Trip to Poland - Useful Tips

Climate
average summer temperature varies between 16.5 degrees and 20 degrees in winter - between -6 degrees and 0 degrees. Average annual air temperature in Poland 7-9 ° C (except for mountain areas). The hottest regional capital cities in Poland in view of the average annual temperatures are: Tarnow, Wroclaw and Slubice.

The average rainfall is 600 mm. / Year (two thirds of the annual rainfall is in summer).
Maximum temperature observed: 40.2 degrees -Proszkow, in 1921
Minimal noticed temperature: -41.0 degrees - Siedlce, in 1940
The highest annual rainfall: 2 770 mm. - in Tatra Mountains, in 2001
The lowest annual rainfall: 275 mm. - in Poznan, 1982.

Embassies
Great majority of the countries have their embassies or consulates in Warsaw and other major cities: Gdansk, Poznan, Krakow, Szczecin and Lodz. Most of the offices are opened only busy days, check the opening hours before going there. The list of embassies can be found at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Emergency phones
997 - Police
999 - Ambulance
981 - Road Assistance
998 - Fire Brigade

Polish Currency
The polish currency is zloty - (English translation "golden", shortcut PLN).

The paper money are 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 PLN denominations, the coins are: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 groszy and: 1, 2, 5 zlotys. In Poland there is wide selection of cash dispensers.

The main conversions in approximation:

1 GBP = 4,5 PLN
1 EUR = 4 PLN
1 USD = 2,8 PLN

Almost all of Polish hotels and businesses accept credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, American Express, Diners and others).

Language
Polish language belongs to West Slavic languages - a part of the family of Indoeuropean languages. It is estimated that the Polish language is the mother tongue of about 44 million people worldwide, the Poles and Polish citizens - emigrants. However most of people in Poland (particularly youth) speak English, it is advised to buy at least small dictionary to communicate with Polish citizens that do not communicate in English (in shops, railway stations, passer byes etc.)

Visa to Poland
For the citizens of the European Union visas to Poland are not needed.

Citizens of the following countries that can travel to Poland without Visas:

Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong (some administrative region), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao (one region), Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vatican, and Venezuela.

Polish visas are only required for the citizens of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.

since 2007 Poland belongs to The Shengen territory, in which there is no passport control.