Travel and location

• Location
• Map
• Getting to Gdańsk
  • By air
  • By sea
  • By train
  • Visas
• Getting around Gdańsk

Location

WikiSym 2010 will be held in Gdańsk, Poland. For general information about the city, see Information about Gdańsk. For a map of the location, see Accommodation.

The conference will be held at the Dom Muzyka, a historic music academy in the center of Gdańsk and near the Wikimania location.
Address: Łąkowa 1/2, Gdańsk, Polska

Map

View WikiSym / Wikimania Gdańsk in a larger map

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

Wikimedians from Sweden can also reach Tricity directly by ferries (in 10 hours at most, including commuting), either from Nynäshamn directly to Gdańsk or from Karlskrona to Gdynia and from there to Gdańsk using the above mentioned SKM.

This is not the cheapest way of reaching Gdańsk - 323 PLN for adults not entitled to discounts or 280 PLN for students.

The best way to reach the conference venue is by boat – the Gdańsk Marina is located only a few hundred meters from the venue on the Ołowianka island location: 54°21‘09“ N 18°39‘44“ E.

By train

There is a convenient train connection from Warsaw to Gdańsk, in less than 5 hours.

The cheapest connection by rail between Gdańsk and Warsaw is the "Słoneczny" train operated once a day during the summer period by Koleje Mazowieckie; currently the normal fare for the Gdańsk-Warsaw route (354 km) is 31 PLN. Fares of KM railways (in Polish).

Visas

• Visa rules for Poland and application forms

Visas are not required for citizens of the U.S., the E.U., and several other countries. Complete list:

Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong (special administrative region), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao (special administrative region), Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Uruguay, the Vatican, Venezuela.

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.


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