Highline Warsaw or the Palace of Culture Terrace: Which View Is Better?
4 min read
If you only go up one building, make it Highline Warsaw. It has the most reviews of all the Warsaw experiences on this site (4,068 reviews, 4.6 stars), costs €10.26 per person, and the deck is 230 m up, much higher than the Palace of Culture and Science terrace. The palace is still the better choice if you want its history told by a guide.
Highline Warsaw
Highline sits at the top of Varso Tower at Chmielna 69. The listing calls the 53rd-floor deck the highest 360° observation deck in the European Union and describes a second level, the HighGarden rooftop lounge on the 49th floor, with an open-air terrace. The ticket is listed as 15 minutes of viewing time, and the listing marks it “likely to sell out”, so pick a date in advance rather than turning up.
Check the rules before you go. The listing names altitude sickness under “not suitable for” and bans large bags, luggage, drones, professional cameras and bikes. According to the listing, it is wheelchair accessible. The ticket gives access to the HighGarden bar; the listing does not make clear whether a drink is included.
The Palace of Culture and Science
The palace was completed in 1955 and is 237 m tall including its spire, according to one tour listing; its 30th-floor terrace is 114 m above the city. The palace’s own site gives the terrace opening hours as daily from 10 am to 8 pm and lists changes for holidays, including closure on 24, 25 and 26 December and shorter hours on 31 December (pkin.pl). Hours can change for events, so look on the day.
Three listings combine the terrace with a visit to the building:
| Tour | Length | Details | Price per person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palace of Culture and Science Tour with Terrace | 45 minutes | Guide in English, skip-the-line to the terrace; not suitable for people with mobility impairments or wheelchair users | €19.90 |
| Palace of Culture and Science Guided Tour | 1.5 hours | Guide in Polish, English, French or German, private option, wheelchair accessible according to the listing | €49.01 |
| Palace of Culture & Science Tour, Terrace Entry Included | 1 hour | Guide in English, terrace ticket and a small sweet at the end; not suitable for wheelchair users or people afraid of heights | €15.96 |
The 1.5-hour tour explores halls of the 3,288-room building and ends with free time on the terrace. Its listing asks you to arrive 10 minutes early, because the guide does not wait for latecomers, and to leave luggage and large backpacks in the paid storage on level 1. One reviewer there warns that part of the tour is outdoors.
Which one to pick
Highline gives you the higher view and the palace as part of the skyline. The palace terrace gives you the building’s story, and from the 30th floor you cannot see the palace itself. One reviewer of Highline preferred daytime, another found the evening view amazing, so choose by the weather. If mobility is an issue, the Highline ticket and the 1.5-hour palace tour are listed as wheelchair accessible; the 45-minute and the 1-hour palace tours list wheelchair users as not suitable. More ideas are in the museums and tickets category.
