Warsaw? Worth a trip?

Thinking of taking the good lady for a pre-Christmas city break,
somewhere in central/eastern Europe.

For no great logical reason (apart from a perceived surfeit of Brits)
I've decided that Prague is out, and was thinking of Warsaw.

Can anyone offer any first hand experience to recommend, or not?

Priorities, I guess are….

Plenty to do/see
Lots to eat and drink
Ease of communication (my Polish isn't exactly up to much)
Reasonably compact city (my wife is pregnant, so we don't want to be
walking miles)
Good value
Friendly locals not looking to rip off tourists

If Warsaw is a no-go, I'm open to any suggestions.

Iain

In message <10c013d6.0409090237.5b7f4c59@com >, Iain
<iain.macleod5@ntlworld.com> writes
>Thinking of taking the good lady for a pre-Christmas city break,
>somewhere in central/eastern Europe.
>
>For no great logical reason (apart from a perceived surfeit of Brits)
>I've decided that Prague is out, and was thinking of Warsaw.
>
>Can anyone offer any first hand experience to recommend, or not?

Budapest would be high on my list.

The city is divided by the Danube with Buda, the old city with cobbled
streets (quite hilly), on one side and Pest the flat side of the river.
Buda is the tourist attraction but I much prefer Pest. Pest has wide
avenues, wonderful pre-war buildings, superb cafes with high ceilings
and chandeliers where elderly ladies in hats have tea and cakes. The
atmosphere is great and the prices are pretty low.
--
Malcolm

On 9 Sep 2004 03:37:02 -0700, iain.macleod5@ntlworld.com (Iain) wrote:

>Thinking of taking the good lady for a pre-Christmas city break,
>somewhere in central/eastern Europe.
>
>For no great logical reason (apart from a perceived surfeit of Brits)
>I've decided that Prague is out, and was thinking of Warsaw.
>
>Can anyone offer any first hand experience to recommend, or not?
>
>Priorities, I guess are….
>
>Plenty to do/see
>Lots to eat and drink
>Ease of communication (my Polish isn't exactly up to much)
>Reasonably compact city (my wife is pregnant, so we don't want to be
>walking miles)
>Good value
>Friendly locals not looking to rip off tourists
>
>If Warsaw is a no-go, I'm open to any suggestions.
>
>Iain

Unless you really want to go to a former Warsaw Pact country, it's
worth considering Hamburg. There's a vast amount to see and do,
plenty to eat and drink. It's a big city but public transport (S-Bahn
and U-Bahn) is excellent and cheap. In the month or so leading up to
Christmas there or 4 or 5 Christmas Markets in the city itself - best
and biggest right in front of the Rathaus (imposing State Parliament
building) and a gigantic fair called the 'Dom'. Not too much of a
language problem, it's a very cosmopolitan city and there's plenty of
English speakers. There's not much English spoken even in Eastern
Germany, let alone the other old bloc countries. They were taught
Russian in school as a second language prior to the collapse.

On 9 Sep 2004 03:37:02 -0700, iain.macleod5@ntlworld.com (Iain) wrote:

>Thinking of taking the good lady for a pre-Christmas city break,
>somewhere in central/eastern Europe.
>
>For no great logical reason (apart from a perceived surfeit of Brits)
>I've decided that Prague is out, and was thinking of Warsaw.
>
>Can anyone offer any first hand experience to recommend, or not?
>
>Priorities, I guess are….
>
>Plenty to do/see
>Lots to eat and drink
>Ease of communication (my Polish isn't exactly up to much)
>Reasonably compact city (my wife is pregnant, so we don't want to be
>walking miles)
>Good value
>Friendly locals not looking to rip off tourists
>
>If Warsaw is a no-go, I'm open to any suggestions.
>
>Iain
Or go on just a day out with Transun and their *Just for a Day*
brochure of Traditional Christmas Markets......November - December
from airports all over the UK.. and having done the March and April
day outs with them - they are utterly superb at it.
daybreaks@transun.co.uk

> There's not much English spoken even in Eastern
> Germany, let alone the other old bloc countries.

This is no longer true. It might have been the case in 1990-91, but it
certainly isn't now, fourteen years later.

> They were taught
> Russian in school as a second language prior to the collapse.

Yes, but most didn't bother trying very hard to learn it. (Would you?)
I studied Russian for four years at university (UK) and in general my
Russian is better than that of those people around my own age (28) in
Central and Eastern Europe. Most people from that region under the age
of about 24 know very little Russian (if any).

Poland has a great deal to offer, though grey, ugly Warsaw is perhaps
not the best introduction. Many people rave about Krakow (it's quite
an attractive city in the same way that Prague is, though perhaps it
doesn't have quite so much to offer), though, because I like the
general atmosphere and the architecture, I actually prefer Gdansk.

Otherwise I would second the suggestion to visit Budapest. It's
wonderful.

Ian Hutchby wrote:
> Reasonably compact city (my wife is pregnant, so we don't want to be
> walking miles)

Just thought of another quick thing to consider. Depending on how far
through the pregnancy your wife will be it may be hard to get travel
insurance. My wife and I went on holiday when she was 19 weeks pregnant
(she turned 20 weeks on the penultimate day) and we had to shop around
to find a company willing to cover her for all medical situations.

"Iain" <iain.macleod5@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:10c013d6.0409090237.5b7f4c59@c om...
> Thinking of taking the good lady for a pre-Christmas city break,
> somewhere in central/eastern Europe.
>
> For no great logical reason (apart from a perceived surfeit of Brits)
> I've decided that Prague is out, and was thinking of Warsaw.
>
> Can anyone offer any first hand experience to recommend, or not?
>
> Priorities, I guess are….
>
> Plenty to do/see
> Lots to eat and drink
> Ease of communication (my Polish isn't exactly up to much)
> Reasonably compact city (my wife is pregnant, so we don't want to be
> walking miles)
> Good value
> Friendly locals not looking to rip off tourists
>
> If Warsaw is a no-go, I'm open to any suggestions.

as stated several times, Warsaw might not be the best place
though it can't really be a no-go
(but i've never been there myself)
lots of alternatives available:
Vilnius is my personal favourite but a cheap flight might be hard to find
Riga and Tallinn would do slightly better in that respect
Poland certainly has more attractive cities than Warsaw
Both Prague and Budapest are lovely
Finally and above all, consider
cities of the old DDR (Eastern Germany)
Leipzig, Dresden, and above all Berlin!
A fascinating city with lots of communist reminders
and cheapo flights should be plentiful!

KA

Once again, thanks for all the input.

As it's turned out, I've booked a trip to Copenhagen.

Flights + two nights 5* hotel for less than £200 each - which I
thought was pretty good.

Early November.

Now...where did I leave my coat, scarf, gloves, extra coat....?