Warsaw

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Warsaw
<map lat='52.232005085482086' lng='21.085853576660156' zoom='9' view='0' float='right' />
Information
Country:
Flag of Poland
Poland
Voivodeship:
Coat of arms of Masovian (Voivodeship).png
Masovian (Voivodeship)
Population: 1 709 781
Licence plate: WA, WB, WD, WE, WF, WH, WI,

WJ, WK, WN, WT, WU, WW, WX, WY

Major roads: A2S8 (under construction)
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Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa) is the capital and largest city of Poland. While hitching out, in or just passing through during rush hour can take a bit longer, because there are traffic jams everywhere.

Due to ongoing constructions for the 2nd metro line all over the city many tram lines changed their route. Check if the lines mentioned below really exist and go where they are supposed to go to.

Hitchhiking out

West towards Poznań, Berlin, (Germany) 2 E 30

  • Option #1:

Take the tram 8, 10, 26 direction Os. Górczewska and get off at Ciepłownia Wola. There you can get in the bus 713 and get off at Mory (The first stop on public transport zone 2 (strefa II)). Walk back around 200m in the direction your bus came from, until the on-ramp of the new A2. Most traffic from the city centre will enter the A2 through this on-ramp.

  • Option #2:

This option is best when you have to get from the northern districts of the city to a good spot. Take bus 103, 122, 180, 186 or 409 and get off at Gen. Maczka (note: bus stops only on request here!). Hitch right from the bus stop where bus 186 in direction Szczęśliwice stops. Holding a sign with A2 might help to avoid inner city traffic. The S8 starts here and eventually changes into the A2 to Poznań.

  • Option #3:

If you wish to take the old road 2 you can use a place which takes a bit more time to reach:

Take the KM3 (short for Kolej Mazowieckie) train in direction of Łowicz or Sochaczew (sometimes only going to Błonie) and get of at the station Ożarów Mazowiecki. You can take these trains from platform #3 at Warszawa Śródmieście which is next to the Central Station, but not the same! It is more East of the Central Station and South to the Palace of Culture and Science. Have a look at the timetables and different station from where to take the trains on the website, since they run often just one or two times in an hour.

Tickets cost probably a few zlotys, make sure you buy one before entering the train (alternatively you can buy one in the train in the first car).

File:Ożarów Mazowiecki.jpg
The bus stop on Poznańska

When you get out at the station in Ożarów Mazowiecki (make sure you keep an eye out for the correct station, Ożarów Mazowiecki only has one sign at the end of the station) just leave the station to the right (facing away from Warsaw) and follow Marii Konopnickiej Street until you reach a bigger street, Poznańska (about 500m). Another few hundred meters to the East you will find a bus stop with plenty of space to stop (it's across the street from the church). It's just one lane, cars are going quite slow and you avoid a great deal of local traffic out of Warsaw.

South towards Radom, Kielce, Kraków 7 E 77

  • Option 1

Get tram 7, 9, 35 from the city centre e.g Aleje Jerozolimskie, Warszawa Centralna (Main Train Station), Centrum (Warsaw Metro station) going in the direction of Okęcie and get off at the last stop. Once you get there, there is a bus stop some 50 meters away from the tram terminus further down the road. It is one of the usual hitchhiking spots in Warsaw and many drivers often drive slowly to check if there are hitchhikers waiting. It also has the merit of being located some 50 meters from lights, which give the drivers some time to see you. This location has the downside of being a popular hitching spot for workers returning home for the weekend, usually to Kielce or Radom. It should be noted that for the most part, these people are not "hitchhikers", but simply individuals wishing to get a ride home, often in exchange for a small fare. As a result, rules commonly accepted amongst hitchhikers (such as waiting in line) may not be respected at this spot. To distinguish yourself from them, place your backpack in front of you and make a sign to look like a professional hitchhiker.

  • Option 2

From the final stop of trams 7, 9, 35 Okęcie (the one mentioned above in Option 1) look for the 2PLN bus to Centrum Janki (timetable), a large shopping centre some 20 kilometres from the city centre. If you can't find the free bus, take a normal city bus to Janki (Numbers 707,728,807 go up to Janki while Bus N88,Bus 706 and 807 start from Okęcie and go to the IKEA Bus Station which is also the shopping centre stop right after the Janki bus stop. In case of confusion at Okęcie while boarding the Bus, make sure you ask the Bus Driver whether the Bus is going to the IKEA Bus Stand or not. The Bus Station at the IKEA Shopping centre is called "Plac Szwedzki" (Swedish Sq.) which is right after Janki bus stop. CAVEAT: Though most people will at Okęcie tell you that all buses go to Janki, don't make the mistake of taking Bus 715 , since it turns left just before 3 stops of Janki into the Polish country side right after the Bus Stop called Sportowa. Be aware and if you take this bus, make sure you get down at Sportowa and take another bus for "Plac Szwedzki".

Once you're there at Janki Bus Station,right after that bus stop notice that the road splits into two separate roads. The earlier, eastern one which turns towards the left after the Janki Bus Station is national road no. 7 (E77) where you can hitch towards Kielce, Radom, Kraków. After getting down at "SZWEDZKI" bus stop / IKEA , get out back on this highway walk some 100m on this road till you arrive at the first bus stop which is a good spot to hitchhike. Last verified: June 2011 (by Magda and Ron) Verified and Corrected Instructions put on 22nd August, 2011 by (Vidhi Chhariya from India)

  • Option 3

From the final stop of trams 7, 9, 35 Okęcie take a bus 707, 721, 728 to the Sękocin Las stop (23 min). Hitchhike right from this bus-stop.

Southwest towards Wrocław 8 E 67, Łódź 72, Katowice 1 E 75

Get to shopping centre Centrum Janki (see direction Kraków, option 2 for details). Once you're there, notice that the road splits into two separate roads. The western one is the national road no. 8 (E67) which is located between IKEA and shopping mall. Further down the road there is a wide shoulder where you can hitch, however cars go quite fast here. If you find it hard hitchhiking there you can walk about 3km down the road to McDonalds. There's also a gas station, it may be easier to hike from there, as most cars stop there before longer drives. Last verified: August 2011.

North and northwest towards Gdańsk 7 E 77, Olsztyn 51 and Toruń, Bydgoszcz 10

Spot to Wrocław (in front of Festo building)
  • Option 1

Go to the Metro Station Plac Wilsona and take bus L) towards Łomianki . Get off at the stop called Wóycickiego (press the stop button as the bus doesn't always stop there; the list of bus stops is within the bus itself and all bus stops are visibly marked). This is a perfect place to hitch-hike northbound, there is a lot of space for cars to stop.

  • Option 2

Go to the Metro station Plac Wilsona and take bus 181 towards Cmentarz Północny. Get off at the stop called Dzierżoniowska and from there you'll see the main road leading northwards. The road is fairly straight and has plenty of good spots to hitch-hike. An additional pro is a McD's located nearby with a toilet free of charge.

Northeast towards Białystok, Kaunas (Lithuania) 8 E 67

Take metro from central railway station to metro station Ratusz(note tram 25 has new route) and from there any tram from metro station Ratusz going east. Get off at Dworzec Wileński, walk right down the underground passage, walk out the other side and turn right onto the bus stop (as of Feb 2012 the crossroads are under construction). This is situated beside the big clock on the commercial building next to Carrefour super market. Catch bus 718 and get off at Struga. With optimal changes the whole trip takes about 60 min, but on weekend mornings the bus 718 runs only about every 30 minutes. Note that this bus goes outside of the city limits and an additional ticket is required. The first stop outside the central fare zone is a place loved by controllers, so beware. You can hitch from the traffic lights, there is a street light, which helps at night.

Also, if all of the above is bad, walk for 30 minutes from the 718 bus stop (see above), in the direction of Białystok, and you will come to traffic lights that are better for hitch hiking and where more cars stop. Note that you will have to walk near the motorway for this one, so be careful.

If you are heading to Lithuania, you might want to stop at one of the petrol stations located near the border. Last verified: February 2012.

Southeast towards Lublin, Lviv (Ukraine) 17 E 372

From Central Railway Station (Dworzec Główny) get on tram 9, 24 direction Gocławek and get off at Plac Szembeka stop, from there, go trough the street, and bus stop in this same direction (east) is on the second side of the street. Get bus 704, 720, 722, 730 and get off at the Szosa Lubelska. Hitch right from the bus stop at Szosa Lubelska street.

Or from Central Railway Station (Dworzec Główny) or from metrostation Politechnika take a bus #502 to the last station Stara Miłosna, from here walk to the crossroads with Szosa Brzeska, turn right and walk 500m to the aforementioned Szosa Lubelska stop

East towards Siedlce and Brest, Minsk (Belarus) 2 E 30

Get to the Szosa Lubelska station (see above). Try to hitch right from the bus stop at Szosa Brzeska.

Public Transport

Black riding the Metro is quite easy. You can jump the turnstiles, walk in with someone who has a ticket (the turnstiles are big enough for two people), or if you're feeling brave, you can walk around and open the emergency exit door and walk through. None of them are alarmed, and when the door is open, it stays open and almost everyone in Warsaw automatically walks in that door instead of the turnstile. The trams and buses, including night buses, are also easy. If you want to avoid any confrontation, just enter through one of the back doors.

Much of the regular buses and trams now have more ticket controllers, as prices of tickets have been raised. Compared to other European cities tickets are still cheap and can be bought everywhere. The easiest is a single ticket for 3,60zl, about 0,90 euro.

The longer distance trains are impossible to blackride unless you're clever. You can buy a student ticket if you've got an international student card, because the regular university id from the states (possibly elsewhere) won't work and the controller will have you pay the difference (most of the time).

There is a good website showing you how to get from one point to another by public transport in major Polish cities (in Polish and English).

Internet

There's an internet cafe at the metro station Centrum. Walk up the stairs from where the trains are to the balcony-like floor, it's located here at DHL Service, nr. 2001D. Open all days from 08.00-22.00.

Free internet can be found in the Palace of Culture and Science, take the lift up to the 12th floor. One of the rooms in the corner of the floor has pc's with internet that you can use. Might be advisable to look like a student (or at least not like an unwashed traveller) to avoid being kicked out.

There is also free WiFi available in the central station (Dw. Centralna) as of May 2012.

Organized/Paid Hitchhiking