Where to stay in Warsaw: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Warsaw's Old Town is a miracle of stubbornness. Almost nothing here survived 1944, yet the Market Square is once again ringed by tall painted merchants' houses, the Royal Castle stands in brick-red splendour over Castle Square and the mermaid, the city's symbol, brandishes her sword among the café umbrellas. UNESCO lists it precisely because it was rebuilt so faithfully.

It is small, largely car-free and at its best early and late, when the day visitors thin out. Places to stay are few and characterful: luxury apartments in the historic Primate's Palace on Senatorska Street, a three-minute walk from Castle Square; suites steps from the Market Square itself; and an elegant five-star in a former palace on the northern edge. Light sleepers will love it. Night owls should look south.

The Royal Route begins at Castle Square and sweeps south along Krakowskie Przedmieście, the most elegant street in the country. It passes the Presidential Palace, the university gates, Baroque churches (Chopin's heart rests in one of them) and benches that play his music at the push of a button. The Saxon Garden and the National Opera are a block to the west.

This is the classic address for a first visit, and for a splurge. Two grand hotels with more than a century of stories between them stand here, one with views of the Old Town and the Saxon Garden, the other with an indoor pool and spa behind an Art Deco polish. A stylish new four-star on the same street has rooms facing a quiet side road, and a large five-star nearby puts you close to the castle and the opera.

Krakowskie Przedmieście turns into Nowy Świat, a long, gently curving street of restaurants, bakeries and bars that fills up every evening. Drop down the slope towards the river and you are in Powiśle, once a workaday district, now the most fashionable postcode in town. The Copernicus Science Centre is here, the university library has a garden on its roof, and in summer the Vistula boulevards become one long open-air bar.

A boutique hotel just off Nowy Świat mixes contemporary design with a historic building, and some rooms have balconies. Down in Powiśle, a modern four-star inside the old power station complex has river-view rooms and a seasonal rooftop bar and pool, while apartments steps from the science centre suit longer stays. Choose this area if your evenings matter as much as your days.

Modern Warsaw revolves around the Palace of Culture and Science, the towering Soviet-era gift that locals have slowly learned to live with. Around it are the central railway station, the Złote Tarasy shopping centre under its rippling glass roof, and broad avenues of department stores and office towers. South of the main drag, streets of pre-war townhouses hide many of the city's best restaurants and cocktail bars.

Hotels here are tall, and the views are the point. One landmark tower has a pool high above the city; a historic hotel sits directly opposite the Palace of Culture; and a design-led five-star occupies a fashionable street of pre-war buildings, with a celebrated Japanese restaurant downstairs. A lifestyle hotel on a quiet residential street adds a rooftop bar. Everything is connected: trams, both metro lines and airport trains.

West of the centre, Wola has swapped its factories for skyscrapers and become the business heart of Poland. It will not win prizes for charm, but it is clean, well connected and home to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the most powerful museum in the city and reason enough to come this way.

The hotels are modern and big-brand, built for weekday expense accounts, which is good news for weekend visitors. One four-star stands about 500 metres from the Uprising Museum; another has direct access to a metro station; an elegant five-star with a gym and spa sits within walking reach of the Old Town. The Palace of Culture is a short walk or a couple of tram stops away.

Chopin Airport is unusually close to the city it serves, on the southern side of town. That makes an airport hotel less of a compromise than usual: you can drop your bags, ride into the centre for dinner and be back in good time for an early flight.

Options range from a five-star with an indoor pool and spa to practical four-stars. One runs a free shuttle bus to the terminal and has a garden with an outdoor pool, which is handy if you are travelling with children; another is about ten minutes from the airport and 20 from the centre. Stay here for the first or last night, not the whole trip.