Tips - Poland

VISA

Citizens of the following countries are not required to be in possession of a visa when entering Poland for less than 90 days:

Austria, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Belgium Bulgaria, Brunei, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Guatemala, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao (Special Administrative Region), Liechtenstein, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, United Kingdom, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Uruguay, United States of America, Venezuela, Vatican (Holy See)

For further information concerning entry requirements and residence in Poland please contact a local polish embassy or consulate in your country.

EMBASSY

To find heads and diplomatic staff of diplomatic missions of foreign states in the Republic of Poland visit Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland website.

EMERGENCY PHONES

From fixed phones you dial:
999 - Ambulance
998 - Fire Brigade
997 - Police
986 - Municipal Police
981 - Road Assistance

The emergency calls are free of charge.

From mobile you dial:
112 – general emergency number

or you can call the right department in the city where you are:

city code + emergency number of the right department

e.g. to call ambulance in Warsaw from mobile phone you dial 22-999

Help number for Tourists in Poland

Free number 0 800 200 300 or cell users: 48 608 599 999 (some charges by your service provider may apply) is recommended by the Polish Police and Tourist Organization. Use it in case safe traveling, robbery or if lost. The number is working from June 30th to September 30th between hours 10:00 a.m. do 10:00 p.m.

MONEY EXCHANGE

You can exchange money in most of the banks, they are usually open 9:00-17:00. You can also do in private offices called “kantor”. The exchange rates might be higher or lover in different KANTORS.

TELECOMUNICATIONS

You can find the public phones in the cities or towns, to use them you need to have the phone card, which might be purchased at kiosks or post offices.
To call your country you need to dial 00 (the international access code), then the country code, area code and the telephone number.
If you want to make the local call you need to dial 0 then the city code and the telephone number. The city codes are:
22 – Warsaw
12 – Cracow
58 – Gdansk
71 – Wroclaw
61 – Poznan

If you want to call mobile number you dial 0 and then the number.
For example if you want to call us while your stay in Poland, you can dial the local number:
422093970

If you want to use your own mobile you can choose one of the GSM operators: Orange, Era, Plus, Play. If you stay longer it might be good idea to buy a prepaid SIM card of one of them.
If you call local number from mobile phone you need to dial +48 then the city code and the local number. If you want to call mobile number you need to dial +48 and the mobile number.

ELECTRICITY

230V(AC), 50Hz, European type connections.

TAXES

Most goods/services are subject to 22% Value Added Tax.

Not EU citizens may follow the procedures to get VAT refunded if they spend more then 200 PLN. Give yourself time at the frontier to get money back, when you leave Poland.

TOILETS

Unfortunately, public toilets are quite rare, so feel free to use restaurant or hotel ones. It usually costs 1-2 PLN.

SOUVENIRS

We suggest you buying some products which are typically Polish and everywhere can be recognized as Polish. Here you have some ideas:

Folk art products

Vodka

Amber

Glass and porcelain

Albums
Postcards

Or you can of course buy one of touristy products that can be bought everywhere else, the only difference will be the photo or the label, but we all know that it is made in China.

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