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As a person who lives here - I can say Warsaw is a great city to live in. I’ve considered many destinations for emigrating and in the end decided to stay. Anecd

As a person who lives here - I can say Warsaw is a great city to live in. I’ve considered many destinations for emigrating and in the end decided to stay. Anecdotally, so did many others I know. Green, walkable, clean, good public transport, mostly-well-connected airport, reasonable cost of living (esp. if you work remotely as a software engineer…), good and varied restaurants, and very safe.

tombert 2y ago
I spent a week in Warsaw in 2020 (right before the world shut down, to a point where it was not 100% clear I'd be let back in the US), and thought it was an extremely underrated city. As you said, very clean and walkable, and as an American it's really cheap due to the exchange rate. I go to Poland nearly every year because of Lambda Days, which is in Krakow, though next time I fly over I might take the train over to Warsaw again.
- fifilura 2y ago
  My memory of Warsaw was a very interesting traffic deadlock around a block with two roundabouts in the city centre. There were simply too many cars around that block so they effectively locked each other up. That was ten years ago though so maybe they fixed it. A big part of my time there was spent in a taxi.
  - limaoscarjuliet 2y ago
    You mean this one? Nope, still a cluster. https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2309595,21.0148913,16.75z?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2309595,21.0148913,16.75z?en...
    - fifilura 2y ago
      Yes! Most likely. And I probably described it wrong before. It was probably more the roundabouts combined with traffic lights that caused the mess. I remember thinking that someone needs to drop a bomb on this place or we'll be stuck forever.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- tomcam 2y ago
  I mean nothing wrong with Krakow either
  - tombert 2y ago
    Krakow is great, one of my favorite cities to visit (and part of what I love about Lambda Days!).
    - gambiting 2y ago
      Krakow is amazing and I love it, but pollution levels are not a joke. In winter everything is black with soot.
      - tombert 2y ago
        Fair enough; coming from NYC, Krakow seems comparatively pretty clean and nice :)
jajko 2y ago
This could be said about all capitals/big cities in the region - Krakow, Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Budapest etc. Good for you that you stayed if that's more like your cup of tea. Perspective of somebody who actually moved - best decision of my life. Nothing less than Switzerland, no point trying to reach less in life than the limit. Not easy to get into by any means, and you have to adapt to their culture and way of life and not vice versa (which is usually the biggest issue with immigrants) and accept few tradeoffs. But for adventurer and mountain lover like me, who came to appreciate massively clean everything, low criminality, consistently polite and respectful people, society that just works (TM) - social, education, medical aspects, even bureaucracy. Then coming back (not Poland so not comparing with it specifically) gets less and less rosy over time, to the point of being disappointed with whole place and society. You see corruption, stupidity, self-shooting in the foot, greed, everybody thinking about themselves and screw others, mafia, and everybody knows it, knows who is bad guy, yet nothing is done. Not a place I decided to have kids and raise them, nor get old. To each their own, as long as we are all happy with our choices down the line, life is easy in your 20s and 30s without kids practically anywhere.
- Rinzler89 2y ago
  >You see corruption, stupidity, self-shooting in the foot, greed, everybody thinking about themselves and screw others, mafia, and everybody knows it, knows who is bad guy, yet nothing is done. Westerners who move there as tourists or with their remote jobs will never see this so for them it's only upsides, especially if they come from that country full of gun crime and homeless people, it's like some miracle place.
  - bloomingeek 2y ago
    My wife and I vacationed in Prague in the fall of 2021. To us it was magical and beautiful. We've been lucky enough to visit several European cities, Prague is where we could live. Having grown up in the late 60's and 70's in the States, eastern Europe was usually demonized because of the then influence of Russia. When my wife suggested Prague, I admit I had a little apprehension, but I was absolutely wrong. The people were very kind and helpful, the history was interesting and the food and drink was fantastic.
thrw087248 2y ago
> Green, walkable For someone from Gdańsk this is laughable. The city is very car-centric. There are large areas of it that are just concrete with no green in sight. This contributes to absurdly high temperatures in the summer and difficulty of finding any shade. “Patelnia” (frying pan) has that name for a reason and it’s by no means the only such place. The city also keeps building glass skyscrapers which reflect sunlight onto the ground in already heat-stroke-inducing heat. It’s laden with huge intersections with 2-phase crossings, which you need to run through in order to go through in one go. If you fail, you’ll be stranded on a concrete island breathing in fumes from car traffic. Public transport is good if you can use the metro. But there are only 2 lines, so aside from maybe going to work you’ll most likely be using a bus. The bus is most likely to be going regularly late and overcrowded (god I hate 186).
- cube2222 2y ago
  The greenery is a spectrum of course, depending on how close to the very center of the city you are. I never had big problems with busses, but trams are good too, and I generally prefer them. I disagree with it not being walkable somewhere though. You can easily get anywhere on foot, and safely. Never had an issue with that anywhere in the city. It could definitely be more cyclable, as there are still many places without a dedicated biking lane (and you have to use the road or sidewalk), but walkable it definitely is.
- Tade0 2y ago
  > “Patelnia” (frying pan) has that name for a reason and it’s by no means the only such place. That reason was actually retconned. Back when the term was coined there weren't that many cars in Warsaw and summers were not this hot. Most likely it was simply the first association anyone had looking at it when emerging from the subway.
- etc-hosts 2y ago
  The downtown bike lines surrounded by concrete borders seemed pretty cool to me. I wandered around the big (big to me) park in the center, Lazienkowski park. I did find the huge open spaces next to Stalin Skyscraper and Saxon Palace to be very unused looking. I love Warsaw, too bad I find the language impenetrable.
Detrytus 2y ago
And me, I'm just moving out, after 15 years in Warsaw, because I hate it. I agree that it's mostly safe, but green, or clean? And the public transportation is a mixed bag, my daily commute to the office used to be 1h each way (around 6 miles distance). Cost of living is ridiculously high compared to the rest of Poland, software engineers, businessmen and celebrities are probably the only ones who really can afford it. But the main reason I'm leaving is because people here are assholes. As a capital city of Poland Warsaw attracts the worst kind of scum, politicians, wannabe celebrities, con men, corporate drones, gold diggers, etc. If I could have one wish it would be for Putin to nuke Warsaw.
- linearrust 2y ago
  > But the main reason I'm leaving is because people here are assholes... If I could have one wish it would be for Putin to nuke Warsaw. Good god that escalated quickly.
- kolinko 2y ago
  As for people - just like any large city, it depends on which bubble you're in.
  - Detrytus 2y ago
    I spent 15 years here, had like 5-6 software engineering jobs, moved a few times to a different neighborhood, tried different social activities (sports, arts, dance lessons, online dating, etc.) and in the end the people always turned out the same. But maybe I'm just unlucky...
    - le-mark 2y ago
      Seems to be one constant here, yourself. And you know how the saying goes…
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
- 2y ago
ffgjgf1 2y ago
The main reason why’d never want to live in Poland longterm are the extreme pollution levels. Compared to some other places you can’t even escape it by moving to the suburbs/etc. The only place worse/as bad in the EU is Northern Italy but at least they have geography as an excuse. It would be a nice place if the Poles stopped burning coal.. * https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2023/sep/20/europes-pollution-divide-see-how-your-area-compares https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2023/...
- pkolaczk 2y ago
  That depends heavily on the exact place you live. Warsaw has central heating and central natural gas distribution network, so almost no one uses coal or wood here. My air pollution meter shows very low levels of P2.5 and P10 (< 20 p/ug) for the majority of the year. It’s easy to manipulate by using a color scale where perfectly harmless pollution levels are painted red or black. Better map (live) here: https://airly.org/map/pl/ https://airly.org/map/pl/
  - ffgjgf1 2y ago
    This is hourly/etc. though? The one I posted was the yearly average which I think is a much better way to look at this (maybe monthly would be better though). > < 20 p/ug ~ 20 seems quite high (IMHO) > so almost no one uses coal or wood here Power plants might be the much bigger issue. Coal is still > 60%, of course it has improved massively over the last few years (used to be almost 80% a few years ago). IIRC Poland produces more electricity from coal than all the other EU countries combined besides Germany (who also suck).
    - pzduniak 2y ago
      What you're pointing at is mostly irrelevant - the massive coal / lignite plants are obviously filtering the exhaust through filters according to EU levels. A family member works in the field. The actual air pollution issue stems from small heaters used in houses that haven't been upgraded yet (or people using them improperly / burning trash) - but there's plenty of EU funding going towards replacing them. Many of the remaining users are unfortunately living in poverty and can't even afford the remaining 20-30% of the price + heating afterwards can absolutely become more expensive.
cynicalsecurity 2y ago
The salaries in Warsaw are incredibly low for such a big xity, they are lower than in Krakow. The hate towards foreigners is way too high. It feels very non-European.
- koliber 2y ago
  Can you share more about the hate against foreigners in Warsaw? I am surprised as I’ve heard mostly opposite opinions.

tombert 2y ago

I spent a week in Warsaw in 2020 (right before the world shut down, to a point where it was not 100% clear I'd be let back in the US), and thought it was an extremely underrated city. As you said, very clean and walkable, and as an American it's really cheap due to the exchange rate. I go to Poland nearly every year because of Lambda Days, which is in Krakow, though next time I fly over I might take the train over to Warsaw again.

fifilura 2y ago
My memory of Warsaw was a very interesting traffic deadlock around a block with two roundabouts in the city centre. There were simply too many cars around that block so they effectively locked each other up. That was ten years ago though so maybe they fixed it. A big part of my time there was spent in a taxi.
- limaoscarjuliet 2y ago
  You mean this one? Nope, still a cluster. https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2309595,21.0148913,16.75z?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2309595,21.0148913,16.75z?en...
  - fifilura 2y ago
    Yes! Most likely. And I probably described it wrong before. It was probably more the roundabouts combined with traffic lights that caused the mess. I remember thinking that someone needs to drop a bomb on this place or we'll be stuck forever.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
tomcam 2y ago
I mean nothing wrong with Krakow either
- tombert 2y ago
  Krakow is great, one of my favorite cities to visit (and part of what I love about Lambda Days!).
  - gambiting 2y ago
    Krakow is amazing and I love it, but pollution levels are not a joke. In winter everything is black with soot.
    - tombert 2y ago
      Fair enough; coming from NYC, Krakow seems comparatively pretty clean and nice :)

jajko 2y ago

This could be said about all capitals/big cities in the region - Krakow, Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Budapest etc. Good for you that you stayed if that's more like your cup of tea. Perspective of somebody who actually moved - best decision of my life. Nothing less than Switzerland, no point trying to reach less in life than the limit. Not easy to get into by any means, and you have to adapt to their culture and way of life and not vice versa (which is usually the biggest issue with immigrants) and accept few tradeoffs. But for adventurer and mountain lover like me, who came to appreciate massively clean everything, low criminality, consistently polite and respectful people, society that just works (TM) - social, education, medical aspects, even bureaucracy. Then coming back (not Poland so not comparing with it specifically) gets less and less rosy over time, to the point of being disappointed with whole place and society. You see corruption, stupidity, self-shooting in the foot, greed, everybody thinking about themselves and screw others, mafia, and everybody knows it, knows who is bad guy, yet nothing is done. Not a place I decided to have kids and raise them, nor get old. To each their own, as long as we are all happy with our choices down the line, life is easy in your 20s and 30s without kids practically anywhere.

Rinzler89 2y ago
>You see corruption, stupidity, self-shooting in the foot, greed, everybody thinking about themselves and screw others, mafia, and everybody knows it, knows who is bad guy, yet nothing is done. Westerners who move there as tourists or with their remote jobs will never see this so for them it's only upsides, especially if they come from that country full of gun crime and homeless people, it's like some miracle place.
- bloomingeek 2y ago
  My wife and I vacationed in Prague in the fall of 2021. To us it was magical and beautiful. We've been lucky enough to visit several European cities, Prague is where we could live. Having grown up in the late 60's and 70's in the States, eastern Europe was usually demonized because of the then influence of Russia. When my wife suggested Prague, I admit I had a little apprehension, but I was absolutely wrong. The people were very kind and helpful, the history was interesting and the food and drink was fantastic.

thrw087248 2y ago

> Green, walkable For someone from Gdańsk this is laughable. The city is very car-centric. There are large areas of it that are just concrete with no green in sight. This contributes to absurdly high temperatures in the summer and difficulty of finding any shade. “Patelnia” (frying pan) has that name for a reason and it’s by no means the only such place. The city also keeps building glass skyscrapers which reflect sunlight onto the ground in already heat-stroke-inducing heat. It’s laden with huge intersections with 2-phase crossings, which you need to run through in order to go through in one go. If you fail, you’ll be stranded on a concrete island breathing in fumes from car traffic. Public transport is good if you can use the metro. But there are only 2 lines, so aside from maybe going to work you’ll most likely be using a bus. The bus is most likely to be going regularly late and overcrowded (god I hate 186).

cube2222 2y ago
The greenery is a spectrum of course, depending on how close to the very center of the city you are. I never had big problems with busses, but trams are good too, and I generally prefer them. I disagree with it not being walkable somewhere though. You can easily get anywhere on foot, and safely. Never had an issue with that anywhere in the city. It could definitely be more cyclable, as there are still many places without a dedicated biking lane (and you have to use the road or sidewalk), but walkable it definitely is.
Tade0 2y ago
> “Patelnia” (frying pan) has that name for a reason and it’s by no means the only such place. That reason was actually retconned. Back when the term was coined there weren't that many cars in Warsaw and summers were not this hot. Most likely it was simply the first association anyone had looking at it when emerging from the subway.
etc-hosts 2y ago
The downtown bike lines surrounded by concrete borders seemed pretty cool to me. I wandered around the big (big to me) park in the center, Lazienkowski park. I did find the huge open spaces next to Stalin Skyscraper and Saxon Palace to be very unused looking. I love Warsaw, too bad I find the language impenetrable.

Detrytus 2y ago

And me, I'm just moving out, after 15 years in Warsaw, because I hate it. I agree that it's mostly safe, but green, or clean? And the public transportation is a mixed bag, my daily commute to the office used to be 1h each way (around 6 miles distance). Cost of living is ridiculously high compared to the rest of Poland, software engineers, businessmen and celebrities are probably the only ones who really can afford it. But the main reason I'm leaving is because people here are assholes. As a capital city of Poland Warsaw attracts the worst kind of scum, politicians, wannabe celebrities, con men, corporate drones, gold diggers, etc. If I could have one wish it would be for Putin to nuke Warsaw.

linearrust 2y ago
> But the main reason I'm leaving is because people here are assholes... If I could have one wish it would be for Putin to nuke Warsaw. Good god that escalated quickly.
kolinko 2y ago
As for people - just like any large city, it depends on which bubble you're in.
- Detrytus 2y ago
  I spent 15 years here, had like 5-6 software engineering jobs, moved a few times to a different neighborhood, tried different social activities (sports, arts, dance lessons, online dating, etc.) and in the end the people always turned out the same. But maybe I'm just unlucky...
  - le-mark 2y ago
    Seems to be one constant here, yourself. And you know how the saying goes…
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
2y ago

ffgjgf1 2y ago

The main reason why’d never want to live in Poland longterm are the extreme pollution levels. Compared to some other places you can’t even escape it by moving to the suburbs/etc. The only place worse/as bad in the EU is Northern Italy but at least they have geography as an excuse. It would be a nice place if the Poles stopped burning coal.. * https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2023/sep/20/europes-pollution-divide-see-how-your-area-compares https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2023/...

pkolaczk 2y ago
That depends heavily on the exact place you live. Warsaw has central heating and central natural gas distribution network, so almost no one uses coal or wood here. My air pollution meter shows very low levels of P2.5 and P10 (< 20 p/ug) for the majority of the year. It’s easy to manipulate by using a color scale where perfectly harmless pollution levels are painted red or black. Better map (live) here: https://airly.org/map/pl/ https://airly.org/map/pl/
- ffgjgf1 2y ago
  This is hourly/etc. though? The one I posted was the yearly average which I think is a much better way to look at this (maybe monthly would be better though). > < 20 p/ug ~ 20 seems quite high (IMHO) > so almost no one uses coal or wood here Power plants might be the much bigger issue. Coal is still > 60%, of course it has improved massively over the last few years (used to be almost 80% a few years ago). IIRC Poland produces more electricity from coal than all the other EU countries combined besides Germany (who also suck).
  - pzduniak 2y ago
    What you're pointing at is mostly irrelevant - the massive coal / lignite plants are obviously filtering the exhaust through filters according to EU levels. A family member works in the field. The actual air pollution issue stems from small heaters used in houses that haven't been upgraded yet (or people using them improperly / burning trash) - but there's plenty of EU funding going towards replacing them. Many of the remaining users are unfortunately living in poverty and can't even afford the remaining 20-30% of the price + heating afterwards can absolutely become more expensive.

cynicalsecurity 2y ago

The salaries in Warsaw are incredibly low for such a big xity, they are lower than in Krakow. The hate towards foreigners is way too high. It feels very non-European.

koliber 2y ago
Can you share more about the hate against foreigners in Warsaw? I am surprised as I’ve heard mostly opposite opinions.