Warsaw's Old Town A Self-Guided Audio Tour

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Warsaw’s magnificent Old Town has a turbulent and colourful history. Its beautiful buildings and atmospheric lanes were nearly lost forever when the city was reduced to rubble during World War II. On this walking tour I’ll bring the past back to life, much like the area’s inhabitants did as, piece by piece and stone by stone, they combed through the rubble to salvage what they could so Poland could miraculously replicate the Old Town using old photographs, original building plans, and even paintings of Warsaw street scenes by the famous Italian artist, Canaletto.

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2. Our tour begins in the often-lively Castle Square, in front of its imposing Royal Castle. From there, I’ll show you some of the Old Town fortifications.

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3. I’ll show you statues of Jan Kiliński, a shoemaker who opposed the Russian invasion in the second half of the 1700s.

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4. You'll see Mały Powstaniec (the Little Insurgent), which honours child soldiers who resisted Nazi occupation

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5. The tour passes by Rynek Starego Miasta. You'll hear about it while you walk.

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6. The tour passes by the church of jesuits. You'll hear about it while you walk.

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7. The tour passes by St John's Archcathedral. You'll hear about it while you walk.

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8. Stroll past St Martin’s Church, where a hunger strike against Communist oppression inspired Lech Wałęsa to form the Polish Solidarity Trade Union movement.

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9. The tour passes through Castle Square. Along the way, you'll hear about the history that has taken place there.

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10. The tour ends in Dzwon na Kanonii. On this 75-minute stroll, I’ll share the dramatic tale of how the Old Town has repeatedly flourished and fallen as it encountered dukes, kings, warriors, Nazis and Communists in its long history. It has always fought back and today stands more beautiful than ever, a time capsule filled with history, legends and inspiring artefacts.

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Cancellation

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Reviews

Ratings come from 11 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Warsaw

• Its from-price is 96% below the median of the 562 experiences we list in Warsaw.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 140 of 562.

About Warsaw

Warsaw is Poland's capital on the Vistula River, a city carefully rebuilt after the Second World War, with a restored old town, palaces and modern towers.

Warsaw was almost entirely destroyed in the Second World War, and its Old Town was rebuilt brick by brick from paintings and plans, work that earned it a UNESCO listing. Castle Square, with the Royal Castle and Sigismund's Column, leads into the market square, where a mermaid, the city's symbol, stands guard. The Palace of Culture and Science, a Soviet-era skyscraper of 1955, still dominates the skyline.

Top-ranked sights in Warsaw: Warsaw Old Town (Stare Miasto), Palace of Culture and Science (Palac Kultury i Nauki), Praga.

See all 562 experiences in Warsaw