2, which goes to the airport). In SKM trains the same tickets as in buses, trams and subway apply, and you have to validate them.

Very important warning: not all trains are SKM category! If you do not see S letter plus a number but e.g. a description Koleje Mazowieckie (KM), you need a different type of ticket. (As the train categories are tricky even for a Polish tourist, there will be a separate post about it). 


Tickets

In Poland it's important to know how long your ride takes, because time tickets are popular.

In Warsaw you can buy:

a) a ticket valid for 20 minutes after validation. Within 20 minutes you can change as many times as you want, go back etc. It costs 3,4 PLN

b) a single ticket which in the first zone costs 4,4 PLN and is valid for 75 minutes after validation (you can change as many times as you like) OR for a longer ride but with only one means of public transport no longer than to the last stop.

There are also day tickets, which are tickets valid for 24 hours, and not (as in many Western European cities) tickets valid for a specific day, or till 4 am of the day after validation. There is also a weekend ticket.

A very bad thing about Warsaw ticket system is a gap between 24 hours ticket and 30 days ticket. (There is a weekend ticket but not all tourist come on Friday evening and leave on Monday morning).

So if you come to Warsaw for e.g. two weeks you have to calculate if it makes more sense to buy tickets for every ride (plus maybe weekend tickets) or a 30 days ticket.

(I've written a separate post about tickets explaining more complex matters, e.g. which types of tickets entitle you to take a train).


Warszawska Karta Miejska

If you stay in Warsaw for a month or longer, get so called "Warszawska Karta Miejska" (Warsaw City Card), because you cannot buy ticket for 30 days or longer in a paper version.

You can send an application online. And from my experience waiting time is pretty short.

If you do not know the city very well I advise to choose Punkt na stacji metra Centrum 1 as collection point, as it's most central one.

First card is for free.

(There will be a separate post about the card)


Miscellaneous 

There are two zones, the first zone corresponds more or less with the boundaries of the city of Warsaw. So 99% of you will need a ticket just for zone 1.

In Warsaw it's crucial to know to which district you are going. Why? In underground passages under big bus/tram stops (e.g. Centrum) the signs showing you which sub-stop you should go to look like this: an icon of a tram/bus and Mokotów (the name of the district), with bus/trams numbers usually not provided.

A very weird thing about Warsaw (from my perspective, and I'm Polish after all) is that on timetables Sunday is within a category "Święto" (a holiday). For me "święto" means Christmas or Easter day, and Sunday is Sunday, so I do not understand where this nomenclature comes from, and for a foreigner who starts translating with Google Translator it will be mega-confusing.

So when you check the timetable in Warsaw, remember:
"Dzień powszedni" means: from Monday till Friday
"Sobota" means Saturday
"Święto" means Sunday or a public holiday.

I'm sorry to say that but 'the voice' telling the stops in the public transport is not always in tune with where the vehicle really is. Don't panic - you can trust it in about 95% of cases, but sometimes it's one stop too quick/slow.