Warsaw

Warsaw Travel Tips: Getting Around, Money and Tourist Traps

Last checked October 8, 2026

Warsaw's public transport is genuinely unified — one ticket covers the metro, trams, buses and suburban rail — which makes the practical side of visiting mostly a matter of knowing which ticket to buy and where the city's few well-known tourist traps sit.

Arriving

Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW) is about 8 km south of the centre, and ZTM's own transport system reaches straight into town from it: SKM line S2 (via Warszawa Śródmieście), SKM line S3 and the Koleje Mazowieckie RL train (both via Warszawa Centralna), plus bus 175, which the city's tourism office describes as running "to the centre and around the Old Town." The airport itself gives the journey time to the central Centrum stop as about 30 minutes, and recommends buying at least a 75-minute ticket to cover it. At the airport, ticket machines are at the bus stops and the railway station entrance, and on board the trains and buses themselves.

For a taxi, the airport strongly recommends using the licensed taxis queuing outside, whose fares are posted in the car window, or the Uber "Tap to Ride" kiosks in the arrivals and baggage-reclaim halls. The city's tourism office is blunter still: "Avoid people in the Arrivals Hall encouraging you to use random taxis. They are often unlicensed and their fees are several times higher."

If you're flying into the smaller Warsaw Modlin Airport (WMI) instead, about 35–40 km north-west of the centre, there's no direct city bus — take the airport shuttle to Modlin station, then a Koleje Mazowieckie train, roughly an hour and a quarter door to door. Once you're in town, Warszawa Centralna is the main long-distance station closest to the sights, with the suburban Warszawa Śródmieście station tucked beneath it and linked by an underground passage.

Getting around

One ZTM ticket genuinely covers everything — metro, trams, buses and the SKM commuter trains — which is a rare convenience among European capitals. Ticket options include a 20-minute unlimited-rides ticket, 75- and 90-minute transfer tickets, a 24-hour pass, a 3-day (72-hour) pass, and a weekend ticket running from 19:00 Friday to 08:00 Monday.

Validate your ticket the moment you first board — in the metro, tap at the gate before the platform, or at the validator beside the lift. Machines are on every bus, tram and SKM train, plus near stops and inside stations, and a broken machine doesn't excuse riding without a ticket. For phone purchases, moBILET, SkyCash, jakdojade.pl, zBiletem.pl and GoPay are the supported apps — ZTM's cooperation with mPay has ended, so that one won't work here. Riding without a valid ticket brings a fine on top of the fare, reduced by 30% if settled within seven days.

Bolt and Uber both operate across the city, and a legitimate taxi off the street shows its number on the front door, a "TAXI" roof sign and a fare sticker on the rear window, meter reading in złoty. Beyond the transit network, the Old Town around Castle Square and the districts nearby are compact enough to cover on foot.

Money and tipping

Everything is priced in złoty — Poland is outside the euro area, so there's no euro pricing to expect anywhere in the city. ATMs are plentiful, and Visa, Mastercard and Maestro cards are all widely accepted, though American Express and Diners Club less so. As elsewhere in Poland, when a card terminal or ATM offers to convert your payment into your home currency, decline it and choose złoty — your own bank's rate is usually better.

If you exchange cash, be cautious of kantors at train stations and the busiest tourist areas, which tend to overcharge — travellers particularly flag ones branded "Interchange," recognisable by orange signage. In a taxi, if a driver accepts euros, he's converting the złoty meter fare himself — a driver who claims the meter itself reads in euros isn't being straight with you.

On tipping, travellers commonly leave about 10% in restaurants, treated as optional rather than expected: saying "dziękuję" while handing over cash is often read as "keep the change," so use it deliberately.

Tourist traps

Beyond the arrivals-hall taxi touts already covered above, taxis picked up directly outside Warszawa Centralna station have a reputation for overcharging tourists — booking through Uber or Bolt instead sidesteps the problem entirely.

Worth knowing, as context rather than a trap: Warsaw's Old Town is a full historical reconstruction, more than 85% of the historic centre destroyed in 1944 and rebuilt after the war, recognised by UNESCO's 1980 World Heritage listing. Castle Square, with its landmark Sigismund's Column, is the natural starting point for the rebuilt core, and the Museum of Warsaw Reconstruction documents the rebuilding itself.

Staying safe

Wikivoyage's own summary is a fair starting point: "Warsaw is a safe city overall," with a visibly strong police presence around the centre, and the national UK Foreign Office picture — low risk of serious crime, worth staying alert to ordinary street theft — matches that. Pickpockets are the practical concern in crowds and on buses, and bus 175 between the airport and the centre has a particular reputation for them, so keep bags and pockets secured on that route especially.

The same bar and nightlife caution that applies nationally holds in Warsaw too: check your bill carefully, especially late at night and by card, and treat adult-entertainment venues with caution — Poland's National Prosecutor's Office has reported arrests tied to go-go and strip-club fraud rings operating in several cities, Warsaw among them, who incapacitated customers and then charged their cards. If you need help, 112 is free and answered in both Polish and English. On tap water, the City of Warsaw states plainly that the supply is safe to drink straight from the tap, no boiling or filtering required.