Olsztyn

Introduction

Olsztyn is a city in the north of Poland. The city is home to 175,000 inhabitants and boasts a beautiful Gothic city centre. Some charming Masurian lakes are very close and the city has basically grown around them.

Sights and Activities

• Old Town Hall, Stare Miasto 33.
• Castle of the Warmian Chapter (Zamek Kapituły Warmińskiej), Zamkowa 2, ☎ +48 89 527 95 96. Closed on M.
• Planetarium and Astronomic Observatory, al. Piłsudskiego 38.
• Co-cathedral Basilica of Saint Jacob the Apostle, Stanisława Staszica 11, ☎ +48 89 527 32 80.
• High Gate (Wysoka Brama), Staromiejska 16.

Events and Festivals

• International Theatre Festival DEMOLUDY is held every October and became one of the biggest festivals presenting contemporary theatre and drama from former communist countries.

Getting There

By Plane

There is an international airport in the near town of Szczytno, but more flights go from Warsaw Chopin Airport.

By Train

The Polish State Railways have train connections from Warsaw, Szczecin and Gdansk as well as Bialystok and Krakow.

By Car

You can easily get there by car from Warsaw, Gdańsk and Białystok.

By Bus

It is possible to reach Bydgoszcz by bus from many Polish cities - detailed information about bus transport is available on the websites: pks.olsztyn.pl and dworzeconline.pl.

Sleep

You can use the form below to search for availability (Travellerspoint receives a commission for bookings made through the form)

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