HOME · LATEST 100 POSTS · BAR BILLIARDS · GOOD BEER GUIDE · NORWICH MARKET · FLIGHTS · RAILWAYS · INDIAN MEALS · CONTACT

Category: Katowice

Wizz Air Flight from Katowice to Barcelona

I’ll write about my visits to some towns near Katowice in a future instalment of this exciting blog, but for the moment I feel the need to record the flights back home so that I don’t forget more than I already have. Here’s the bus station in Katowice.

Waiting for the bus to the airport, which is both cheap and runs regularly. It’s possible to buy a ticket on the app, but mine had stopped working for reasons unknown and I just bought a paper ticket which cost the equivalent of just over £1.

I had the back row of seats to myself on the airport bus, although I was primarily taking a photo of the validating machine in case that was ever useful to anyone. My friend Gareth managed to get fined within ten minutes of arriving in Poland for failing to validate his ticket, although he’s not a very savvy traveller.

Safely at Katowice Airport around forty minutes after leaving the city centre.

Katowice Airport is the fourth busiest in Poland and has gone from serving around one million passengers in 2005 to nearly four million in 2017 and 7.3 million last year. The growth, like so much in Poland, is continuing and an entirely new central passenger terminal is planned to accommodate the increasing numbers.

I was at this airport a few months ago and remembered from then that there’s a lounge for non-Schengen passengers, but the one for Schengen passengers can only be accessed by paying separately. I instead went to the gate area to find a seat and power, which was a successful little quest. I noticed that the airport staff were checking every bag at the gate to see if they fitted into the little cage. There were a fair few extra złoty raised in this little exercise and I was slightly concerned myself as I like to worry about these things.

I went to the back of the queue whilst merrily rearranging my bag to make it seem even smaller. The passenger in front got their bag into the sizer, but spent some time trying to extract it again. I was moderately annoyed to be the first passenger in my queue to just be waved through without my bag being checked after all my rearranging, but it is fair to say that I do travel light. With that, it was time to wait for the aircraft whilst some passengers were positively grumpy about being charged extra.

Boarding the aircraft and the seating gods had given me a window seat near to the front which was more than suitable for my needs. The aircraft was 9H-WAG, yet another new one for me, just in case anyone was asking. The flight was, as nearly always, uneventful and the cabin crew were friendly, the service was efficient and the aircraft was clean. For the £9 cost of my flight, it all went smoothly and represented I felt excellent value for money.

My window seat gave me some impressive views during the flight, this is the Hohe Tauern National Park in Austria.

Flying over Nice, a city that I haven’t been to before, partly because it sounds a bit expensive.

Approaching Barcelona, which is one of my favourite cities that I’ve been to a few times before.

And safely into Barcelona Airport on time and the aircraft is just visible at the end of the jet bridge. My plan was to go into central Barcelona by train and then return to the airport late in the evening, as I had a flight back to the UK in the morning. Staying awake at an airport, yet again, seemed a marvellous idea but more on that soon.

October 7, 2026
Katowice – More Problems at the Polish Border

One of the reasons that I find Poland so agreeable is the country’s tendency to do things properly and efficiently, although this creates problems when the European Entry/Exit System has been handled differently elsewhere in the Schengen Area. Last year I had the excitement of being stuck at the border as there was confusion over how long I had been in the EU, officials eventually agreed that I had not overstayed.

This time there were quite long delays at the border and officers appeared to be conducting some detailed interviews. The very polite border control officer noted that there was a discrepancy at Bilbao Airport and this isn’t a surprise as I wrote about the confusion at the time. This meant that it looked like I hadn’t left the EU and so I had technically exceeded my number of days in the bloc.

A manager came over and she was efficient and helpful. I was pleased that Wizz Air stored all my boarding passes in one place, as this made it easy to show her the relevant flights. That evidence was sufficient to resolve the discrepancy. She mentioned that this was a failure by the Spanish border authorities and that it would be noted by the airport, although I’m not sure what they do with this information. I do like to imagine that somewhere in Katowice there is now a carefully maintained spreadsheet containing a sternly worded entry about Bilbao.

The delay wasn’t substantial, but it took me fifty minutes to get from airside to landside, meaning that I missed the bus by one minute. The border authorities had accepted that I was legally present, but the bus demonstrated rather less flexibility and departed without me. I’ll be glad when the EES is operating consistently across the Schengen Area.

October 6, 2026
Wizz Air Flight from Kutaisi to Katowice

After I discovered how cheap the fixed fare Bolt taxi was between Kutaisi airport and the city centre, I decided to do the same on the reverse trip. This was the only option I had if I wanted to get breakfast at the hotel, as the airport bus only runs once every couple of hours. The journey was therefore an easy one, with the taxi arriving only a couple of minutes after I booked it. This time, the driver didn’t feel the need to interrupt my plans to put my seat belt on and I was also pleased with his driving.

There are some subtle signs around the airport that this is a country looking towards the European Union and away from Russia. The political process of Georgia joining the EU has stalled at the moment, but opinion polls show that more 70% of residents support joining.

There is an airport lounge although it’s a paid one which doesn’t allow the various lounge cards access. I was aware of this in advance and so had ensured that my breakfast at the hotel was a substantial one.

The airport itself was clean, bright, functional and there were plenty of power outlets, but despite what it might look like from the above photo, there wasn’t really enough seating. There were a couple of cafes, a shop and an external smoking area for those who felt the need.

When the redeveloped airport opened in 2012, it handled fewer than 200,000 passengers during the following year. Wizz Air’s enthusiasm for serving Kutaisi has since helped push that figure towards two million, while expansion plans would eventually enable the airport to handle around five million passengers annually.

The walk to the aircraft confirmed that Georgia remained substantially warmer than my preferred operating temperature.

The aircraft was 9H-WDI, another new registration for me and therefore an important addition to records which nobody has yet requested to inspect.

The seating gods gave me an aisle seat just behind the emergency exit row seats. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this led to the excitement of watching passengers attempt to upgrade themselves, before the Wizz Air cabin crew told them either to pay €20 or return to their allocated seats.

The flight itself was, yet again, uneventful which pleased me greatly. It was busy on board, but the service was efficient, the pilots were clear with their announcements and nothing fell off the aircraft.

And safely into Katowice Airport a little earlier than expected and with no incidents to report. All really rather lovely. Well, until there was a border issue, but more of that in the next post.

October 5, 2026
Wizz Air (Katowice to London Luton)

[Apologies I published this early if anyone saw a half finished post!]

I was connecting at Katowice Airport to fly to London Luton, although there was no airside connection available. I also discovered that the security area at Terminal A wasn’t open for thirty more minutes, so the process was hardly rushed.

Mine was the 19:45 flight and I had the advantage of popping to the airport lounge, but I wrote about that separately.

The boarding process was all efficient, but there was a particular focus on checking bag sizes on this flight. The lady was walking down the queue and she spoke to me briefly before telling me that my bag was fine, but a fair few were being stopped and charged extra money. One guy was charged four times for his family, so around £320, so it was a profitable exercise for Wizz Air. Although, the rules are very clear, so the customers took a risk.

This lady was charged £80, she might have been a little unlucky. It’s fair to say that she wasn’t very pleased and she asked a couple of us whether we’d been charged as well.

The aircraft is 9H-WAD, yet another one that I haven’t been on before and this has been part of the Wizz Air fleet since 2022.

Everything was smooth and well managed yet again, although the seating Gods had given me a middle seat which wasn’t ideal. However, the flight was only two hours so it’s hardly traumatic. The flight cost the usual £8.99 with my Multipass and the aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly and everything worked as it should.

We landed into London Luton on time and I had a hotel just a short walk away from the airport, which is always something that I look forward to. This marked the end of my one week stay in Poland, Romania and Germany, another successful trip that was made a lot easier with my cheap Wizz Air flights.

April 17, 2026
Katowice Airport – Business Lounge (Terminal A)

With around three and a half hours before my flight from Katowice to London Luton, I thought I’d see how busy the lounge was. Fortunately I was flying on a non-Schengen flight departing from Terminal A, as the lounge at Terminal B has now stopped accepting Priority Pass. I hadn’t realised I had been to this lounge before, but it seems that I came here in 2019. I am a creature of habit sometimes.

There was a friendly welcome from the team member at the reception desk and it was evident that there weren’t any capacity issues as I was the only customer in the lounge. Indeed, that was the situation for nearly two more hours. That gave me a choice of seats, so I sat near the runway to look out. I’m easily pleased.

This was the limit of the food (other than for some yoghurts and sausage rolls) and the Caesar salad on the right didn’t look entirely fresh, but the Greek salad was entirely acceptable. And those jelly sweets on the left, let’s just say that the team member in the lounge had to refill those.

I was impressed at the beer fridge with five different local options from the Cieszyn brewery, which is the longest continually operated set-up in the country. I tried a couple of the beers and it’s a shame that more UK airports don’t offer a local beer, even if they can’t manage five of them.

This wasn’t a bad set-up, there was a decadent 9% beer, coffee, salad, sausages with insufficient pastry and jelly sweets. This pleased me…. And there were also plenty of power points in the lounge which was handy.

The facilities were a little limited with just one toilet, but when you’re the only person in the lounge, that proves to be less of a challenge. I’m not sure that it would be worth paying full price for, unless you wanted to drink several beers, but I found it a useful resting and working place for the few hours that I was in there.

April 17, 2026
Wizz Air (Dortmund to Katowice)

Dortmund is one of the older airports which is simply too small to deal with the number of passengers it currently has to handle. There are over three million passengers using the airport every year now and they have been creative about using the space that they have.

Mine was the 13:25 flight and I took this photo just after I went through security, showing how perilously close I was. Well, by my standards. The security process was slightly problematic as some drunk, mostly older, Polish football fans barged by a few of us in the security line. I decided to take the opposite security line to them and managed to get through quite a bit quicker, and certainly had a quieter time.

And the aircraft arrives, albeit a little late. The seating arrangement at the airport wasn’t dreadful, but they do need more seats for passengers as quite a few just opted for the floor. There were no power points and the general facilities at the airport were quite limited, but everything seemed to work efficiently.

I was slightly nervous of a delay as I had a flight from Katowice four hours after this one arrived, but fortunately, there was no impact of note.

This is aircraft HA-LVD, yet another one that I haven’t been on before, with this one in operation since 2019. The seating Gods had given me a window seat near the back, which suited my needs entirely for a flight of a little over one hour.

Somewhere over Dortmund.

What looks like a pretty town, this is Soest in Germany.

And safely into Katowice and we we hardly late at all, giving me more than enough time at the airport to sit in the lounge for hours….

The flight cost £9 with my Multipass and was another competently managed operation, with the aircraft being clean, the crew being friendly and the pilots sounding professional. It’s becoming a bit samey I know with Wizz Air, but routinely good isn’t a bad thing…

April 16, 2026
Katowice Trip – Ibis Budget Katowice

I’ve visited this hotel many times before, and have written about it many times before, and it’s always one of my favourite accommodation options in Poland. The staff are friendly, the rooms are clean, it’s peaceful, the breakfast is reliably decent, the prices are low and it’s just relaxing. This time, the hotel kindly upgraded me to the largest room they have, something I know because I had a little look on the fire escape plan, which for the low price is entirely functional for my needs.

I accept it’s not the most beautiful or luxurious room going, indeed some visitors have said they thought they were in prison, but I don’t have very decadent standards. My friend Richard is only happy if the hotel provides blueberries hand-picked by Finnish monks which are left in a bowl made from wood sourced in the Falkland Islands, placed next to a collection of towels made in the shape of swans. I’m generally happy with a door and a bed. Incidentally, this will be a handy way of seeing if Richard is reading this blog, as that might be my third loyal blog reader!

I won’t witter on here about the generalities of the hotel, as I did that on my last stay here in 2022.

Kettles don’t come as standard in Ibis Budget rooms, so I appreciated this kind gesture. They also provided sachets of honey with the tea which is something that I’m not sure I recall many other Accor hotels doing.

The obligatory breakfast photos from across my three night stay. It’s not exactly a gastronomical treat, but it is reliably filling and contains a range of pickled items. Sometimes the simplest of things, especially if they’re keenly priced, are the best. Coffee, orange juice, cold meats, something pickled, rolls and maybe even some fruit to shock and awe my body.

You can choose to not have your room cleaned and you get 100 Accor points each day for this. I went for this, and the allocation of the 200 points to my account was done same day, it’s sometimes something that I have to contact the hotel about after the trip. But Polish efficiency rarely fails them. There’s a Novotel which is literally next to the Ibis Budget and I’ve never made it there, partly because this hotel just feels the better value.

October 14, 2024
Katowice Trip – Pasibus

I’ve never eaten in a Pasibus outlet before, they’re a Polish burger chain which are in around 18 cities and they started in Wrocław in 2013. They haven’t started an international expansion yet, but it’s apparently on the cards.

You can either order at the bar or by using self-service kiosks. I used a kiosk so I could see the whole range of options. And kiosks means that I can concentrate on the intricacies of the ordering process without the fear if withering looks from a cashier whilst sensing a queue snaking behind me wondering why I’m faffing. And there’s a lot to be said about no forced pleasantries with a stranger who wishes they were anywhere else, although I do of course understanding the importance of hospitality at the right place and at the right time. Like in a pub…. Sometimes though I don’t need engagement, just a symphony of technology and convenience before collecting my food.

When your number is called, you go and collect the food and drinks. This is all a bit more dignified than in some McDonald’s, where it sometimes feels like being part of a throng of fellow diners standing around like vultures circling around a carcass. Some form of buzzer system or service to table might have made this a little more decadent though.

The interior is modern, clean and feels on-trend.

The food is well presented (although I accept the chicken burger looks dried out in the photo) and the main burger is a chicken one with berries on top, with some shrubbery sticking out. The chicken was tender, the exterior was crispy and it seemed an entirely decent arrangement. The chips were served as a relatively small portion, but were crispy on the exterior and fluffy on the interior. I also got a small cheeseburger, which is visible lurking at the back, and this rather melted in the mouth and was juicy.

The whole lot was just under £11, which was not a vast difference to what McDonald’s would have been, with offers being available as well. I thought everything was in order, I’d visit again if passing, although didn’t think that it was exciting enough to look up different outlets in the chain.

October 6, 2024
Katowice Trip – Ryanair (Stansted Airport to Katowice)

I have yet to grow bored of walking down airport corridors such as this, they’re something of a endless stretch of anticipation and mild anxiety. I think it’s the excitement of people watching.

More time spent on the tarmac.

I always remember now to take a photo of the aircraft registration, just so I know if I’ve flown on it before. Me and my list ticking….. It’s EI-DHG and I don’t think that I’ve been on it before. It’s a Boeing 737 which has been in the Ryanair fleet since 2005 and the age does show compared to Wizz Air aircraft, which just feel more functional in terms of the internal fit-out. As a minor example, Ryanair tray tables are wonky, it’s an endless challenge to try and keep my phone sitting on them.

Safely in Katowice with my professional imagery making it look like the aircraft is defective. I took this from the shuttle bus which takes passengers about 75 metres to the airport terminal. I forgot to mention on my first version of this post that the aircraft had a failed landing, it was all quite exciting to hear the engines roar to get it back up again. It wasn’t ideal that the announcements weren’t audible in the part of the cabin that I was in, as I was hoping for some updates from the pilots, but I thought it added a little something to the experience. I mentioned this to a few friends who apparently wouldn’t consider this to be uplifting to their experience (note the very clever pun there) though.

48 minutes it took me to get through border control now I can’t use the EU lines….. This I consider to be sub-optimal.

October 2, 2024
Tuesday – Tuesday : Katowice Week (100 Years of Katowice in Poland)

During my week in the city, I managed by chance to see some of the celebrations marking 100 years since Katowice became part of an independent Poland. No longer would it be Kattowitz under German control, it would be part of what is now known as the Second Polish Republic. The Government has also created a new public holiday for 20 June, marking the Silesian Uprisings and the country’s President, Andrzej Duda, came to Katowice a few weeks ago to sign that into law. My photo is hardly ideal since there’s just lots of backs, but I understand there were some important military figures amongst that group, as well as the country’s Culture Secretary.

This was the formal parade on 20 June at the Silesian Insurgents’ Monument and I think this was more focused on marking the new public holiday. The pride in the city was evident and there was a large turnout of locals of all ages.

This photo was from the day before, and the focus on this was Katowice being 100 years as part of the independent Poland, or at least, that’s what I understand the arrangements were. I noted a brief history of all this in my Bytom post, but it was on 20 June 1922 that the Weimar Republic formally ceded the lands to Poland, with Polish troops moving in two days.

Stanisław Szeptycki (1867-1950), the leader of the Polish troops in Silesia, on his horse taking Katowice for the Polish on 22 June 1922.

I don’t know who they are, but those suited men came in Government cars which swept in, which added to the excitement of the event. Indeed, I was so excited I went to get a beer to help the Polish celebrate.

There were numerous musical performances taking place over the weekend, including also a gathering of Scouts. This made it challenging for the tram network (I mean that there’s a big performance space over the tracks, not the gathering of scouts), which crosses over this square.

There was then a parade of what appears to be of numerous uniformed services which I caught the tail end of.

Beautiful, a proud nation state.

The temperatures in Katowice were what I consider extreme, so these useful water cooling systems were handy for pedestrians in the area. I made several detours over the weekend to walk through this.

A little tank in the main square.

Residents wouldn’t have had any difficulty in finding a police officer during the weekend.

Anyway, I enjoyed visiting the city at this time. I like to think that those in Katowice 100 years ago would be proud of what it has become, still one of the most important cities in what is now the Third Polish Republic. I think it’s got a very positive future in front of it, and I wonder what it will look like in 2122, hopefully there will be plenty of craft beer bars then.

July 2, 2022