Official name: The Republic of Poland – short form: Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska, Polska)
Location: Central Europe. Poland borders Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia (the Kaliningrad enclave). The northern border (440 km long) runs along the Baltic Sea coast.
Capital: Warsaw (Warszawa)
Major cities: Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Lublin, Katowice, Białystok
Official language: Polish
Political system: Parliamentary Republic (multi-party democracy with a two-chamber parliament and a president)
Area: 312,685 km2 – Poland is the ninth largest country in Europe (and the sixth largest in the European Union)
Population: 38 mln
Time zone: Central European time zone – (GMT + 1 hour/UTC + 1 hour)
Official currency: 1 złoty (PLN) = 100 groszy
Religion: ca. 90% of Poles are Roman Catholics
Dialling Code: +48
Weather: The climate is moderate, with relatively cold winters and hot summers. The warmest months are: June, July and August (with average temperatures ranging from 19°C to 32°C), while the coldest are: January and February (average temperatures: -15°C to 5°C)
Highest peak: Rysy – 2499 m, Polish Tatras
Holidays:
- 1st January – New Year
- March/April – Easter Sunday and Easter Monday
- 1st May – Labour Day
- 3rd May – Constitution Day
- May/June – Corpus Christi (first Thursday of the ninth week after Easter)
- 15th August – Feast of the Assumption
- 1st November – All Saints’ Day
- 11th November – Independence Day
- 25th–26th December – Christmas Day and Boxing Day