Short trips from Warsaw
 

Are there any places on the outskirts of Warsaw or very close to the city that would be interesting to visit?
It would have to be easily reachable by public transport (max. one hour or so).

I am not interested in churches, museums and beer.
(And only interested in nature in small doses - a nice view is fine, a 3 hour hike through wilderness is not).

The places don't have to have any special tourist attractions, just to be nice/ interesting places for a stroll, a look around and maybe a bit of nice food.
They could also be areas of Warsaw that is normally not on the tourist map - normal neighbourhoods that for some reason could be interesting to visit for a couple of hours (interesting history, interesting architecture, nice restaurants/shops, food markeds.......anything really, I am easy to please).

INTERESTING ONE!
- Right bank of Wisla River - Praga - not many tourists there!
- Karczew / Otwock - Jewish colonies pre WW2
- sizable forest 45mins outside of Warsaw - Kampinoski Park Narodowy. But that's more than 3 hours :)
- Zegrze Lake - also a bit of nature.

again, good one must admit, majority of stuff happening in town though

mfk

Thank you.
I have done a fast google and map search on your suggestions.

And they seem to be spot on ( except maybe for the Kampinoski Park - I wouldn't mind seeing a moose though, if it could be persuaded to come to the edge of the park area ).
I am planning on visiting the Zoo though as I haven't been there before.

I am almost sure that I haven't been to the Praga area before, actually I don't think I have been to that side of the river at all.
I have mainly been to the area from the central station to old town, old town itself and the Jewish sights.

But I definitely haven't been to Otwock/Karczew area which I am certainly interested in seeing.
I'll probably be staying at the Doubletree so I am already halfway there.

Zegrze lake is an option depending on when I am going. I actually like water, channels and harbours (neither counts as nature in my book...). I also think that I saw a picture of some sort of tourist boat (and I love sailing) so I'll check that out more carefully later.

Radom is a nice city. But I think the regional train ride is more than an hour from Warsaw. But if you'll be staying at the Doubletree, then you're basically on the outskirts of Warsaw as it is. ;)

Great to hear helosc!

Few notes:
- Praga wasn't demolished by our neighbors back ~70 years ago so you might get a REAL Warsaw feeling there. Try staying in Stalowa52 and walk around from there.
- Otwock/Karczew - you will need to do some prep work - I haven't seen help for tourists there.
- Zegrze - that's a good one, there's a boat trip there, however due to complete lack of rain over summer entire route dried out - you might want to check latest status.

If you like water - there are some river cruises (tiny boats) along historical spots (i took them several times) however I am not quite sure about English there.

have fun!
mfk

Thank you fanjet.
Yes, Radom is two hours from Warsaw on the fastest train. It looks like a nice place though, so I might consider it anyway.

And thank you MichalFKowalik.
Yes, I will of course do much more research into everything.
At the moment, I am merely THINKING about my travel plans for next year - planning will come later.
I asked for this information so I could decide whether I wanted to go to Warsaw again or not and it seems that there are enough new things for me to see and do to warrant a re-visit.
Actually I am probably going there twice next year as I am also thinking about a trip to Krakow which would include a shortish visit to Warsaw due to my flight being into Warsaw and not Krakow.

In Otwock make sure to take a stroll and look for Świdermajer-style houses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Awidermajer

If you'd like to wander a little bit I'd recommend Milanówek with plenty od 1920's and 1930's style villas. Interesting choice might be also Żyrardów and its industrial part with lofts and interestingly arranged space.

Thank you egon.olsen.
I have had a quick look at your suggestions and they look good.
I will certainly make sure to look for the wooden houses in the Otwock area.
And Zyrardow looks very interesting, I like old factory buildings - and it is less than an hour on the train from Warsaw.
It looks like Milanowek might be on the same train line as Zyrardow, which would make it a perfect short stop on the way back to Warsaw.

Beginning to look like a longish visit to Warsaw is in order.

60 km up north from Warsaw (1.5 hrs bus ride, regular sevices throughout the day) lies a small town of Pultusk
If you fancy the atmosphere of a sleepy, provicial town - it is the place to go.

There is also an old castle there turned a hotel now. Their restaurant is reputable for traditional Polish cuisine.
Take a boat cruise on river Narew after a lunch there (the pier is within the hotel compound).

Google Dom Polonii.

Thank you for your suggestion abeyro.
I googled the hotel and the town and it looks nice.
Unfortunately I am not keen on long bus rides, so I'll have to think about this one.
If I am going in spring/summer, it could be a possibility but not in winter, I think.

I have now decided to go to Warsaw in July.

So thank you for all the suggestions you have given me, they'll be very useful when I have to plan the details of my trip later.

I have now started planning my trip to Warsaw in July and I thought that I'll post some more details as I'll unearth them (and possibly a few follow up questions).

Firstly the sailing :

WTL operates several kinds of boats:

1) Boat to Serock.
Serock is a village on the shores of the Zegrze (Segrzynski) lake.
It's a once a day cruise on Friday, Saturday, Sunday in summer.
From 9.30 to 17.45 with a 2 hours stop in Serock.
More info :
http://www.ztm.waw.pl/?c=148&l=2

There is no mentioning of adequate or not adequate water levels this year.
It's a very long cruise in my opinion, probably too long for my liking unless
Serock is really worth a visit - is it?

2) Water tram cruise in Warsaw itself.
Operating Friday, Saturday, Sunday in summer.
~ 1 1/2 hours duration.
3 departures on Fridays, 4 on Saturdays, Sundays.
More info :
http://www.ztm.waw.pl/?c=147&l=2

3) Ferries across the river.
Every day.
More info :
http://www.ztm.waw.pl/?c=149&l=2

And prices for all 3 :
http://www.ztm.waw.pl/?c=170&l=2

The Praga area is as mentioned earlier on the right bank of the Wisla.
With public transport it can be reached with bus 160 from Centralna to the stop 'Park Praski' or with the metro to stop 'Dworzec Wilenski'.
There is an old vodka factory (Koneser) on Ul. Zabkowska 27/31.
There is a bear enclosure in the Park Praski.
And the zoo is next to the Praski Park :
Ul. Ratuszowa 1/3
Open 9-18 on week days and 9-19 on the weekend.

I am definitely going to Zyrardow. It is an old textile town, supposedly the only factory town in Europe.
Some pictures can be seen on its homepage:
https://www.zyrardow.pl/lang:2

It's 45 km west of Warsaw.
30 min on the fast trains (TKL, IR, IC) and 50 min on the slow ones (KM).
The fast trains leave from Warszawa Centralna and the KM ones from Warszawa Srodm which is adjacent to Centralna.
Very frequent trains - minimum every half hour.

Only the KM trains stop in Milanowek on the way.

What's the story on Praga these days? I remember last time I was in Warsaw ~10 years ago, there was still a very much "here be dragons" mentality about it in the tourist guides, like it was dangerous and best avoided. I ended up passing through on my way out by catching a train at Warszawa Wschodnia, and it didn't look bad at all.

There's nothing wrong with Praga. It isn't lively at night the way central Warsaw is. But there are still things to do in the daytime. The area near the zoo is nice. There's a nice park near the stadium. And the "beach" on the eastern banks of the Wisła get crowded in the summer months. I think it gets overlooked in the tourist sense because it is detached from the main part of the city by the river.