Warsaw for the Holidays Holiday magic on the Old Town Market Square.
Warsaw is hardly the first city that springs to mind when it comes to festive holiday cheer. The city’s modern skyscrapers and austere socialist architecture don’t exactly inspire visions of sugarplums or fit in amongst the gumdrop-gabled gingerbread villages of the Hallmark imagination. With climate change dimming the chances of snow, things must be more dreary than ever in December and January… Okay, let’s slap that notion right out of your head (whap!). In fact, Warsaw is arguably its best self during the holiday season, when decorative lights illuminate the main thoroughfares, open-air holiday markets spring up across town, families and friends come together over well-loved traditions, comfort food feeds the bellies, and the entire city seems to be giddy with mulled wine and glowing with good will. For visitors who may not be intimate participants in all of the season’s predominantly Catholic customs and traditions, there is still much to experience and enjoy, so let’s run you through the highlights. 10
Holiday Illuminations It seems that the capital is keenly aware of its reputation as a cold slab of grey post-communist humbug because every December and January it goes to great lengths to brighten itself up. What lengths exactly? Almost 700km according to the city’s own estimation of how far its holiday decorations would stretch if laid out in a line (basically all the way to Vienna!). Around Warsaw they cover about 20km of the city’s streets, illuminating the Old Town and the major thoroughfares of ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście, ul. Nowy Świat and ul. Marszałkowska. As such, the Old Town (p.24), the Royal Route (p.30) and Wilanów (keep reading) are the best places to really soak up Warsaw’s winter magic, where the decorations go beyond simple lights on strings but include entire illuminated installations along the way. Best of all, Warsaw keeps its lights on well past Christmas and all throughout January to keep its cold, grey reputation from creeping in until February 15th.
