Poland

Of all the Polish cities, the capital is the hardest to love. Destroyed by the Nazis during WWII, Warsaw’s reconstructed Old Town still feels fake, whilst the rest of the city is an ill-thought out concrete jumble. Still the urban traveller should feel right at home, once they’ve located the cool cafes, hidden beach bars, sizzling underground clubs. There’s also a burgeoning contemporary arts scene, and the once no go district of Stara Praga is full of exciting discoveries.

Meanwhile the likes of Krakow, Wroclaw, Poznan and Lublin combine beautiful architecture with student-fuelled nightlife (all are university cities) perfect for wild weekend breaks – whereas the post industrial town of Lodz is Poland’s dark horse, much loved by David Lynch. Everywhere you travel in Poland, the warmth of the people – and the vodka – offset the cold of those East European winters. During summer hit the happening beach resort of Sopot on the Baltic sea.

Krakow’s trams are an integral part of the city’s infrastructure and aesthetic. These rumbling blue machines stretch out from the medieval Old Town, with its spires and steeples, to the outskirts of the city, where a mix of Communist and modern apartment blocks house the majority of the population, ferrying…

Until recently a walk ‘po drugiej stronie’, or ‘on the other side’ was considered a brave – if not foolhardy- move by Cracovians. The river Vistula was the boundary where the civilised side of Krakow ended and a rough and ready area called Podgorze began… it was the sort of…

Once derogatorily dubbed the Manchester of Poland, the country’s third largest city is undergoing a huge facelift more in keeping with its other sobriquet of ‘HollyLodz’. Stuart Wilson reveals the stars of the show… A leisurely stroll along Piotrkowska Street – the main artery running through the heart of Lodz…

Anna Spysz risks frostbite to photograph, and talk to, Krakow’s swans during a particularly nippy weekend in Poland. Michael Dlugi shivers along for the ride. Contrary to popular opinion, Poland is not located in Siberia. Sure, it gets cold here in the winter, but, as a rule, the rivers do…

Goodbye Lenin? Not quite, Krakow’s Communist district of Nowa Huta lives on, and whilst the area has few local fans, it has proved a big hit with tourists. Stuart Wadsworth investigates. Krakow: a city of dreaming spires, ancient castles, dragons, myths, cobbled streets, cosy bars and coffee shops; an intellectual…