Lublin

Introduction

Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical region of Lesser Poland, with a population of 339,682, located about about 170 km to the southeast of Warsaw by road.

First mentioned in 13th century, Lublin reached its "golden age" in 16th century, when - due to its central location between Kraków (capital of Poland) and Vilnius (capital of Lithuania) - it was chosen as the place where the Union of Lublin was signed, effectively uniting the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for several centuries. Due to its location at a crossroads between the rest of Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, the city was always a melting pot of different cultures - an important centre of Judaism as well as of the Christian reformation movement. From the 17th century onwards, together with the rest of the country, it suffered a gradual decline.

During World War II the Jewish and Polish populations suffered heavy losses with many people being interned and killed at Majdanek, a German Nazi concentration camp. In 1939, the city's Jewish population numbered 42,380, nearly a third of the total population. The war and Nazi crimes reduced the Jewish population to a mere 4,553 by 1945.

After the war, the city developed to be an important university site, with six state universities and a number of smaller ones. As well, the city served as Poland's post-war capital city for approximately six months after the Soviet occupation forces installed a puppet regime.

Today, Lublin is a beautiful mid-sized city with its own particular Renaissance style, called the Lublin Renaissance. That said, it's easy to say that the city has fallen on hard times with shuttered buildings in the heart of its old town. If you're coming from Warsaw, a slightly-less-than-thorough day trip to Lublin can be achieved, if you rely on taxis versus public transportation. Most of the major sites are not that far from the train station by car, so taxis can be a fast, cheap, and efficient way to traverse the city. Thorough sightseeing of Lublin and its surroundings (e.g. Naleczow, Kazimierz Dolny, Pulawy and Zamosc) requires more time. The hotel base in the city and its vicinity is well developed.

Neighbourhoods

Towns in the environs are Swidnik, Zamosc, Zwierzyniec, Frampol, Krasnik, Krasnystaw, Naleczow, Kazimierz Dolny, Pulawy, Kock, Lubartow, Parczew, Chełm, Wlodawa, Biala Podlaska and many more.

Sights and Activities

Lublin is one of the main Polish cities and has a variety of turist attrations (https://lublintravel.pl/en/lublin) and the Lublin Turist Card can be helpful in reaching them. The list of exemplary places put below gives an overview where to go:
1) Old Town with the building of the Crown Tribunal (see also: Piotrkow Trybunalski and Grodno) on the Market and the castle, a few churches and Krakow-Gate
2) The Castle of Lublin and Chapel of the Holy Trinity, Zamkowa St. 9 (at the northernmost part of the Old Town, near Main Bus Station), ☏ +48 81 532 50 01. Tu-Sa: 10:00-17:00, Sundays: 10:00-18:00 (September-May: Tu, Th-Sa: 9:00-16:00, W, Su: 9:00-17:00). The castle of Lublin has been rebuilt in the 19th century in the neogothic style. Proceed to the yard to take a look at the 13th century Romanesque donjon and the Chapel of Holy Trinity. The Chapel is a must-see - its interior conceals unique Byzantine wall paintings dating back to 1418. If you have some more time, check out the interior of the museum - especially the Polish Paintings Gallery and the huge Union of Lublin painting by Jan Matejko. 6.50zł / students, children: 4.50zł.
3) Krakowskie Przedmieście Street (Krakow Suburb Street) and plac Litewski (Lithuanian Square) near the Old Town
4) Lublin Museum (www.muzeumlubelskie.pl/)
5) Majdanek State Museum (www.majdanek.pl/)
6) Lublin Village Museum (skansen.lublin.pl)
7) Wincenty Pol Museum (13 Kalinowszczyzna Street, www.muzeumlubelskie.pl/Dworek_Wincentego_Pola-1-251-38.html)
8) Botanic Garden
9) Monument of Maria Curie-Skłodowska

Events and Festivals

The list from the website https://lublintravel.pl/en/lublin:
Night of Culture (June)
East of Culture - Different Sounds Art'n'Music Festival (June)
Sezon Lublin (May-September)
Carnaval Sztukmistrzów (July)
Jagiellonian Fair (August)
European Festival of Taste (September)
Theatre Confrontations (October)
International Dance Theatres Festival (November)
Lublin Film Festival (November)
Christmas Festival (December)

Getting There

By Plane

Lublin International Airport (LUZ IATA, www.airport.lublin.pl), opened in December 2012, with a train station inside the airport terminal providing quick and easy access to Lublin's rail network. However, destinations are so far limited, with routes to Antalya, Baia Mare, Bergamo, Burgas, Dublin, Gdansk, London Luton, Milan, Monastir, Rodos, Split and Warsaw, available so far from low-fare carriers Wizzair and Ryanair.

You can also fly into either Warsaw Frédéric Chopin Airport, Warsaw Radom Airport, Lodz Wladysław Reymont Airport, Krakow-Balice or Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport. From there, you need to take a train or a bus to come to Lublin. From both Warsaw and Kraków airports, you can take commuter trains to the respective city's central railway station, where you can in turn change to a train to Lublin. Landing in Rzeszow, Radom or Lodz, you need to rely on buses or trains (https://rozklad-pkp.pl/en).

By Train

Train connections to the most of cities in Poland, including Radom, Warsaw, Poznań, Szczecin, Siedlce, Chelm, Zamosc, Krasnik, Rzeszow and Krakow and also to Kiev (Ukraine). Regional trains among others to Zamosc, Chelm, Lubartow, Parczew, Naleczow, Pulawy, Krasnik and Stalowa Wola.

By Car

You can easily get there by car:

From Warsaw - national road  17 (S17), E372 : Warsaw - Otwock - Garwolin - Ryki - Lublin (2.5 hrs).
From Radom - national road  12 (S12): Radom - Zwolen - Pulawy - Lublin (1.5 hr).
From Kielce - national road 74,  19 : Kielce - Opatów - Ożarów - Annopol - Kraśnik - Lublin (2 hrs).
From Rzeszow - national road 19 (S19): Rzeszów - Nisko - Janów Lubelski - Kraśnik - Lublin (2 hrs).
From Bialystok - national road  19 (S19): Białystok - Bielsk Podlaski - Siemiatycze - Łosice - Międzyrzec Podlaski - Radzyń Podlaski - Kock - Lubartów - Lublin (4 hr).

Lublin has an express ring road around the city on the eastern, northern and western sides, but it is also possible to use Trasa W-Z Route: Warsaw  17 , E372  - Ryki - aleja Warszawska - aleja Solidraności - aleja Tysiąclecia - aleja Witosa - Swidnik (PL) - Piaski - Krasnystaw - Zamosc - Tomaszow Lubelski - Lviv (UA). There's is also south-north route: Svidnik (SK)  E371  - Rzeszow  19  - Krasnik - aleja Kraśnicka - Sikorskiego - aleja Solidarności - aleja Smorawińskiego - aleja Spółdzielczości Pracy - Lubartow - Kock - Siemiatycze - Bialystok - Hrodna (BY)

By Bus

Many international connections - from the 3 Main Bus Terminal (Dworzec Autobusowy Główny) with Birmingham, Bradford, Bremen, Cologne, Flensburg, Freiburg, Geneva, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, London, Lviv, Lutsk, Mannheim, Paris, Rotterdam, Rome, Stuttgart, Venice, Vilnius and Zurich. The international connections, for example these from Lublin to Vilnius, Prague, Bonn, Lviv, Kiev, Kamianets-Podilskyi and many other Ukrainian cities, are listed on http://lubelskiedworce.pl/page/29/lublin-dworzec-glowny-ndash-stanowisko-0.html. The variety of domestic connections (e.g. to Przemysl, Bialystok, Gdynia and Kock) is described on http://lubelskiedworce.pl/page/26/rozklad-jazdy.html. The Southern Bus Terminal (Dworzec Autobusowy Południe) - the metropolitan one - is located right across the square from the Main Train Station. It is dedicated to regional lines.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

In the city centre or the Old Town you can easily reach every place worth seeing on foot. You can also use the public transport. It's worth to try a trolleybus ride, especially the "tourist" route  156   from the Majdanek Concentration Camp, near Old Town and Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva. The city has 50 bus lines and 8 trolleybus lines (served by MPK). There's also commercial city transport (buses with Komunikacja prywatna or AKL signs).

To use the public transport you should buy your tickets in a "kiosk" - such "kiosks" are usually situated near bus stops - or on the bus (exact change required). The price system for MPK (municipal) buses is following: a single ride ticket costs 3.20 zł, students with ISIC identification pay 1.60 zł. You must validate your ticket immediately upon getting on the bus. Children below 4 can use public transport for free. When changing buses, you need to validate another ticket (they are valid only for one ride each). Of use to tourists, there are also 24-hour tickets (11 zł / 5.5 zł).

Routes 1-57 - normal buses
Routes 7x - mini-buses (suburban buses)
Routes 150-160 - trolleybuses
Routes Nx - night buses (tickets must be bought from the driver: 5.00 zł / 2.50 zł); available whole week

Routes to/from the Railway Station and the Central Bus Terminal are prone to pickpockets.

By Bicycle

Lublin has a well-developed system of cycling infrastructure. There are over 80 km of segregated cycle lanes and paths in the city. The most common are bike paths independent of road traffic, however most of them are outside the Old Town and the city centre (map of cycle paths and lanes). You can rent a bike from early spring to the end of autumn (24/7) in a self-service system Lubelski Rower Miejski. It consists of 40 automatic rent stations and 400 bikes. First 20 minutes of a rent is free of charge. Charge for next 40 minutes is 1 zł, the second hour is 2 zł and every consecutive hour is 4 zł. To use the system, you should register online to get an account, make pre-payment (min. 10 zł) and then can rent bikes at any station (you must have a mobile phone to do it). As similar systems exist in other major cities in Poland you can use one account in any of them.

Eat

Most restaurants are situated in Old Town and in the city center: Krakowskie Przedmieście St. (pedestrian zone called Deptak), Narutowicza St., Okopowa St. and Chopina St. You can choose among regional, Polish, Jewish, international, Spanish, Czech and Italian restaurants (the last one are especially common). There are also a lot of kebab bars with Turkish and Arabic fast food. Nadbystrzycka St., near Technical University is a centre of this type of bars. Also in every shopping centre you can find many restaurants, bars and fast food.

The most known local food speciality is cebularz, a small, oven-baked flat bread topped with onion mixed with poppy seeds. The tradition of preparing it has existed since Middle Ages and is connected with Jewish cuisine. Cebularz probably originates from wheat flatbreads known in the Middle East which were brought to this part of Poland by Jewish immigration and modified afterwards. It is a very popular snack: One can buy it in every bakery or grocery in Lublin (it is uncommon to taste it in a restaurant or bar). Since 2014 cebularz has been registered within the European Union as a product with Protected Geographical Indication. The Lublin region is also famous for various kinds of pierogi. The local type is known as pierogi po lubelsku (or pierogi wiejskie). It is stuffed with a mix of cottage cheese, buckwheat groats (kasha) and mint. Look for restaurants with regional cuisine to taste them (Sielsko Anielsko, Rynek 17, Old Town). If you want to try Lublin regional alcoholic beverages (or buy Lublin-related souvenirs), you can choose among vodka, mead and beer. The most famous vodka produced here is Żołądkowa Gorzka, vodka with "bitter" (gorzka) in the name, but sweet in taste. Just like Żubrówka, it's a unique Polish product and definitely a must-try. The APIS company in Lublin is the oldest Polish mead-making factory in Poland. Among more than ten varieties of mead which are produced there, one (Staropolski Tradycyjny trójniak) is marked with an EU Traditional Speciality Guaranteed sign. Lublin also has a longstanding brewery tradition. The local beer called Perła Chmielowa (Hop Pearl) is a very tasty pilsner-type lager. You can also try beers in a micro-brewery situated in Old Town (Grodzka 15 Restaurant).

Pyzata Chata, Okopowa 5. Cheap, self-service restaurant with typical Polish food. Main course with soup 15-20 zł.
Bar Polski, Rynek 19 (Old Town central square). Small self-service restaurant situated in a Medieval basement. This is a real budget one but you can't choose the dishes - they offer only one lunch set (main course with soup 15 zł). The menu changes every day.
Bosko, Krakowskie Przedmieście 4. This is by far the most popular ice cream place in the city. Queues are very common, even when the weather is not particularly hot.
OLD PUB Bar & Restaurant, 8 Grodzka St.
Ulice Miasta, Łokietka Sq. 3 (Right next to Kraków Gate), ☏ +48 81 534 05 92. 10 - 23, F-Sa 10-01. A nice restaurant with Polish cuisine and great ambience, in the cellar of the Kraków Gate. 30 -40zł per main course.
Mandragora, Rynek 9 (Old Town central square). Traditional Jewish cuisine. Soup 9-15 zł. Main course 20-50 zł.
Sielsko Anielsko, Rynek 17 (Old Town central square). Very nice rustic-style restaurant with regional cuisine. Soup 7-10 zł. Main course 20-40 zł.
Chata - karcma regionalna, Nadbystrzycka 16 (in the nearby of Lublin University of Technology, from the downtown a 10-15 min walk via Narutowicza St.). Very popular (during weekends reservation is necessary) rustic-style restaurant with traditional Polish cuisine. Soup 9-15 zł. Main course 30-40 zł.
Hotel Alter Restaurant, Grodzka 30 (Old Town, next to the Grodzka Gate). A restaurant in the hotel Alter (the only one five-star hotel in the region). New-style Polish and international cuisine. Soup 20-25 zł, main course 60-80 zł.

Drink

For drinking, head to the Old Town and its vicinity. That's where the most popular pubs are located. Even there, prices are low because of a large student clientèle. Pubs offer one or two varieties of draught beer (draft beer), usually only pilsner-type lagers. In the last couple of years some bars and coffee houses have opened up in the area west of the Old Town (in the direction of Ogród Saski). Unfortunately, in majority, pubs sell do not sell local beer. If you want to taste regional one ask for Perla. Prices: Big one (duże; 0,5 liter) costs 6-10 zł, small one (małe; 0.3 liter) is at 1-2 zł lower price.

Cafe Mari, ul. Artura Grottgera 8, ☏ +48 81 381 22 17, ✉ [email protected]. Quite new place that is excellent for a quiet stop during the day while sipping tea, coffee or enjoying their cakes. approx. 8-11 zł for a tea or coffee.
Między Słowami, ul. Rybna 4/5, ☏ +48 508 217 014, ✉ [email protected]. This place in the Old Town is a bar and library combined. Here you can read a chapter (or more) of one of their books and this when flavoring one of their many kinds of tea or coffee. There is a wide selection of books in English, in fact most of them are in English. They also have cakes. approx. 10 zł for tea or coffee.
Perłowa Beer House (Perłowa Pijalnia Piwa), ul. Bernardyńska 15A, ☏ +48 81 71 01 205. 14:00-00:00. May be open longer on Fridays and Saturdays, depending on the crowd.. This may be one of the most stylish places in Lublin to have a beer. Owned by the Perła brewery group (and located on the edge of the actual brewery) you are pretty close to the source. It may be no surprise that you can only get beers from this company here, but the wide offer of dark and light beers makes up for it. The place basically consists of one big oval-shaped bar. 8-12 zł.

Sleep

Cent Hostel, ul. Ewangelicka 6, ☏ +48 665 777 030, ✉ [email protected]. Dorm bed 45 zł.
Folk Hostel, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 23, entrance from ul. Zielona, ☏ +48 887 223 887, ✉ [email protected]. Dorm bed 45 zł.
Guest House Wytchnienie, ul. Powstańców Śląskich 15. Guest rooms in the Sławinek neighborhood, some kilometers west of the city center.
Hostel Lublin, ul. Lubartowska 60 (in the oldest district of Lublin, Czwartek), ☏ +48 81 747 44 07. Dorm bed 40 zł.
Pokoje Lublin, ul. Urocza 73, ☏ +48 515 802 266, ✉ [email protected]. Single room 50 zł.
Hotel Mercure.
Hotel Victoria.
Hotel Przystań, ☏ +48 81 744-10-97, ✉ [email protected].
Hotel Europa.
Hotel Huzar.
Hotel Campanile.
Hotel Bellis.
Hotel Lwow.
Hotel Korona.
PZM Motel.
Hotel Focus, al. Kraśnicka 80, ☏ +48 81 527 00 44, fax: +48 81 527 00 46, ✉ [email protected]. 150 - 330 zł.
IBB Grand Hotel Lublinianka, ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 56, ☏ +48 81 44 66 100, fax: +48 81 44 66 200, ✉ [email protected]. 260 - 710 zł.
Hotel Waksman. Double 230 zł

Learn

There are five public universities in Lublin:

1) Maria Curie-Sklodowska University (UMCS), https://www.umcs.pl/en/about-umcs,1549.htm, with The Polish Language and Culture Centre for Polish People from Abroad and Foreigners

2) John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL), https://www.kul.pl/research,289.html, with The School of Polish Language and Culture,

3) Medical University of Lublin, https://www.umlub.pl/en/

4) University of Life Sciences in Lublin, https://up.lublin.pl/en/

5) Lublin University of Technology, https://pollub.pl/en/

Keep Connected

Internet

In the cities there are more and more Wifi Hot Spots, so if you have your own mobile device, you can connect. Best chances of finding one are at airports, railway stations, in cafés, shopping malls and universities. Places like McDonald's and Starbucks usually have unlimited free wifi. In some hotels you can find free wifi, though you might have to pay as well or maybe just use it for a limited amount of time. Internet cafes become less popular recently as people prefer to use internet at homes.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

To call to Poland from abroad, dial the Polish country code,48, then the number without the leading 0, as if calling from a domestic mobile phone.
The general emergency number is 112. Police (997), Ambulance (999) and Fire (998) have phone numbers as well, and municipal police has 986 as a number.

Mobile phones work almost across the whole country. There are four mobile phone operators in Poland: Plus, T-Mobile, Orange and Play. About 98% of the country is covered by the standard European GSM 900/1800 MHz network, the remaining 2% are wildlife reserves or high mountains. 3G is available in almost every town.
Domestic call rates are roughly the same across all services. Prepaid starter kits with SIM card (called starter in Polish) are widely available in reasonable prices (PLN5-20, most of which is available for calls), in most of the shops, supermarkets and news agents.

Just about every shopping centre has at least one independent cellphone shop, the guys who run them are usually knowledgeable and have a range of cheap handsets which you can use as a local / travel phone. This may be a good option since juggling SIM cards is always a pain.

Post

Poczta Polska is the Polish public post service. Post offices are generally open from 8:00am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday. Some offices are open on Saturday until 2:00pm and the main post offices in major cities are open daily, 24 hours. Services are generally ok, but don't expact it to be fast and it is not always reliable, though most letters, postcards and parcels will arrive at its destinations after a week or two. You can find the red post boxes dotted throughout the country. You can check this postal website to see how much sending a letter, postcard or parcels costs, both domestically as well as internationally. For sending packages internationally, you can also check FedEx, TNT, DHL or UPS, as they have fast and reliable services and generally competitive prices as well.

External Links