History: Travel and Location

Travel and Location

WikiSym 2010 will be held in Gdańsk, Poland.

Getting to Gdańsk

By air
The city has its own international airport, the Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport (see website), located in the western part of Gdańsk, 10 km from the city center, near the Obwodnica Trójmiejska (Tricity Ring Road) as well as the start of one of Gdańsk's main streets (ulica Juliusza Słowackiego), which largely facilitates access by car or bus to virtually every part of the city (view location on Google Maps).

By sea

By train

Visas

Getting around Gdańsk

Gdańsk has a system of bus/tram public transport aided by the Fast Urban Railway (abbr. SKM) connecting all the cities of Tricity and adjacent towns. The city is covered by 86 bus lines (10 of them being night-only lines) and 11 tram lines altogether.

Gdańsk has recently completed the modernisation of its bus fleet which now consists only of low-floor buses. Currently, new trams are being bought—both new as well as used ones from Dortmund—and the replacement will have been largely completed by summer 2010. Together with this, tram stops are gradually being equipped with LCD monitors displaying up-to-date timetables.

Participants arriving by plane (see above for ways of getting to Gdańsk) will be able to reach the city centre by bus (line B) or taxi (it should be noted that foreign visitors are in danger of being cheated by dishonest taxi drivers, which can be avoided by picking licensed taxis from local taxi corporations). Those arriving by train will most probably get off at the main railway station right next to the tram and bus stops at Podwale Grodzkie.

Gdańska Organizacja Turystyczna (Gdańsk Board of Tourism) is planning to introduce a "tourist card" in the spring of 2009. The card, at the cost of {{PLN|65}}, will enable its owner to move around Tricity using public transport as well as offer discounts at up to 80 places which are worth visiting. The card will be valid for three days, making it a good choice for the participants of the three-day-long WikiSym.

Area information

Currency and electricity
The złoty (PLN, or zł) is the currency of Poland. It is subdivided into one hundred groszy (gr). The coin denominations currently in use are: 1 gr, 2 gr, 5 gr, 10 gr, 20 gr, 50 gr; 1 zł, 2 zł and 5 zł. The banknotes used are: 10 zł, 20 zł, 50 zł, 100 zł and 200 zł.

Currency exchange may be done through banks or currency exchange offices (called kantor in Polish). The rates at the exchange offices are usually more favourable than at the banks. Exchange offices are easily available at the Gdańsk airport and the railway station, as well as throughout the city. American dollars, Euros, Australian dollars, Canadian dollars, Czech korunas, Hungarian forint, Japanese yen and Swedish krona are all widely exchanged, as well as most other currencies.

Numerous ATMs located throughout the city can provide Polish złoties to virtually any credit or debit card holder, due to being part of international ATM networks such as Euronet, Cirrus/Mastercard and Visa PLUS. Most credit and debit cards are widely accepted in shops, cafés and restaurants, the most popular being Visa, Visa Electron, Maestro and Mastercard. However, there is normally a minimum spend level required (generally about 20 zł) for card payments to be accepted.

Travellers' cheques are not commonly accepted, but can be exchanged for cash at most banks.

Poland uses a 230 Volt/50 Hz electricity grid.

Climate

Tourist attractions

Other festivals



this information courtesy of the Wikimania planning team, CC-BY-SA