Practical information (travel etc.)
Transfer from Poznań to Będlewo
The organizers will arrange mini-buses service to transfer participants from Poznań airport and Poznań railway station to Będlewo on May 6 and for the way back at the end of the conference. We will try to adopt time of departures of the mini-buses to your time of arrival but we apologize that sometimes waiting for a while will be unavoidable.
Please inform us about your precise time of arrival (flight number, train from, etc.) at latest three weeks before the conference!
DEADLINE 13 APRIL 2012!!!
Schedule of mini-buses (and places where you will find them) will be described in the message sent one week before conference. The distance from Poznań railway station to Będlewo is about 25 km.
Travel by plane
Directly to Poznań airport
Poznań has a small international airport with many flights from Warsaw and from large airports abroad (Munich, Copenhagen, Frankfurt/Main, Zurych, London-Stansted). The complete schedule of international flights to/from Poznań you can find at
http://www.info.Poznan.pl/komunikacja/lotnicza/index.html
The schedule of Polish Airlines LOT (including all flights from Warsaw to Poznań and back) you will find at
https://www.lot.com/web/lot/flight-schedule
Using this data you can make some suggestions to your travel agent.
Warsaw airport
You can arrive via Warsaw Chopin Airport which has connections with all major airports in Europe and many in USA and Canada. Then to reach Poznań you can either fly to Poznań or take a train. Please note that the national polish airlines LOT (flying from Warsaw and Poznań) is now closely connected to Lufthansa and is a member of the Star Alliance, thus the flight ticket to Poznań might be quite convenient in case of Star Alliance tickets. If you continue to Poznań by air, you fly from the same airport; domestic terminal is next to the international one.
Warsaw airport — Railway station “Warszawa Centralna”
All trains in the direction of Poznań leave from Warsaw central station (“Dworzec Centralny”). There are two ways to get from Chopin Airport to Dworzec Centralny
By taxi. Taxis wait for passengers in front of the arrival hall. There are many corporations. The taxi fare from the airport to the city centre is approx. PLN 40.
http://www.lotnisko-chopina.pl/en/passenger/access-and-car-parks/taxi/taxi
By public bus. The bus number 175 will take you directly to Dworzec Centralny. To take the bus you need to buy tickets in advance and validate them in the machine on the bus. You can buy tickets in kiosk at the arrival hall. You will need one ticket for yourself only, you do not have t pay for the luggage. You should be rather careful on the bus; it is a favourite bus line of the pickpockets.
In the arrival hall of Chopin Airport at Orbis travel office you can buy rail tickets to Poznań. Obviously you can buy them also at the central station.
From Warsaw to Poznań by train
Railway connections from Warsaw to Poznań are good. There are no reasonable connections during the night but during the day (on Sunday between 6.00 in the morning till 19.45 in the evening) nearly every hour there is either EC, IC (better quality) or an express train. Journey takes less than 3h. One can expect in most trains a restaurant car or/and mini-bar services in all cars. It is advisable to avoid non-direct connections. For detailed schedule use either http://www.rozklad.pkp.pl/ (English) or http://www.bahn.de/ (German) or http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en (English). No matter you buy ticket on the train or before you have to buy also a seat reservation (usually still available just before departure) — ticket bought on the train is more expensive (on the train one cannot always use credit cards). IC ticket 2nd class (including compulsory seat reservation) costs now (March 2011) around 115 PLN.
Berlin airport
There are two airports in Berlin: Tegel and Schoenefeld. The major international airport is Tegel – it has many connections to various cities.
From Berlin to Poznań by train
There are now three direct EC-trains per day from Berlin to Poznań. Travel takes approx. 2h 30 min. One can expect in each train a restaurant car and mini-bar services in all cars. It is advisable to avoid non-direct connections. For detailed schedule use either http://www.rozklad.pkp.pl/ (English) or http://www.bahn.de/ (German) or http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en (English). Together with a ticket one has to buy a seat reservation — ticket bought on the train is more expensive.
Travel by train
Poznań has good train connections to Warsaw, Berlin and major cities in Poland. Coming from the western direction it is advisable to take a direct train from Berlin (see the note above).
For detailed schedule of all trains use either http://www.rozklad.pkp.pl/ (English) or the German service also covering polish railway net http://www.bahn.de/ (German) or http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en (English).
Travel by car
To reach Będlewo from the west you can go via Świecko border crossing point and then directly to Poznań. From Świecko to Poznań one can travel with the new toll A2 highway till the Poznań-Komorniki interchange where one has to leave the highway in the direction of Wrocław. Afterwards one has to follow direction Wrocław and go approx. 25 km, 6 km after small city Stęszew there is a crossing point with direction Mosina to the left. Taking it one reaches Będlewo after 2 km. For a map see the conference center page (see link Location):
http://www.impan.gov.pl/Bedlewo/
Speed limit in Poland is 90 km/h outside villages and 50 km/h inside.
Conference center in Będlewo has a parking area inside and the whole center is guarded.
Currency
Będlewo is a small village without banks or banking machines. Even those whom the organizers cover the full board and accommodation may want (and are adviced) to have some Polish money in cash (for instance, there is a bar in the palace, etc.). It is better to arrange it before arriving to Będlewo.
In Będlewo the center can help to change small amounts of currency. For main payment Będlewo Center accepts VISA, VISA Electron, Maestro, MasterCard or cash in zlotys.
At the Poznań airport there are two banking machines as well as a bank PKO SA (opened Mo-Tu 9.00-16.00, We-Fr 11.00-18.00) and a currency exchange office (“kantor”) opened every day 10.00-21.00. At the railway station in Poznań there are two banking machines and a currency exchange office opened 24 hours per day (short breaks at 7.00, 14.00, 22.00).
Poland still does not belong to the Euro-zone, so you should use in Poland polish zloty (PLN). The exchange rate now (March 2011) is approximately 4 PLN = 1 EUR and 2.9 PLN = 1 USD but the rate oscillates. Prices in Poland are still lower then in EU-countries. To see current official exchange rates (in Polish) — rates in currency exchange offices or banks may differ slightly:
http://www.nbp.pl/Kursy/KursyC.html
In Poland one can easily change money in banks and currency exchange office ("kantor"), prices vary only slightly. One can also use credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, ...) in big shops, restaurants and in banking machines to get Polish Zlotys.
Weather in Poland
You can find present weather conditions in Poznań and a forecast at http://weather.yahoo.com/poland/greater-poland/poznan-514048/ (be careful about the temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius). In May one can expect a very nice weather, maximal day temperature around 20-25 Celsius. Rain is of course also possible.
The center in Będlewo
For information about the conference center see:
http://www.impan.pl/EN/Bedlewo/index.html
There are nice places to walk around the center, having some suitable shoes is advisable. Moreover there are bicycles, billard, table tennis and sauna available. Three computer rooms with internet access and a wireless internet connection in the whole building. In every room it is possible to connect a computer to internet via a cable as well. The lecture rooms are equipped with an overhead projector and a computer projector (there is a computer there as well as you can connect your own laptop).