Muslim tourist visiting Poland - safety concerns

Hello all! I wish to visit Poland next year. It is going to be three of us, including my husband and my 1-year-old son. We are muslims from Malaysia. I wear headscarf but other than that we wear normal shirts and pants. I apologize in advance if my question is offending anyone. Anyway since the travel will involve my young son, safety is crucial to us. My question is; do you think it would be safe for us to travel in Poland, concerning islamophobia?

Yes, Poland is generally a safe country, especially in the places where tourists might like to visit, like Warsaw, Kraków, Wroclaw, Gdansk.

In these places you will probably see a few other people with headscarves though not many.

People in Poland (in shops etc) can sometimes seem cold to strangers however you should not take that personally - they are just the same with other Polish people.

As with any city/country, avoid poor parts of town, especially at night.

Have a great visit.

take your headscarf off and enjoy your holiday to the fullest. As in Malaysia headscarf can give you safety that you don't get sexually assulted, in Poland is the other way round. Nobody is going to rape you here but some might not like you being a muslim and wearing headscarf will just let everyone know about it.

Most people are far politer than that, and the OP should be aware that post #3 was written by someone who is not in Poland.

I visit Poland at least 4 times a year, I also spent in Poland vast majority of my life and in my friends circles are all kind of Polish people from writers and lawyers to football hooligans. Unlike the poster of the post #4 who's hanging around only with higher class people in Warsaw plus LGBT community which doesn't give him a wide picture of Polish population and their views on certain matters.

Polish people tend to be Islamophobic in just about all walks of life.

There is no such thing as Islamophobia.

No, they really aren't.

Although I notice a tendency for foreigners in Poland to whip up Islamophobia on internet forums.

Exactly what i think.

The headscarf, in Poland, can put you in danger. Specially if you are unlucky to find some group of hooligans wanting to have fun.

Yes. In real life the reality is different. People in Poland tend to be very well-mannered and polite.

Well, I don't tend to "hang around" but my circle of friends does include people at the very top of society but certainly not only. And no "LGBT community" whatever that means.

I Think exactly the same.

The image that Jon and others have of Poland is the image of Upper circles of Warsaw. He never stepped in a poor city like Bialystok to say that Poland is a cosmopolitan place.

Fortunately is not. Actually i think that in Bialystok they eat cosmopolitan people for dinner.

"Specially if you are unlucky to find some group of hooligans wanting to have fun."

Nonsense. No one will touch them especially if it's a family with a kid. Polish "islamophobia" (or rather common sense) is limited to gangsta like "Muslim youth" (Arabs/Pakis mainly) and hardcore stuff like bullshyt about bringing sharia to Europe or putting women into these nasty black sacks. People from Malaysia are basically Asians and these have good opinion in Poland. Regarding headscarf, I don't see any need to have it here but nothing bad should happen if she keeps it on.

Wanna bet?

I know Bialystok and the surrounding area rather well. And have visited it with people who are obviously from an ethnic/religious minority with no issues whatsoever.

You seem to be talking about "high class" or "higher circles" etc. I wonder if you think the OP when she and her family are visiting are going to be wandering around rough areas or mingling with football crowds?

That's because you are utterly ignorant of Bialystok. The reality is that there are more than a few people there which you would describe as 'cosmopolitan' and there are also more than a few non-white people there, no surprise given the excellent university (particularly the medical college) enjoys. Of course there are occasional problems but by and large everybody gets on just fine. The Muslims I know there have never had any problems, in fact I've only heard of one who has (and the story goes that his problems were not due to him being a Muslim). And it's certain that a family won't face any problems, especially not in Bialystok; a few years ago a wannabe hooligan in the main shopping mall racially abused and punched a black Swedish woman, he was promptly given a severe hiding by the actual Bialystok hools to teach him not to hit women, then when he recovered was given another painful lesson.

I do understand that you might have felt unwelcome while in Bialystok, but that was most probably due to your personality: racist bigots tend not to be nice people and people who are not nice people are not often made to feel welcome. Given that the OP seems to be a very nice woman, I'm sure Poles will make her feel welcome.

Take your headscarf off woman, job done.

Why should we pussyfoot around you when you're clearly making no effort to fit in when visiting our country?

The posters on here saying "just wear your headscarf you'll be fine".

Irresponsible to say the least, after all its not them who'll face consequences.

Why would you want to put that to the test? It's be like me walking through Dudley (UK) with an England tee-shirt on (OK, might get away with it, probably not).

Why risk provoking the locals ... unless you are making a statement but then why would you place a child at risk?

Intan, don't listen to the trolls on here, I doubt some of them have even been to Poland.
Yes, there are less non white people there than you would find in other major European cities, so you may get a few stares, but I seriously doubt you will encounter any real problems. Take the precautions that any sensible person would and avoid rough areas.

I have seen plenty of people of all nationalities when I have been in Poland, including people wearing headscarves.
Have fun and enjoy your holiday!

Yes, they are just racists trolling forums. They'll get bored and f*** off soon enough if normal people ignore them.

That's true enough for Polish Forums. However, there is a Poland outside Polish forums. Where people do actually tend to be islamophobic. You should get off your computer from time to time and learn something about the real Poland.


I know Szczecin extremely well. I know a great many non-white foreigners who have lived there. Don't know of any who haven't had 'issues', however.

Have you ever heard the saying "when in Rome do as the Romans do."
If you were to dress as the Polish dress no one would most likely take notice to you.


Then you aren't normal Roger as your obvious hate towards Americans.


LOL, you mean how you as a foreigner in Poland whip on them.

Exactly. I know black people who've had trouble, but they've mostly been young men with a Polish girlfriend out on a date in bars it's best not to visit in any case.

I've never heard of any tourist (or resident) having problems because of wearing a headscarf.

As I say, most Polish people are polite if sometimes a little reserved.

Islamophobia is spread mostly by Americans and Jews and in general by westerners who excel at targeting groups of "inconvenience" to the death. However, we Polish are different, people may look, some may roll their eyes, make a face or point a finger but you will be safer in Poland than in most places when it comes to physical violence.

I sign to that, Johnny Reb

In Saudi Arabia they obligate polish girls to use Niqab (A Black dress that cover everything except part of the face) under a 50 degrees celsius sun.

So someone that visit Poland at LEAST should respect local cultural and not walking around bragging his religious clothing.

"Polish" girls?????!!!! So it means NON Polish girls can wear whatever they fancy - great news!

You can try :) Whenever you come to Damman, try to go around using your french clothes. Than if you survive, tell me later what happened.

Levi, this thread is not about your 'issues' with Muslims or clothing in Dammam, which is not in Poland.

anyway going back to OP's question - I don't think a Malaysian Muslim would encounter many problems - the Malaysian student girls here wear jeans and trainers and bright headscarves. They dont look like the women from some of the more 'hardline' Muslim countries do they?

In old photo's interestingly all the women wore headscarves didn't they? Jewish, Christian, whatever?

In fact I even remember how popular the headscarf was here in the UK back in the 70s..:)
Perhaps that was just when women had their curlers in!

I thought you said you were an Aussie ?


Do you know of any physical violence to Muslims in America that didn't deserve it ?
Plus America's welfare system treats them much better than Poland's does.
I would dare to say that a Muslim in his/her robe in Poland would be more likely to be harassed by young Poles then they would be in America.

Thank you all. I think Poland is a nice and safe country. Looking forward to visiting Poland next year.

don`t go to Poland. Forget it.