Culture breaks - Warsaw

Warsaw has two enduring points of definition: the Wisla River, running south to north across the Mazovian plains, and the Moscow-Berlin road, stretching across this terrain - and through the city - east to west. Such a location, and four hundred years of capital status, have ensured a history writ large with occupations and uprisings, intrigues and heroism.

Warsaw's sufferings, its near-total obliteration in World War II and subsequent resurrection from the ashes, has lodged the city in the national consciousness. In the latest era of political struggle - the emergence of Solidarity, fall of communism and the re-establishment of electoral democracy - Warsaw has at times seemed overshadowed by events in Gdansk and the industrial centres of the south, but its role has been a key one nonetheless, as a focus of popular and intellectual opposition to communism, the site of past and future power and, increasingly, as the centre of the country's rapid economic transformation.

Eating
Warsaw is one of the best places to eat in central Europe. Alongside a good smattering of restaurants specializing in traditional Polish cuisine, there's a welcome trend towards culinary variety - modern European and Mediterranean-influenced dishes have made their way onto most restaurant menus, and ethnic establishments offering anything from Jewish to Japanese cuisine are well established.

In the café scene also, a wealth of new or renovated places has sprung up in the past few years, offering everything from the most calorific haunts to down-to-earth student hangouts. Cakes and pastries, worthy of the best of central Europe, are easy to come by, and if you follow the traditional local example, you'll doubtless find yourself passing many hours musing over the edge of a cup of coffee or, Russian-style, a glass of tea. And now you can surf the internet while you sup, too.

Bars of all sorts are everywhere. Alongside the ubiquitous traditional "drink-bars" serving hard spirits to hard-drinking locals, there's now a wide choice of newer, Western-influenced places, serving big-name German beers and other European brands alongside an increasing range of local brews, aimed partly at the tourists, partly at the city's young and upwardly mobile. There are also "ethnic" pubs, bars in wooden ranch-type shacks in the city's parkland, theme bars and simple, friendly, unpretentious local haunts. In short, everything you need.

The distinction between Warsaw's eating and drinking venues is inevitably blurred, with many of the latter offering both snacks and full meals as well as booze - so bear in mind that many of the places listed under "Cafés and bars" are also good places for a bite to eat

Drinking
Drink prices in Warsaw are significantly higher than elsewhere in Poland, but still compare favourably with western Europe - providing you stick to domestic beer and spirits rather than the imported variety.

Most cafés and bars are concentrated in the Stare Miasto and in the modern centre to the south, although there are few obvious strolling areas where you'll find one establishment after another - so it's best to plan your evening's boozing itinerary before setting out. In summer, head for the fair-weather alfresco bars along Wybrzeze Gdanskie, just below the Stare Miasto on the western bank of the Wisla; or in Pole Mokotowskie, an area of parkland southwest of the centre (easily reached from the Pole Mokotowskie metro station) which is bustling with Varsovians on balmy evenings

Nightlife
After decades in the wilderness, there's a reasonable - if not amazing - club scene in Warsaw now, with a fair spread that should cater for most tastes. If Chopin concerts or avant-garde drama (including some in English) is your idea of a good night out, you're unlikely to be disappointed. In summer especially, high-quality theatre productions, operas and recitals abound, many of them as popular with tourists as with Varsovians themselves. They are also extremely cheap, particularly if you buy tickets that entail taking whatever seats are available after the third and final call (it sounds risky, but there are always places).

For up-to-date information about what's on, check the current listings sections of the Warsaw Insider or Warsaw Voice . Regular Warsaw festivals include the excellent Warsaw Summer Jazz in June, the Jazz Jamboree in October (a major bash at which everyone from Duke Ellington to Miles Davis have appeared in their time), the biennial Warsaw Film Festival, the Festival of Contemporary Music held every September, the prestigious Mozart Festival every June, and the five-yearly Chopin Piano Competition - always a launch-pad for a major international career and next to be held in 2005. The tourist office will have details of these and other upcoming events.