Vistula Boulevards

What makes it special

The boulevards run along the left bank and are built on two levels. The lower quay has moorings for boats, and the upper level is laid out for walking, cycling and sitting. The design allows for a river that rises and falls by about 4.4 metres a year, so the water line you see changes with the season.

Look for the Warsaw water gauge on the promenade, a sculpted set of columns. One colour-coded column shows the river's level today, and the markings beside it record its highs and lows.

At the mouth of Tamka Street stands the Mermaid, the city's symbol, a bronze figure 2.75 metres tall. In the legend she swam up from the Baltic, saw the city and decided to stay.

She has stood here since 1939. A misting fountain on the same axis sends a cascade down a wall to the river.

The banks are a wildlife corridor too. Ducks, gulls and cormorants feed along the concrete edge, and with luck you see a heron or a kingfisher. Common terns and little terns nest on the floodplain.

Visiting

Underpasses from the Old Town lead down to the river at Podzamcze, where the first section of the promenade begins. Take the lift up to the viewing terrace, 4.5 metres above the promenade, for the long view along the water before you set off.

Then walk on along the upper level. You pass four floating pavilions known as barges, fish sculptures, a fountain and a miniature river, and in summer sunbeds, trampolines and a small beach with wicker beach chairs.

The Mermaid is the stop to make on the way. The Sapper Monument, three soldiers driving a stake into the riverbed, stands at the very end of the Czerniakowski headland.

Guided or on your own

You do not need a guide to walk the boulevards. The guided trip worth knowing about is on the water: a two-hour route leaves Port Czerniakowski and runs downstream past the city's bridges and the boulevards. It suits you if you want the river view from the water rather than from the quay.

Tips

Come on a summer evening if you can. The Multimedia Fountain Park beside the boulevards stages a water, light and sound show in summer, and the strip stays lively into the early morning, with open-air cinema and concerts on the barges.

The metro runs until 3.00 am at weekends, so you can stay late. The riverside pavilions have public toilets.

Free ferries cross to the right bank in summer, a quick way to see the city from the water.