Warsaw Winter Wonderland

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.

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.30), the Royal Route (p.38) 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.

Wilanów Royal Garden of Light

Each year the gardens around Wilanów Palace (p.38) also become a colourful and festive wonderland of lights, as literally thousands of tiny LEDs trace the baroque contours of the sculptures, gardens and plants. One of Warsaw’s most beloved holiday traditions, almost every local family turns out at some point during the long festive season to see these impressive illuminations, and you should too. Some areas of the garden are even programmed to change their lighting in sync with the sounds of Chopin and other music every 15-30mins. Note that the last entrance to the gardens is at 20:30.

In addition to the illuminated gardens, custom animations are projected on the facade of the palace using 3D mapping technology on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings only at exactly 17:30, 18:30, 19:00, 19:30 and 20:30. Each show incorporates art, light and enchanting Baroque music with bits of history and whimsy, and each 15min show is different; that is to say that if you stay all night freezing your extremities, you’ll be rewarded with five different animations.Qwww.wilanow-palac. pl. Open 16:00-21:00 (last entrance 20:30). Tickets MonThu 20/5zł, Fri-Sun 40/10zł; children under 7 free.

Warsaw for the Holidays Old Town Christmas Market & Ice Rink

In contrast to most Polish cities, which turn their market squares into crammed Christmas fairs this time of year, Warsaw flexes its capital city credentials by turning practically its entire Old Town district into a winter wonderland of festive sights, sounds and smells, illuminated with thousands of decorative lights. Arguably the most magical Christmas market in Poland, the handsome wooden huts of Warsaw’s holiday fair stretch from Plac Zamkowy (F-4, p.25), along ul. Podwale and the city’s old defensive walls, all the way to the Barbican, and then onto the Old Town Square (p.27), which also hosts market stalls and an ice rink around the Warsaw Mermaid. That’s quite a lot of ground to cover, and along the way you’ll find plenty of unique propositions for presents and gifts, from holiday decorations and handicrafts to toys, sweets and local food products. Also don’t miss trying some traditional Polish dishes, served hot around the market - oscypek (smoked cheese), kiełbasa and kaszanka (black pudding) to name a few, and make sure you treat yourself to some grzaniec (hot mulled wine) or miód pitny (mead). Once you’ve exhausted yourself walking around the market stalls, lace up your skates and try to impress the busty onlooker at centre ice.QOpen until January 6, 11:0021:00. Admission free. Skate rental 10zł/hr.

A short walk north of the Old Town you’ll find Multimedia Fountain Park, whose main attraction is - can you guess? - a spectacular fountain that can spray 800 cubic metres of water 25m into the air as part of a stunning show combining light, sound, water and lasers. The achieved visual effects include Warsaw’s iconic Syrena (mermaid) moving through a curtain of water. From December 3rd, these 15-minute free shows are set to holiday music and take place Friday to Sunday, on-the-hour from 17:00 to 21:00 (last show) until the end of January 2023. Super popular, get there early to enjoy the beautifully decorated park, which includes a light maze, and stake out a seat.QF-3, Skwer im. I Dywizji Pancernej, www.park-fontann.pl.

City Centre Skiing

Poles are crazy about winter sports, but you may have observed that Warsaw is a bit flat. No bother, if you haven’t got a hill, build one! That’s certainly the case with Górka Szczęsliwicka (Szczęśliwicka Hill) which started out as a dumping ground for rubble after World War II, and was later used as a general refuse dump. It was only in the late 1960s that the rubbish was covered with earth and turned into a park, and it’s featured a ski centre since the 1980s. Located in the Ochota district, just 5km southwest of the train station, this is the tallest hill in Warsaw, and measures 152m. Modernised in 2020, it features rental facilities, ski lifts and you can even take skiing/ snowboarding lessons.Qul. Drawska 22, www.gorkaszczesliwicka.com. If you’re in Warsaw for New Year’s Eve and looking for a raucous night to remember forever, COVID-bedamned, you’ll be happy to know that all bets are still on. Known locally as ‘Sylwester’ (like the cat, or the Stallone if you prefer), on the last night of the year every bar, club, restaurant and hotel in town will be hosting a private all-night New Year’s Eve bash. These events are typically ticketed and very expensive, and current restrictions in place mean all events will theoretically be limited to 100 people max, so make sure you’ve planned in advance or you might not get that midnight kiss from a stranger. Your celebratory options are literally limitless, and you can find a list of parties online at allevents.in/warsaw/new-year

In most years, the city would provide you with the exciting fallback plan of joining tens of thousands of people on Plac Bankowy, for Warsaw’s New Year’s Eve gala. Involving an unbelievably complex stage set-up and short sets by the biggest national pop stars, the event is otherwise known as the ‘Polish Super Bowl Halftime show,’ but has been canceled for the third consecutive year due to the pandemic, and now rising energy costs. As for fireworks, it may be on you to bring the sparklers.

Three Kings Day Parade 2023

Despite a damper being thrown on mass nondenominational mayhem, Catholic traditions must go forward. Three Kings Day, known as ‘Epiphany’ in most of the west, is observed on January 6th and marks the end of the holiday season in Poland (though carolling continues, and decorations generally stay up until February). A national bank holiday, Three Kings is celebrated with colourful and grand processions in most major Polish cities, in which the three wise men - Kaspar (aka Casper), Melchior and Balthazar - make their way to the nativity to see the baby Jesus. Warsaw, being the capital of course, has the largest Three Kings procession in the world (according to the organisers), and it is indeed something to behold. Although this year may not play entirely to type due to the pandemic, the procession generally involves the three wise men riding on camelback amidst colourfully costumed courtiers as carols are sung by a massive crowd wearing paper crowns. Plac Zamkowy (F-4) is ground zero for the procession which begins at 12:00 and winds down Krakowskie Przedmieście to Plac Piłsudskiego (F-6), where there is a live nativity and more singing and festivities.