There are several hotels within 15 minute travel on public transport (bus and/or tram) from the workshop venue. The list below has links to the hotel and their rating (2 star, 3 star, and 4 star):
Three collocated hotels, about 10 min. travel by tram to the workshop venue or 30 minutes walk. These hotels are slightly closer to the downtown and Old Town area:
Alternatively, a nearby building hosting one of the institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences has 10 guest rooms available at a rate of approximately 200 PLN (polish zloty, about USD 65) per night. If you are interested, please send an email to sekretariat@igf.fuw.edu.pl and we will check the availability.
A Google map showing the location of the different places can be found here.
Frederic Chopin International Airport (IATA code WAW) is located in the southern part of Warsaw about 10 km from the downtown area. The Institute of Geophysics is off the main street linking the airport with the downtown area.
Alternatively, The Warsaw-Modlin Intl. Airport (IATA code WMI) is scheduled to open by the time of the workshop. The airport will serve about two dozens of European cities, mostly by budget carriers. It is already possible to buy tickets for WizzAir and RyanAir flights. The airport is located 35 km north of Warsaw's city centre. As of today, the easiest way to get to/from the WMI airport is to take a taxi. Glob taxi offers transfer at a fixed price of PLN 99 (about USD 30) one way. More information and options of travel between WMI and Warsaw's city center should become available before the airport opens in early summer.
The main railway station is WARSZAWA CENTRALNA (Warsaw Central), right at the city center. Take a taxi or go through the underground passage towards Aleje Jerozolimskie street to a bus stop or a tram stop.
Detail can be found here..
A taxi stand is located just outside of the arrival hall. Only official taxis have access to the airport taxi stand. Please note that you may be asked by drivers waiting in the arrival hall to ride with them. We strongly discourage you to use this unofficial (and illegal) service. Instead, proceed to the taxi stand and board an official taxi. The ride to the hotels listed above should cost between 30 and 50 PLN (less than about 20 USD or 15 EUR) depending on the time of day and traffic. We recommend traveling by taxi to the hotel upon your arrival, especially if you plan to stay in the Ibis hotel. The Ibis hotel is not easily accessible by public transport (bus/tram) from the airport.
Note that most taxis in Poland do take credit cards. However, we recommend everyone who plans to take a taxi ride from the airport to the hotel to have some cash (just in case).
Public transportation is available directly at the airport (recommended for more adventures travelers and hotels other than the Ibis). If you go to the Novotel Airport hotel or to the meeting place, you can take lines 175 or 188. The bus lines 175 and 188 stop at the third platform in front of the airport arrival hall.
If you travel to the Novotel Airport hotel or to the meeting place, you can take lines 175 or 188. Get off at the Novotel stop (approx. 10 min. ride) for the hotel.
If you travel to one of the other hotels (Campanille, Gold Tulip, Sobieski), take bus 175 to the "Plac Zawiszy" stop (approx. 20 min.). The three hotels are in immediate vicinity of the stop.
If you travel to Institute take the stop at Banacha-Szpital (approx. 17 min.).
All public transport schedules can be found here.
Tickets should be bought in advance at press stands and kiosks (e.g., at the arrival hall, to the right from the baggage claim exit) or in automatic machines at bus stops (note that not all stops have such machines). If you plan to explore the city, the most cost-effective way to do it is to buy a 24 hour or 3-day pass for zone 1 (zone 2 is for the outskirts of the city). Passes are valid for unlimited rides on buses, trams, and metro. The passes need to be validated during the first ride and then remain valid during 24 hours (1-day pass) or until midnight of the 3rd day (3-day pass). However, we plan to have public transportation tickets available for purchase at the registration desk.
Prices for the various public transportation tickets can be found at here.
Poland is not part of the Euro zone. The Polish currency is the Zloty (PLN) and approximate conversion rates (per March 2012) are 1EUR=4.2PLN and 1USD=3.2PLN.
ATMs are available across the city. However, there is no ATM in the immediate vicinity of the workshop venue. There are several ATM's at the airport. Two are located far left when you exit the baggage claim area into the arrival hall. There are also cash exchange desks named KANTOR that do change other currencies to PLN. Please note that the exchange rates at the currency exchange desks at the airport are typically not as good as the ones in the city.
Warsaw is in time zone GMT + 2.
There are no direct flights between Warsaw and Leipzig. If you chose air travel, you will need to connect through Frankfurt or Munich. We recommend train, which also requires a connection to Berlin. The entire trip takes 7 to 8 hours depending on the connection.
Train schedules are available here.
There will be a group of Institute of Geophysics students and faculty traveling to ICCP on Sunday after the workshop, and we can coordinate a joint travel. This may be your opportunity to explore Warsaw on your own on Saturday, before leaving for ICCP on Sunday.
A wiki page about Warsaw can be found here.
A wiki page about Poland can be found here.