- Be aware that in Poland and throughout Europe comma is used as decimal point, and space to group numbers. eg. 10 500,46 zł is ten thousand five hundred zlotych and 46 groszy. Occasionally dot is also used as grouping character.
- It is illegal to drink alcoholic beverages in public, though it’s often done by the locals, especially in parks, on some buses, and some of the more congested city streets
Toilets
Public toilets run by cities were popular during the communist era, but most of them were closed down after transformation as expensive. From another point of view, most of them were in such poor condition that using them was a challenge. Some of them (often built underground) were rented out and now serve as restaurants or pubs.
Some toilets available to the public are decrepit, but those that require you to pay are often clean since they are normally tended to by attendants who regularly clean the toilets, sinks, and fill soap and toilet paper. Expect to pay 1 - 2 zł to use restrooms that charge for use. If there isn’t any toilet paper in a stall ask the attendant.
Toilets for women are marked with a circle on the door, and toilets for men are marked with a triangle.
All restaurants and bars are forced by law to have toilets inside (but not all comply). It’s not a common practice to use their toilet without ordering (at least coffee), but if you ask a waiter, he wouldn’t mind in most cases. Sometimes you have to get a key to the toilet at the counter. If there seems to be a lack of public toilets you may want to try to visit McDonald’s (or another place) just to use the toilet, however, some places have implemented policies, such as requiring people to show the receipt before you can use the restroom, because of scale of that phenomenon.
In case of larger events, organizers provide so called toi-toi toilets (from one of companies that service them). They are narrow plastic booths, usually blue, not very comfortable, often not very clean, and hardly ever with water or paper.