Warsaw walking tour landmarks: the Royal Route from the castle south

For centuries Warsaw's kings moved between their residences along a single road, and today that road strings together most of the Warsaw walking tour landmarks you have heard of. The Royal Route ties together 3 royal homes: the castle, the palace and park of Łazienki, and Wilanów.¹ In the center it runs along Krakowskie Przedmieście and then Nowy Świat.⁵ Walk it north to south and you go from the castle and the churches of the old elite to the cafés and shops of the modern city.

The northern stretch is made for walking. Between the Old Town and the Charles de Gaulle Roundabout, cars are kept off the road on summer weekends and over Christmas.² From the beginning of December the whole route is lit with Christmas decorations,⁶ and the evening walk under the lights is one of the nicest things to do in Warsaw in winter. On ordinary weekdays the pavements are wide and the crossings are frequent, so you never have to fight the traffic.

This guide follows the route from Castle Square south to the palm tree on the roundabout, then explains how to continue to the parks and palaces further south. The map shows each stop in order. Allow a slow morning or an afternoon for the central stretch with church visits, and a full day if you add Łazienki and Wilanów. Wear comfortable shoes: the walking is flat once you leave the Old Town, but the stops add up.

The long classical building behind the railings is the Presidential Palace, the largest of Warsaw's palaces, first built in the 17th century.²⁴ A statue of Prince Józef Poniatowski and 4 stone lions stand guard at its entrance, and it now serves as the president's residence.²⁵ At the start of the 19th century Napoleon Bonaparte came here, and an 8-year-old Fryderyk Chopin gave his first concert inside.¹⁰ It is a working residence, so admire it from the street.

Next to the palace, walk past the Hotel Bristol and the Hotel Europejski to reach Piłsudski Square. In the arcades of the Saxon Palace, destroyed in the war and now being rebuilt, is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.²⁶ Soldiers keep an honor guard there.²⁷ The square was once the courtyard of the Saxon Palace, which makes the lone arcade a moving sight: a fragment of a building kept standing to shelter a grave.

Behind the tomb opens the Saxon Garden, the oldest public park in any Polish city. Look for its Baroque sculptures, the 19th-century sundial and the fountain.²⁸ The large fountain was designed by the Italian architect Henri Marconi.²⁹ Chopin's father taught French at the Warsaw Lyceum in the Saxon Palace, and the family lived there in a staff apartment, so this is also a Chopin site.³⁰ Take a bench in the shade before heading back to the Royal Route, which you rejoin a few steps east.

You will recognize the Basilica of the Holy Cross by the figure of Christ carrying the cross on the steps, with the words Sursum Corda, lift up your hearts.⁵⁶ Inside, his oldest sister Ludwika brought Chopin's heart back to Warsaw after his death, as he had asked, and it was set into a pillar.³ Each year, on the date Chopin died, Mozart's Requiem is sung in the church.²³ King Jan III Sobieski prayed here in 1683 before setting out for Vienna.⁸³

The church also carries scars of the Rising. On 6 September the Germans sent 2 explosive 'goliaths' inside; the vault collapsed and the figure of Christ on the steps fell.⁸⁴ What you see now is the restored church and the figure put back in its place. Pause on the steps for a moment before crossing the road, and look back at the facade with that story in mind: it changes how the sculpture reads, and why Varsovians gave its raised hand so much meaning in hard times.

Across the street sits the Copernicus Monument, a seated bronze figure that marks the point where Krakowskie Przedmieście ends and Nowy Świat begins. This is where the walking tour sold on this site begins, so it is a natural place to meet a guide or friends. From here you can also detour down the escarpment to the University of Warsaw Library, whose garden on 2 levels across the roof gives a panorama of the Old Town.⁸⁵ The tourist office lists it among the city's free sights.⁸⁵

Beyond the city center the Royal Route continues through greener, quieter streets. Ujazdowski Castle, begun in the 17th century by King Sigismund III Vasa as a summer residence, now houses the Centre for Contemporary Art.⁸⁹ Next comes Royal Łazienki, where the classicist Palace on the Isle holds paintings from King Stanisław August Poniatowski's collection.²¹ He hosted his Thursday dinners for scholars and poets there.⁹⁰ Squirrels and peacocks roam the park.⁹¹

In summer, Łazienki is the place for Chopin. The Chopin Monument there is the only Art Nouveau monument in Warsaw, and free outdoor recitals take place beside it on Sundays between July 5 and September 27, at 12pm and again at 4pm.^92,22 Bring a blanket and arrive early. The Łazienki museum is free on Fridays.⁹³ Among the Warsaw points of interest along the whole route, this park is the greenest and the calmest.

Wilanów, at the southern end, is too far to walk. Bus 180 is an ordinary city line that follows the Royal Route all the way, and the full ride takes about 60-70 minutes.^4,94 The palace, called the Polish Versailles, was the summer home of King Jan III Sobieski and Marie Casimire,⁹⁵ the king who stopped the Turkish advance at Vienna in 1683.⁹⁶ Its palace and garden came through the wars unchanged.⁹⁷ Entry is free on Thursdays and throughout November.^79,98