From Warsaw with Love

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Where to Stay

Hotel Rialto’s rooms are smallish, but service at this elegant boutique hotel is impeccable. Follow dinner at its sophisticated restaurant with a stop by the cigar room.
Ul. Wilcza 73, 22-584-8700, www.rialto.pl

The palatial Hotel Le Régina’s vintage glamour has a modernist edge.
Ul. Koscielna 12, 22-531-6060, www.leregina.com

Where to Eat

The food at Asian-style Sense restaurant is a welcome change from sometimes bland traditional Polish cuisine. Polish actress and co-owner Katarzyna Figura hangs out at the bar.
Ul. Nowy Swiat 19, 22-826-6570, www.sensecafe.com.pl

The dishes at Artistic Kitchen (Qchnia Artystyczna), housed in Ujazdowski Palace, are light and simple – just like its interior design. Dinner is complemented by a stellar view of the Wisla River.
Al. Ujazdowskie 6, 22-625-7627, www.qchnia.pl

Osteria is best for the fresh grilled fish (avoid the complex dishes)… and for discreetly eavesdropping on too-hip locals. Its glass floor is built over a coral-filled seabed.
Ul. Krucza 6/14, 22-621-1646, www.osteria.pl

Warsaw intelligentsia descend on Restauracja Pod Samsonem, in a renovated old house. It serves inexpensive but delicious Jewish and traditional Polish lunches.
Ul. Freta 3/5, 22-831-1788, www.republika.pl/podsamsonem

Miedzy Nami means Between Us. At night, this multilevel café-restaurant becomes a guest-list-only bar.
Ul. Bracka 20, 22-828-5417, www.miedzynamicafe.com

Wedel is an ornate chocolate café with waitresses in cocoa-coloured French-maid uniforms. A mug of pure liquid chocolate will keep you warm all day.
Ul. Szpitalna 8, 22-827-2916

What to Do

These must-visit lounges guarantee a spirited night. Szlafr.ok is the start (with the regular booze) and end (with the cucumber cocktail) to a hangover. Klubokawiarnia’s many nooks furnished with sofas make it a good date bar. The dimly lit lounge Nobo has red-curtained bed booths for serious sprawling.
Szlafr.ok Ul. Wierzbowa 9/11, 22-828-6477
Klubokawiarnia Ul. Czackiego 8, www.klubokawiarnia.pl
Nobo Ul. Wilcza 58a, 22-622-4007, www.nobobar.pl

There are dance clubs for every night of the week. A few favourites include Foksal 19 (swank and expensive), Labo (more intimate and attracting a younger crowd), Paparazzi (in the trendy club district) and Zoo (lives up to its name).
Foksal19 Ul. Foksal 19, 22-829-2955, www.foksal19.com
Labo Ul. Mazowiecka 11a, 22-827-4557, www.laboklub.pl
Paparazzi Ul. Mazowiecka 12, 22-828-4219, www.paparazzi.com.pl
Zoo Ul. Mazowiecka 13, 22-827-6044, www.klubzoo.pl

Next to Miedzy Nami, Fashion By is one of few boutiques that sell clothes by young Polish designers.
Ul. Bracka 20

Take an elevator to the top of the PKiN (Palace of Culture and Science) – one of Europe’s tallest buildings – for a view of the whole city.
Pl. Defilad 1, 22-656-7600, www.pkin.pl

Warsaw’s contemporary art scene is delightfully avant-garde, from the obscure (at the Centre for Contemporary Art) to the refined (Zacheta National Gallery of Art).

Centre for Contemporary Art (in Ujazdowski Castle / au château Ujazdowski) al. Ujazdowskie 6, 22-628-1271-3, www.csw.art.pl;
Zacheta National Gallery of Art (Zacheta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki) pl. Malachowskiego 3, 22-827-5854, www.zacheta.art.pl

Resources

The French cultural guidebook Varsovie en mouvement (Autrement) offers a glimpse of Warsaw through the eyes of its architects, bar promoters and other insiders.

For an insider’s experience, pick up a local entertainment newspaper. Les Échos de Pologne is published for the city’s Francophone expat community; New Warsaw Express is one of the newer English entertainment weeklies.

Les Échos de Pologne www.echos.pl
New Warsaw Express www.new.com.pl

Getting There

Air Canada offers convenient service to Warsaw from Toronto in collaboration with Star Alliance™ member LOT Polish Airlines and from several Canadian cities via Frankfurt in collaboration
with Star Alliance member Lufthansa.

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