The Museum Station in Warsaw is a must-see for railroad fans. And if you are not a big fan of trains, it is worth remembering this place when you are in Warsaw, because here you can learn a lot about the history and development of railroads in Poland.
Can a museum and open-air museum with rolling stock be located in the heart of a European capital? It turns out that yes! The museum station is located inside the former Warszawa Główna Osobowa railway station, although, as we can read on the facility’s website, this is not the museum’s final destination.
Admittedly, there is still no additional information about when the move to the new location would take place, or even details about the construction of the headquarters…. although no, some details were given, there are even blueprints of the new location on the internet, but these are articles from 2016 and according to them the opening of the modern exhibition was planned for 2018/2019…. As you can see, this did not come to pass, but we leave in the introduction the information that, however, in the future it is planned to move all the exhibits to a new place in case you read this article in a few years :)
While the very idea of having such a museum in a former train station is great, it is clear here that both the building and the exhibitions would already benefit from a major overhaul. Without diminishing the value of the museums’ collections, their display and readability could be brought to a much higher level with more modern solutions and more multimedia exhibitions. This is a typical museum, where you rather not touch anything, you can only look ;) And this is, in our opinion, an important piece of information to start with, because if you are going to come here with children you will need to keep a close eye on them. Nevertheless, railroad enthusiasts are sure to be delighted with a visit to the Museum Station.
The Museum Station was established after the decision to liquidate the Railway Museum, and it was from this institution that it took over many of the exhibits. It is also worth mentioning that since 2016, a branch of this museum is the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Sochaczew.
Table of contents
Tour of the Museum Station
The museum station consists of two parts: on one side are rooms with mock-ups, models and other exhibits, and on the other is an open-air locomotive museum (of course, it’s not hard to guess that this part is outside).
Let’s start with the exhibitions – two halls with many exhibits are available here. There is an indicated direction of the tour, but in practice hardly anyone sticks to it, but there is also no pressure, none of the staff pay attention if someone just goes their own way.
Inside, we can see the history of Polish railroads from the time before railroads reached Poland to the present day. The showcases are full of illustrations, graphics, photos, old uniforms, clocks, banners, but especially models. And it is these models of vehicles, locomotives and wagons that we think are the most interesting exhibits. Very detailed reproduced, quite large models that can be admired up close (for some you can even look inside through the glass windows).
The museum has a locomotive simulator – here you can sit in a seat and try your hand as a motorman (unfortunately, it was out of order during our visit).
After passing through the exhibitions, one comes outside, where locomotives and cars stand on the tracks. At first, from a distance you can only see a few of them, but coming closer you can see that they stretch hen far away. In total, there are about 50 units here, including steam locomotives, electric locomotives, diesel locomotives, many railcars (mail, saloon). Some are open to visitors, and some can only be visited on specific days.
Sightseeing with children
We don’t know how much of this is intentional, but something that positively surprised us is that there are many models at the child’s eye level. Even toddlers without climbing on their toes will be able to take a closer look at the locomotives and train cars.
Something that definitely stole the hearts of our children was a model made of Legos, but as it turned out later – a temporary model :(
We mentioned above that this is not an interactive museum, the exhibits cannot be touched and you should be aware of this especially when you plan to visit with younger children.
Information practically
Prices – how much does a ticket to the Museum Station cost?
We don’t often write about prices with pleasure, but here the prices are really very decent! There are big discounts for the family ticket and a very big discount with KDR!
Normal ticket – 18 PLN
Discounted ticket – 10 PLN
Family ticket (maximum 2+3) – 38 PLN
Children under the age of 7 enter for free.
Entry on Mondays is free.
The facility honors the National Large Family Card: it offers free admission for those under 18, and adults can buy a ticket at a 50% discount.
Museum Station opening hours
The Museum Station is open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. When planning your visit, it’s worth checking the opening schedule of each unit (available here), so that you won’t be disappointed that you can’t go inside any of them.
Getting to the Museum Station
As we mentioned at the very beginning of this post, the museum is located in the very center of Warsaw, close to Warsaw Ochota station and Zawiszy Square. Right at the entrance is (surprisingly!) free parking!
If you plan to come by public transportation, the nearest stops/stations are:
Exact address: Museum Station
Street. Towarowa 3
00-811 Warsaw
What can you see around the Museum Station?
Looking for ideas on what else to see in the Museum Station area? It is close to the Warsaw Uprising Museum (about 1 km on foot), the Palace of Culture and Science (about 1.5 km), it is also worth considering the NBP Money Center (further away, at 2.5 km).
Are you spending a family weekend in Warsaw? Close by is Smart Kids Planet, and a little further away: the aforementioned NBP Money Center (highly recommended for kids as well) or the Copernicus Science Center.
Where to stay overnight in the Museum Station area?
Here are some suggestions for accommodation in Warsaw, although not necessarily the closest to the Museum Station (there is a lot of choice in the city, and access by public transport should not be a problem, so there is no need to look for accommodation close by by force).
Ibis Styles Warsaw Centrum Address: 1A Zagórna Street, Downtown, 00-441 Warsaw Prices: from 450 PLN for a double room Link: https://r4b.link/ibis-styles-warszawa
We make no secret of the fact that we have somewhat mixed feelings. On the one hand, it’s a place where enthusiasts will be delighted – we saw many families where children bulged their eyes in amazement, could name specific locomotives, and knew far more about railroading than we did ;)
Our kids liked it because they saw a great Lego mock-up, they could see models of locomotives and train cars, but not everything was accessible and yet it is a more traditional museum where you have to keep your hands to yourself.
Nevertheless, the museum’s collections are truly impressive!
...prefers a quiet, lazy vacation, but does not miss the opportunity to see something interesting and bravely keeps pace with Kamila. Contrary to appearances, he also loves active leisure :) He is responsible for the organizational and practical part of the trip, i.e. he makes sure that we get to the ... More about us >>
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