Travel to Lwow from Rzeszow

Hi,

I'd like to ask some advice on travel to Lwow. We're flying in to Rzeszow on a Friday evening in May, planning to travel across to Lwow the next day. A couple of questions:

1. What's the quickest/most convenient way to get there? I heard a good way is to take a train to the border then cross on foot and get a minibus, but I don't know how often the trains go and how long the whole journey should take.

2. When in Lwow, am I better speaking Polish or English? I don't want to invite a smack in the mouth.

Thanks

-Joe

A shame its not the end of April , begining of May..I am driving from Poland to Kiev , passing Lwow on the way...I am meeting my Russian girlfriend there on 1st of May...

I don,t think you will have a problem with speaking Polish in Lwow , they are quite used to having Polish people visit the city , and they are much more likely to understand this than English...

I have visited Ukraine before , and find them to be quite friendly , i am English by the way..

I doubt the dates are going to be mutually conveniant , its a pity , as i am passing through Rzeszow , and driving on to Lwow...

I see you are from Leeds...i lived in Pudsey for 20 something years before moving to Polska..i am from Scarborough originally...

comeon now, really old people in Lwow might speak Polish. All the kids are learning English, and all the menus are in English :)

How about Kiev...? Will they understand my English there..?

Maybe not your English, they understand 'merican just fine.

I don,t suppose driving an American Jeep is going to help much....?

It's a good start, but god help you if you have any problems while you're over there. Crisp US currency seems to trump just about everything else. It comes out of the ATMs over there.

I do recall they were not very keen on changing my Polish money for Ukrainian...

Train to the border, cross on foot and get a minibus is the cheapest and usually quickest way. There is at least one train a day going to Lwow from Rzeszow, but it could be held up at the border for quite a while. Train times at rozklad-pkp.pl/query.php/en? - they're frequent from Rzeszow to Przemysl, but a bus might be quicker.

I was there in the summer and it was 2zl for the minibus from Przemysl to the border, then 15UAH from Shegyni (the other side of the border from Medyka) to Lwow. Painless, apart from the fact that the minibus driver had had a drink or two ;) The other thing to bear in mind is that you need to walk for about 150-200m in the village before you come to the minibus terminal.

Otherwise, you can get a private car from the border to Lwow for about 100PLN.


Whatever you can communicate in, you can use. It's quite a Western city in terms of mentality and attitude - but I recommend approaching older people if you speak Polish as they're more likely to understand it. Younger people will be better with English, or so we found.

A tip - if you speak good enough Polish, then if you get stuck and need help, go to the Polish cathedral on the Rynok. They're exceptionally happy to help you there if you speak Polish - and they apparently speak the most beautiful old Polish.


Euro as well now - but as you say, make sure that it's crisp. They're exceptionally funny about notes being perfect.


What, where on earth did you find English menus? We visited a fair few cafes and only really found Polish menus.

I recommend the Hotel Georges - both as a hotel and a restaurant. Apart from being pre-war and cheap (and amazing) they have their own pierogi recipe with something like Bolognese sauce inside. Worth the trip just for that.

Amadeus and Kupel have english menus and oddly enough, friendly english speaking staff :)

In polish city you can speak in Polish

And in German cities you can speak German?


If you're paying for something, it doesn't matter what language is coming out of your mouth. Your wallet is speaking the universal language.

Thanks all - I appreciate it.

Enjoy your trip.

Thread attached on merging:
Visting Lwow from Poland

Hello.

I will be in Wroclaw in July and we would like to visit Lwow for a few days. Does anyone know how best to do this? Are there any good trips organised that people have been on, or is it just as well to make your own way there and if so via train or bus and which hotels?

Thanks, Kieron.

there are lots of threads on this forum with advice about travelling to Lwow from Poland, for example: https://polishforums.com/travel/lwow-rzeszow-42878/

I would recommend the Hotel Eney in Lviv.