Tell me about Northeastern Poland

Places like Białystok, Ełk, Lomża. Are there any jobs there? Are they poor? Surprisingly on Google Street View many of them look cleaner and better maintained than many a Western Polish cities.

There are a little fewer job opportunities and lower pays. People are less educated. Cleaner doesn`t always mean richer.

Not so many. One reason people move from that region to places where there are jobs.


Normal for rural communities.

Anyone from those places (also Lublin and Eastern Poland in general)? I'd like to make penpals from there.

I think it's not that easy as Polsa A vs B. Bialystok seems to be developing faster than some Western Polish cities like Wroclaw and Lodz. There are less derelict buildings there, most old ones were repainted/insulated. In many ways it and many Eastern towns like Suwalki look more "western" than many a Western Polish cities that look derelict. Aparently they do more with less money.

Remember that Białystok is a regional centre near the east border with rural areas around it; it's benefitted from a lot of EU infrastructure funding as a regional administrative centre. Suwałki mich the same.


Which ones?

^Most of Lodz, parts of Katowice, Szczecin and even Wroclaw out of the manicured centers (nowhere in Ełk or Białystok is as derelict as ul. Łowiecka in Szczecin).

Łódż is lovely; the faded elegance is a big part of its charm. Katowice looks like any other industrial conurbalion (though the area uphill from the station is architecturally exceptional). Neither look derelict, however north-east Poland has historically far less infrastructure, hence there's less to age.

Białystok looks nice, but is tiny and far away from everything, so if you get bored you are stuck.
Katowice is post-industrial but has potential in my opinion to be a great city, especially given the architecture in the centre and it's size/scale

Sure but I want to make a business for wealthy customers (selling luxury brands etc.). My thinking is the poor Poles have already went to UK, Germany to work (or in call centers in Slovakia or the Balkans) ;).

So what is left in Poland esp. in small towns are people that have enough money not to need to relocate. Those who have big farms etc. and are wealthy enough to seek luxury goods and services (brand clothing, golf courses, luxury real estate). The profit in working with regular customers e.g. in real estate is much less than if you sell luxury properties to the local elite.

Poles who can afford to (especially in country towns) build their own houses on their own land. Or inherit them.


There's a reason that upscale products and services are concentrated in the capital and the larger cities.

Yeah but apart from Trójmiasto, most big cities are very polluted. Look, Podlaskie does very good: reddit.com/r/europe/comments/9my7ky/todays_european_air_quality_index_poland_finally

Pullution tends to be a trade-off for having actual human activity somewhere.

Podlasie is pretty in parts, and I'd happily have a weekend home there (in the right place), however there are a lot of drawbacks about living there, as well as a brain/skills drain to places where there's more opportunity.

I prefer Northern, Eastern and South Eastern Poland so Trojmiasto fits the bill. I know there's a ferry from Gdansk to Kalmar. I assume anything West of Krakow would have too many Czech and German cultural traces anyway for my taste. Surprisingly, Trojmiasto has an almost Nordic feel, while Bialystok and Podlasie are purer Slavic (Polish with lots of Belarussian elements). Not sure if some Baltic traces there but I prefer Belarus, Nordic and Baltic countries to Germany and Czehia anyday so living closer to them makes more sense. I'd assume the mentality of people in Western/South Western Poland could be too German- or Czech-like while in Lomza and Bialystok they'll be more Slavic/even Belorussian-like.

Oh another thing is traveling. I'd like to be able to travel to places like Stokholm, Kalmar, Gotland, Aland, Finland, Tallinn, Riga, Lwow, and even Minsk once things there settle down, so places like Trojmiasto, Lublin and Bialystok make sense. Krakow and Wroclaw are dolls but they're too far away imo from those must-see for me destinations, except Budapest and Regensburg. I don't care about Berlin and I've alredy lived in Prague and visited Dresden & Brno, so nothing interesting in that area for me.

If you want to travel you can take a plane so it doesn't really matter whether you go from Wrocław or Białystok.

If you don't want to go by plane, then you need to take a ferry to Scandinavia so you'd have to drive from Białystok as well and though I don't know Podlasie very much I remember driving there was a pain.

Trójmiasto has a Prussian heritage -just like Wrocław.
Podlasie was in the Russian partition but more importantly it was always a melting pot of Polish, Ruthenian, Tatar and of course Jewish influences. Plus the Russian ones during the partitions. It still has a relatively big Christian Orthodox community and even some Polish Muslims.

Also I don't think Podlasie is the most popular destination for wealthy people who would be interested only in luxurious goods.

For me it feels a bit like Britain.


It's got a very rich history; in somewhere like Siemiatycze all those things are visible. I'd happily live in the parts of Podlasie closer to Warsaw in the area around Liw Castle however I'm twice the OP's age. There isn't that much to do or see, not many places to go out and shopping can be tricky. Siedlce is a pleasant town however it's not for everyone and Białystok always feels a little isolated.


If you want to travel at weekends etc, Warsaw (which of course is in a part of Poland where its eastern suburbs almost touch Podlasie) is by far the easiest place to be. More things happening there and more opportunities in life.

@jon357
It feels like Britain because it's at the seaside :)

I went to Podlasie only once, to Białowieża to be precise, and what struck me was that despite all the foreign tourists there, nobody really gives a damn about tourism :)

I really want to go again but the journey was a pain. I'd love to see the Tatar villages.

I hate planes though. Maybe I could fly if I have to go to Sweden or an island like Aland as it takes less time than a ship/ferry but apart from that I prefer cars, buses and trains. Yeah, lots to see there. The wooden houses, Tatar villages and Orthodox churches are so nice to see.

Going further south, I find Lublin very livable and its castle looks very exotic. I forgot another close
If I have to chose a big area though I'd rather go to Trojmiasto over Warsaw as it has cruise/ferry opportunities to see Sweden and Finland (hopefully the boat/cruise travel business recovers one day and a Covid vaccine is found!). Of course, that's more like Central Northern Poland or even Central/Western Northern Poland lol.

Gdansk/Gdynia - Stockholm - Visby - Marieham are must sees in my book.

And aren't most cruise passengers of the wealthy and aged kind? Lots of possibilities for medical staff but also in general tourism servies, catering, event planning, performing art etc.

There's something true in that. Plus the microclimate there means the trees aren't the Polish birches and evergreens etc but more deciduous ones like in England.


They are very worth a visit! I've only been once but would go again. There are restaurants that serve Tatar food.


Cruises are dead right now due to Covid; that won't change soon. Having said that, life aboard a ship has its frustrations but is worth it. I used to work on a ship, an industrial one (the largest in the world, like a floating island), and would go back again right now. And might.

On cruise ships though, the passengers may be able to afford the fare, however very few are high-spenders.

Some idiot transport consultants didnt realise that almost 10 years back and some smart ones went to voivoda got future plans and invested there.Now with the new highway built Warsaw is only 30 mins drive(I remember I use to drive almost 90 mins) and Jeronimo Martins have signed contracts for logistics for 10 years with cold storages with over 20% ROI a year.

I doubt that the OP is interested in warehouse jobs.


Which barely scrapes Podlasie.

The seventeenth century Mosque in Bohoniki has just been restored. It looks great and is very worth visiting:
tvn24.pl/bialystok/bohoniki-zabytkowy-meczet-przejdzie-remont-5024102?fbclid=IwAR2InI8mAm-1AvnrWDZvAsixZOY-7t5TGqalYEqtZdqjONVcQUGiRX1Ww8g

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Beautiful area, but I think the main tourists are Germans, followed by Poles.

Some do go there, amd a lot of Warsaw people.

A beautiful place. Bohoniki and Kruszyniany are both very worth visiting.

I like that bit further west around Liw (where I'd happily live).

Not sure that I could live there.
A bit too quiet and cold in winter, But I do love the region.

Yes, the coldest place in all Poland -the so-called Pole of Cold.

Agreed, but still a beautiful area of Poland.
So wild.

@JacekthePole
Katowice, Lodz etc. are like Leeds, Glasgow or the Rurh area. Will never be on par with Stockholm, Visby, Krakow, Przemyśl, Rothenburg, Regensburg, Passau, Dresden, Weimar, etc. They make Romania look like Dubai.

Katowice is a big city now( Katowice+16 neighbouring towns). Dresden is small, interesting but a real traffic disaster (A4 Dreieck Nossen- Wilsdurf permanently traffic jam).