Transportation from Gdańsk Airport into Town; Electrical Adapters

To your first question, I'd suggest Uber it's quite popular in Poland these days and honestly is the most efficient option I found to travel short distance there. No need to exchange currency, you just pay directly through the app.

For your second question. Yes they are all the same outlets as other places in Europe.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks, Carlos.

I will add my one experience for what it’s worth. I just walked out and called Uber on my phone and the car was there in just a few minutes. It remains one of my favorite trip beginnings ever. From my trip report. (Also, I used Uber a lot in Poland - all my drivers were from other countries.)

“ Upon arrival I called Uber from the Gdansk airport. In 4 minutes, Andrei, in his blue Skoda, was there. He hopped out, popped my small bag in the car, a touch sternly said “ Sit down” ( meaning “get in”), and we were on our way to the old town. We sat in silence for about 10 minutes, Andrei with his earbuds in, till I couldn’t stand it any longer and said “This is my first time to Poland.” Andrei pulled his earbuds out and had me repeat.

Then he said he had small English, to which I replied I had no Polish - which made him ask where I was from. I replied “The U.S.” and his face lit up. He said “I love USA!” And while we didn’t win awards for language skills, Andrei talked (and I listened lol) the rest of the way. He is from Belarus, made sure I knew the geography (Poland, Belarus, Russia), pronounced Lukashenko crazy, then pronounced Putin crazy, and told me a couple of things about Gdansk I didn’t quite understand. 🤣 (about Danzig, I think)

At this point, we arrived at my apartment and he made me wait till he opened the door for me, offered his hand to help me out, and then carefully handed my bag to me. We both smiled and went our ways: an ending not at all the same as the beginning.”

Thanks, TexasTravelMom. Hmmm... Two votes for Uber. We do occasionally use Uber here, mostly getting to and from the airport, and have always been pleased. And paying through the app is a definite plus.

I arrived in Gdansk yesterday. Walked out of the airport, ordered a taxi via the Bolt app (cheaper than Uber, no surge pricing, more reliable and wider availability than Uber. I used Bolt extensively in Riga the previous few days and also in Lisbon a few weeks earlier, I much prefer it over Uber) Two minutes later my enthusiastic driver Michael arrived and twenty minutes later I was at my hotel.

I still haven't withdrawn any cash and I have no intention in doing so. Everything I need to pay for can be done via contactless payment.

Your electrical adapter will work fine.

I'm on day five in Poland and still haven't gotten any zloty. I doubt I will.

Thanks, Frank II and periscope. Wow. I know we used contactless quite a bit in London last year, but I must say I'm surprised to find it ubiquitous in Gdańsk. But pleased.

I will still want to have some złote in my pocket, but it's nice to know we can get to our hotel easily.

A rumination for the cashless: what do you put in the collection plate at church? Or what do you toss into a busker's guitar case? Serious questions, but both are reasons why I do want some local currency.

Thanks again to everyone.

Does this also mean that should we want to take a train or bus locally, our debit or credit cards will work on those, as well?

My February research into ATMs at the Gdansk airport, for my upcoming visit. turned up several (hated by me) Euronet ATMs, including one across from the security check point and one outside the terminal. Further research led me to expect 10-13% exchange surcharges, hence my dislike.

I will take Bolt, my preference and prevalent in that Baltic region, which requires no cash. Once in town, I will use either the ATM of Bank Pekao or the ATM of PKO Banku Polskiego. They may charge fees - I didn't make note of that because my Schwab debit card will refund them if they do. Schwab won't refund a bad exchange rate. I know it's a small difference in the big picture, but still.

Last time in Gdansk, taxi fare from the Airport to the Hotel was around 55 zloty = $20.

It must have been awhile ago because today, 55 zloty is about $14.

Every bus and tram I've taken in Poland has had a ticket machine on board and accepted Google Pay.

I know we used contactless quite a bit in London last year, but I must say I'm surprised to find it ubiquitous in Gdańsk.

LOL. It's been ubiquitous for decades now. I got my first contactless card some 20 years ago.

Jane, I do carry some local cash wherever I am. One of the uses is that we will visit churches for the art, architecture and history. Last year we still found mostly cash options to leave a small donation. Because entry is often free, out of appreciation, I like to leave something in lieu of an admission charge as I am not a local supporting these institutions. I do the same with free entry at museums in other countries where my tax dollars don’t support them.

As an aside, this past weekend at our local farmers’ market, the busker had a tap option for donations:) We use cash there as many of the farmers appreciate the slight cost savings for their bottom line.

Periscope and qq, in our small town contactless cards are rare. The grocery stores and Walmart take them, but some merchants do not. And much to my dismay, the bank where I've had an account for 60 years doesn't offer contactless cards. Bummer. But I do have a couple of contactless cards, one credit and one debit, that I use only when traveling. I do love the convenience.

And like Claudia, I do like having some cash. The odd expense here and there seems to prefer it. Our favorite restaurant in Porto last year was cash only, as were several vendors at the markets.

And thanks everyone, for chiming in. I do love our Forum.

A rumination for the cashless: what do you put in the collection plate at church? Or what do you toss into a busker's guitar case? Serious questions, but both are reasons why I do want some local currency

The Catholic church has enough money, I don't intend on giving them anymore. Buskers? I don't stand around listening to them so I see no reason to give them any money. As for museums I've yet to enter any that don't charge an entrance fee. I genuinely don't foresee any reason for me to have any cash but obviously everyone is different. Feel free to wait until you get into town to use an ATM, there really isn't any need to use the ones at the airport.

Thanks for the link, periscope. We'll be there for 3 nights before the RSE Best of Poland tour, and then a couple more nights on the tour. I'll check it out.

Stan is looking forward to the Zywiec, for sure. And he enjoyed Tyskie at the Polish restaurant in London the last two times we were there.

I'm looking at ways to get from the airport into town. Rick's book mentions a bus and a train, and mentions the cost of each, and that there's a machine for bus tickets, but not how to buy train tickets, or how pay for tickets. Will we be able to use credit or debit cards?

I was there the first two weeks of April - Gdansk => Warsaw => Krakow [on my own]. In Gdansk I stayed at Hotel Admiral - they told me that they would be hosting RS tours - great breakfast buffet.

Here is a link which describes the various options for getting from the airport: https://exploregdansk.info/transportation/getting-from-gdansk-airport-to-city-centre/

I was planning on using public transportation for the trip, and I wanted to get started right away, so I took the train from the Gdansk airport to Gdansk Glowny. If you follow the red line out of the airport [see the article] it will lead you to the train platforms, which are just outside the terminal. There is a ticket machine [takes credit cards] - I had a bit of trouble with it, even with English selected, until I used "Dworzec Glowny" as the destination. While my ticket indicated direct to Dworzec Glowny, and I got on the train that I thought was through to there, it was actually a train that terminated at Gdansk Wrzeszcz. Once I figured out that I was at the end of the line, I changed platforms and got on the next train to Gdansk Glowny/Dworzec Glowny [just keep in mind that in Poland, the initial reference is always to Platform, not track. You might inquire at the TI at the airport [after baggage claim] regarding the fine points of using the train. It's actually easier than it sounds, even with the transfer.

At the train station, I then planned to take Bus 100 to Fish Market/Targ Rybny, which is the stop half a block from the Admiral [also the Hilton]. This is an electric minibus, as it follows streets through the historic core that are too narrow for conventional buses. It took a while to find Stop 14 outside the train station - I learned that there is a poster inside the bus shelter that indicates which stop it is, and which buses it serves - there are a number of stops right outside the station. The stops on the station side of the road are for southbound buses, including 100.

The 210 bus from the airport is another option, and perhaps more direct, if you want to save money.

You can use Directions in Google Maps to look at various itineraries in advance - just set your departure time to the approximate time your flight arrives.

Bolt: I had read that Bolt was reliable and popular in Poland, so I downloaded the Bolt app to the phone. To register the account, it requires a validation code which they e-mail to you - I wasn't able to receive it until I reached Poland. While I had it ready, I never had a need to use a taxi. I also had the FreeNow app - I saw slightly more FreeNow cabs than Bolt over the two weeks.

Jakdojade app: This is useful for both buying local bus/tram tickets, but also as a route planner for trips using public transportation. You have to load the Jakdojade wallet with cash - I started with 25PLN. For Warsaw and Krakow I purchased 72-hour tickets from a machine upon arrival in each city, but there is less need for public transport in Gdansk, so paying for fares on the app made more sense. And I did always see terminals on the vehicle for buying tickets - and never saw a fare inspector.

More on cash follows.

We usually like to get local currency from a bank ATM, but that may not be possible in the airport

Cash: Euronet ATMS were ubiquitous throughout Poland. I arrived with 400PLN that I had purchased from a currency exchange here in LA, and I used a $100 bill to purchase 391 PLN from a Kantor in Warsaw - "Dan Exchange" - very close to the Chopin B&B. With the credit cards I was getting around 3.94 per USD, so I considered 391 a very good rate. So you might look for a Kantor in Gdansk, a bit away from the main tourist area, and see what the rate is. Of course, you would need to bring cash with you. One instance where cash can be helpful: RS suggests a 5% - 10% tip at restaurants with table service, and many don't include service in the bill. Some were able to add an additional amount for a tip to the amount charged, but others were not. I had some very pleasant exchanges with the young people that were typically waiting on me, so it was helpful to have the cash. But in other cases I would use it for gelato, for quick lunches, and for coin boxes for illumination in churches. I didn't encounter a pay WC on the trip, although I used many public WCs in museums - all uniformly excellent.

But it was very easy to spend cash, and helpful to have it in certain cases.

Wow, markcw; this is exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you! We, too, will be staying at the Admiral, so your tips are very useful. Thank you.

RS suggests a 5% - 10% tip at restaurants with table service, and many don't include service in the bill.

Some wait staff will tell you that service isn't included or will simply tell you straight up that tips aren't included. This typically happens in places most popular with tourists and doesn't happen to locals. If you want to tip for good service then do so but don't allow yourself to be pressured. Service is factored into the price of the meal. The further away from the tourist traps the less you'll encounter this nonsense.

Thanks, JC; that has become more and more common lately. We encountered it numerous times in Italy 2 years ago, and even in England almost 10 years ago, in Windsor.

It is very annoying.

Really, 20 years ago - where do you live ?

Warsaw, but OK, I checked - not 20. Just 16, but it certainly feels like forever because that's nearly all my banking life, LOL.

First contactless cards in Poland were issued in 2007 (Bank Zachodni WBK, Maestro cards), mine was Visa from 2008. Your link does not provide accurate information. Visa payWave was not born in 2011. I had Visa payWave in 2008. From around 2009 biggest Polish banks started replacing old cards with contactless and the number of users quickly jumped to millions of people. It's not widely known as Poland is not really a tourist country, and certainly it was not known by visitors from the US and on US travel forums like this, as visitors from the US still used cards with magnetic stripe and signature. They couldn't even get chip-and-pin, let alone contactless.

If you want to tip for good service then do so but don't allow yourself to be pressured.

I never mentioned that I was pressured, and NEVER was pressured in Poland - unlike in Rome back in the Fall. I didn't have a single meal in a "tourist trap" the entire trip.

If the Rick Steves Krakoff, Warsaw & Gdansk guidebook is incorrect with its information re tipping, please report it so they can correct the error. The guidebook was correct for Italy - "no tip necessary" - so I'm surprised they apparently got it so wrong for Poland.

@ Jane - Since you'll be on the RS Poland tour, if you remember, at the orientation meeting, please bring up the subject and get the actual information from a local guide, and then report back.

markcw, it always comes up! People really want to know, and Americans have been conditioned to always tip, regardless of the culture.

I resent tipping, even in the States. But I don't want to get started on that. I'll let you know what our guide has to say, though.

I lived in Poland for a few years, and I honestly don't remember people tipping. Or not more than a few groszy. But that was 40 years ago.

I went into a "Milk Bar" across from my hotel in Warsaw yesterday. They no longer accepted cash.

I'm finding that cash is needed less and less which is fine with me. I must have leftover cash in ten different currencies.

I'm hoping that when I'm in Norway in a couple of weeks I'll be able to use that 100 kroner note I've been carrying around. It's worth about $9. LOL

I went into a "Milk Bar" across from my hotel in Warsaw yesterday. They no longer accepted cash.

It must have been one of those tourist-oriented "milk bars", not the real thing. Traditional real milk bars are used by many elderly people who prefer cash even if they have payment cards. No cash establishments are very rare in Poland. Even self-checkout machines in supermarkets take cash. Cash is still widely used. I use cash because 1/ I like it, 2/ I want choice and don't want cash to be phased out, and 3/ part of my income comes in cash due to other people's preferences. In everyday life, I have never come across a business refusing to take cash. I think it's more common to refuse cards rather than cash and only offer BLIK (Polish mobile payment system) as means of electronic payment required by law. Locals use different services than tourists so therefore there are differences in perception what is popular and what is not.

The only place that springs to mind that is exclusively card-only is on-board ticket machines on public transport but that's due to their size - modern ticket machines are not made to hold large amounts of cash. There were some coin-operated ones on trams and buses in the past, like 10 years ago, and they were huge, taking up a lot of space.

Of course it's not tourists that are driving contactless payments. I think I made it clear enough. Contactless was used in Poland long before the hordes of tourists arrived, and before that there were swipe-and-sign and chip-and-pin cards for many many years. The problem in the first years of contactless use (around 2007-2009) seemed that many card terminals were not equipped to handle contactless payments, but as soon as they were upgraded, contactless was everywhere.

Poland has been using all sorts of cards for many decades - never really used cheques (even my parents don't remember ever using cheques) - Poland went straight from cash to electronic payments (cards, online banking, real-time bank transfers). Tourists had nothing to do with it, but large section of Polish population like to have choice even if you do not.

I never mentioned that I was pressured, and NEVER was pressured in Poland - unlike in Rome back in the Fall. I didn't have a single meal in a "tourist trap" the entire trip

I never suggested you did however I've witnssed it here. I was bluntly told that service/tips were not included when I went to pay for the two beers on the major tourist strip. I could easily see how American tourists, so used to tipping, would feel pressured into tipping even if they had no intention. I just bluntly told him I was paying the total on the bill and nothing more.

As expected, away from the tourist traps there is no mention of service not being included, there are no options on the payment machine for a tip, staff don't look disappointed when you pay the amount indicated and nothing more, hotel staff, taxi drivers et al don't linger waiting for a tip, etc, etc.

Thanks for that link, periscope. I fondly remember milk bars from our time in Poznań in the late 20th century. (Yikes; that sound weird.) I was there in the mid-70s as a student, and even milk bars were pretty much out of my financial reach.

We went back in the '80s, and were gainfully employed, but the vagaries of strikes, martial law, and just bureaucratic entanglements meant that often our pay packets didn't appear. Milk bars were on the budget then!

We loved the food - simple, traditional Polish fare - but I particularly enjoyed and appreciated the clientele. Most of the people eating there (not all, of course,) were obviously workers from the nearby factories, as well as other blue collar people. A far cry from our university colleagues! The "people watching" was unparalleled. Even as a student I could occasionally slip into a milk bar for just a cup of tea or bowl of soup and get an eye-opening view of the Polish economic and social situation.

You are lucky to have experienced the authentic milk bars that attracted the whole spectrum of the Polish society. There are not many of them remaining, usually in places tourists either don't visit or would never walk into if they didn't know that this is a famous milk bar.

Nowadays most "milk bars" are milk bars in name only, they are run like every other business, they are not cheap, they don't get government subsidies (they can't at the prices they charge), they don't retain the old decor and atmosphere, and if they don't take cash, it's clear that they deliberately want to exclude certain customers. It doesn't of course mean that you can't get a good meal there, they are still good choice if you want to sample traditional Polish cuisine. It's just they are like those cheap restaurants you can find at every shopping malls. Nothing special.

qq, It sounds a lot like the "diners" in the States. The latest iterations of them are self-consciously decorated in the style of the 1950s, with posters of Elvis, James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe on the walls and waitresses wearing poodle skirts. Someone's idea of the '50s, or rather, someone's idealization of the '50s. They can actually be fun to visit, but for those of us who were actually alive then, the reality was very different. Not bad, just different. I suspect if someone were to actually open an "authentic" reproduction of a diner from the 1930s - 1960s, most folks would recoil in horror, The grease! The cigarette smoke! The waitresses in their white uniforms and hairnets? But but... where are the poodle skirts?

I'm obviously just having fun here, but your most recent post sent my mind swirling down this path, when I definitely have more important things to do. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, qq.

I ran across this short article that gives a (very) brief historical sketch of Polish milk bars, and lists some that may (or may not) be more nearly authentic. I suspect the Bar Mleczny Apetyt in Poznań is the one I've been to. https://theculturetrip.com/europe/poland/articles/the-most-historic-milk-bars-or-bar-mlecznys-in-poland