my girlfriend is from Lublin and lives there, I met her in Germany while both were studying an exchange semester. Since then I am with her, and been to Lublin something around 10 times. I could say I know the area good.
First of all Lublin is far away from West Europe, to get there you must fly either to Warsaw or Rszeszow, both are something like 200km away. Then you can take a small bus that will get you there in around 2 hours for 25zl. Or if you want to save some pounds you can take the eternal bus that crosses Poland and gets there in something like 16 hours starting in Berlin.
Lublin is quite charming, has a beautiful old town, and the nature of the Lubelskie region is also very beautiful. Statistical economical data says Lubelskie is the poorest region in Poland, but honestly speaking I don't find it "that" poor like other regions I've been to in PL. However, you wont find skyscrapers or modern stuff, but it is fair developed. Shopping malls, clubs, cafes, etc are all around the center. It has something like 350.000 inhabitants and some of the most important universities in Poland, meaning it is also a student town.
Prices are a little bit cheaper than other places in Poland, for instance, one bus ticket in Warsaw cost you something like 2zl and in Lublin around 1,40zl. Same with restaurants and so on. The times I have been there I have met nice welcoming people. Most of the skilled and educated people of Lublin usually end up working in Warsaw because it is not far away as I said.
Around Lublin there are interesting small towns like Zamosc and Kazimierz Dolny, and also natural parks and crystal water lakes.
Let yourself be surprised by expecting nothing and finding a charming true polish town. And if you will have nice company, this time will be lot nicer.
Well I am British and I lived in Lublin for four years before moving to Puławy, which is 45klms away. Lublin is a great City, however there were a couple of reasons why I had to move to Puławy. One of them was because my wife started her PhD here at one of the institutes, and the other reason was work. There is a lot of competition regarding teaching work in Lublin with over 54 language schools of some description and many of them are bad schools ripping off students.
So if you are looking to move to Lublin I think you should prepare yourself for some stiff competition in finding work. To this you should try and gain as many qualifications in teaching that you can, but saying that, you can still find work teaching without qualifications in many Callan schools in the area.
All-in-all, after traveling to many Cities in Poland over my eight years of living here I would say that Lublin is one of Poland’s best kept secrets, land is still relatively cheap there along with property prices. However, this is set to change as they have just approved upgrading the local Świdnik airport, from a local club airport to an international airport. This will open up the area for redevelopment and investment, and already land prices have started to increase.
If it wasn’t for the two reasons that I mentioned above I would never have moved away from Lublin as I think it is a great City to live in.
Here are some local websites of the area: um.lublin.pl/en/index.php?t=200&id=18284
A friend of mine did this one: freepages.cultures.rootsweb.com/~antrev/
Kazimierz Dolny very close to my town of Puławy kazimierz-news.com.pl/wersjaa.html
I have not yet 'clicked' on any of the websites (I'm using a black berry and it takes ages to access sites) but I'll check them out just as soon as I have my PC.
How about a comparison of prices with Krakow? I was talking to an Australian in Krakow who had just paid 14zl for a tatanka. He said he usually paid 8zl in Radom, the city where he was living and teaching English.
At a locals bar, near the train station, I paid 5zl for a .5lt of Okocim. In the old town it varied from 6.5 to 12zl.
What could I expect to pay at tourist/local prices in Lublin?
What could I expect to pay at tourist/local prices in Lublin?
have never been to lublin but i'm sure that prices are much friendlier from krakow's. eastern Poland is undiscovered not only for foreign tourists but also for majority of poles. from what i found on the net, regular beer prices in the old town pubs are 5 - 6 zl.
some photos from the old town:
center is being renovated. i belive you'll find in lublin charm of the historical city but it wont be overcrowded like krakow. enjoy
Don't be so sure about that, although on average they are a bit cheaper if you travel around Poland as I do and live in the area of Lublin there is not a lot of difference.
Lublin for example had the highest prices for petrol in Poland at 5.15zl recently and was only matched in some places in Warsaw.
The trouble is that Lublin is a rather poorer region and you would have thought that you would pay lower prices; however, their mentality in this region is that they will charge in some cases higher prices to make a profit.
Beer in Lublin is on average around 5zl, but if you goto the Irish bar in old town you will find many English bitters at around 10-13zl.
Flat prices you will pay around 800-1000zl per month for a 70sqm flat, depending on area, you will pay more towards the center of Lublin.
I agree that prices are not so much cheaper in Lublin. I've been living here for a year now I paid 1600zl for my first apartment in the city centre. I now pay less than a 1000 but live 4-5km from the centre. It's almost impossible to live in the centre for less than a 1000zl (unless you want to sleep in the kitchen!).
Average prices approx are: Beer 4-5zl, Kebab - 8zl Bus ticket - 2.20zl Meal for two - 50/60zl Petrol - 4.5-5zl Single red rose ;-) - 6zl
Can anybody compare this with western polish cities?
