Whether you are a civil aviation or military aviation enthusiast, if you find yourself with some spare time in Warsaw, Poland, you should consider visiting the Polish Army Museum which is just a short walk away from the capital’s city center.
Since I had a long transfer in Warsaw while transferring between a LOT flight from Copenhagen and to Singapore back in December, I decided to pay the museum a quick visit.
Read this review to learn more about it.
Getting There, Opening Hours & Entrance Fees
The Polish Army Museum is easily accessible from both the city center from where it’s just a short walk (or bus or tram ride) away and the airport from it can be reached by train without having to transfer.
From the city, you can take buses number 111, 117, 158, 507, 517, and 521, or trams number 7, 8, 9, 22, 24, 25, and 43 to the Muzeum Narodowe (National Museum) stop which is right in front of the museum.
From the airport, you can take the S2 train which departs every 30 minutes, and get off at Warszawa Powiśle 01 station which is just a two or three minute walk from the museum. The train ride takes about 25 minutes.
As for the museum’s opening hours and entrance fees, I should first note that the museum has an outdoor exhibition and an indoor exhibition.
I only visited the outdoor exhibition which is free to enter and can be accessed at any time.
The indoor exhibition is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and is open from 10AM to 5PM on Wednesdays, and from 10AM to 4PM on the remaining days of the week.
Access to the indoor exhibition costs 15 PLN (about 4 USD), however, the exhibition can be entered for free on Thursdays.
Outdoor Exhibition
As mentioned above, I only visited the free to access outdoor exhibition of the Polish Army Museum. The main reason of that was that I am mainly interested in civil aviation, and my interest in all things military – which is what the indoor exhibition basically consists of – is almost non-existent.
Being a civil aviation enthusiast, the one aircraft that made me want to visit this museum was the Polish Air Force Yakovlev Yak-40, tail number 044.
Even though that was not the case during my visit, it seems like on some days, it’s possible to pay a small fee and enter the Yak-40 (as well as some of the other aircraft on display).
The other aircraft that you might find interesting if you are an airliner fan – even though its in a camouflage livery – is a Polish Air Force Antonov An-26, tail number 1602.
Other than the above, there were about ten or so fighter jets and historic military aircraft. Those ranged from the modern Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 all the way to World War II era aircraft such as Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik and Avia B-33, a Czechoslovakia-made version of the Ilyushin Il-10.
Finally, as far as aircraft are concerned, there were three Polish Air Force helicopters on display – a Mil Mi-2, Mi-8, and Mi-24.
Besides aircraft, there were also quite a few tanks, rocket launchers, and other military vehicles, as well as cannons and guns on display.
Indoor Exhibition
If you are interested in civil or military aircraft, and no so much in other parts of military history, then you might consider skipping the indoor exhibition. However, if you have some extra time on hands or military in general is something that interests you, then you might also want to visit the indoor exhibition.
While you can see a detailed description of what can be found inside the museum on the Polish Army Museum official website, in general it seems to cover the entire history of the Polish Army – starting with its very beginnings in the 10th century and ending with World War II.
Items on display seem to mostly be – as is usual with this kind of museums – uniforms and weapons of all sorts.
Polish Army Museum Summary
Overall, whether you are a military aviation or a civil aviation enthusiast, I can only recommend visiting the Polish Army Museum – more specifically, its outdoor exhibition which is free to access.
Not only will you be able to see some interesting aircraft such as Yak-40, but you will also be able to photograph many of them fairly nicely without many obstructions.
As far as the indoor exhibition is concerned, if you are not interested in military history, then there’s not much benefit in visiting it since there don’t seem to be any aircraft inside. However, you should definitely visit it if military history in general is one of your interests.
