Customs and daily life

Daily life

• Language: Polish. In big cities, many young people speak English, but the administration, forms and counters work in Polish. Learning a few phrases really changes the welcome you get.
• Politeness: instead of "you", you address the person in the 3rd person with Pan (sir), Pani (madam), Państwo (you, to several people): Czy Pan ma…? ("Does the gentleman have…?", that is "Do you have…?"). Switching to first names and the informal "you" (przejść na ty) is offered, generally by the older person or the one of higher rank. Common usage, not regulated.
• Titles: professional titles are readily used: Pan doktor, Pani profesor, Pani dyrektor. Common usage, not regulated.
• Currency: the złoty (zł, PLN), divided into 100 groszy; Poland does not use the euro. Bank cards and mobile payment are very widespread.
• Tipping: no legal rule; in restaurants, leaving a tip is customary, its amount is free (official sources give no amount). Note: saying dziękuję (thank you) when handing over the bill can be understood as "keep the change".
• Meals and hours: the main meal (obiad) is traditionally eaten in the early or mid afternoon, dinner (kolacja) is lighter (common usage, not regulated). On weekdays, the law sets no opening hours for shops: check locally.

Sunday trading

• Rule: trading in shops is prohibited on Sundays and public holidays (Act of 10 January 2018), with exceptions (small shops run by their owner, petrol stations, pharmacies, bakeries, stations… list in the Act).
• Trading Sundays in 2026 (niedziele handlowe): 25 January, 29 March (Sunday before Easter), 26 April, 28 June, 30 August, 6, 13 and 20 December. The rule (last Sunday of January, April, June and August, the Sunday before Easter, and the 3 Sundays before 24 December) is in art. 7 of the Act of 10 January 2018 (consolidated text of March 2025); the dates are calculated from it. If a public holiday falls on one of these Sundays, the ban applies.
• Easter Eve: trading is prohibited after 14:00 on Holy Saturday (4 April 2026), except for the exceptions in the Act (art. 8).
• 24 December: public holiday since 2025, shops closed.

Public holidays 2026

1 January (New Year's Day), 6 January (Epiphany), 5 and 6 April (Easter Sunday and Monday), 1 May (Labour Day), 3 May (Constitution Day, a Sunday in 2026), 24 May (Pentecost, a Sunday), 4 June (Corpus Christi, Boże Ciało), 15 August (Assumption, a Saturday in 2026), 1 November (All Saints' Day, a Sunday), 11 November (Independence Day), 24 December (Christmas Eve, Wigilia, a public holiday since 1 February 2025), 25 and 26 December (Christmas; the 26th is a Saturday in 2026). Sundays are also days off.

• Public holiday on a Saturday: every public holiday that falls on a day other than a Sunday reduces the working time due in the settlement period by 8 hours (Labour Code, art. 130 § 2): in practice, another day off; arrangements to be checked with your employer.

Emergencies

• 112: European emergency number, received by 17 emergency notification centres (Centrum Powiadamiania Ratunkowego, CPR), one per voivodeship plus Radom.
• 997 police (calls also reach the 112 centres), 998 fire brigade (switch to 112 under way since 2021), 999 ambulance. The 112 has not removed these numbers.
• Others: 991 (electricity), 992 (gas), 993 (district heating), 994 (water), 986 (municipal police, not everywhere), 601 100 100 (sea and water rescue), 601 100 300 (mountain rescue), 116 111 (children and young people), 116 123 (psychological help for adults), 800 702 222 (psychological crisis).
• Alarm112 app: to raise the alarm without speaking (deaf or hard-of-hearing people, or if you cannot call), after registration. The official page (gov.pl) mentions neither the languages available nor the registration conditions for foreigners (name, PESEL, email, telephone according to the police pages): if you have no PESEL, you can always call 112.

Work and administration

• Appointments: administrations increasingly work by online appointment; book early (voivodeship offices especially). Arrive on time with originals and copies.
• Official mail: a registered letter from the administration not collected after the notice of attempted delivery (awizo) may be considered received (14 days after the first notice, with a second notice after 7 days, art. 44 of the Code of Administrative Procedure; for e-Doręczenia, the day after the 14th day following the arrival of the letter at your electronic address, if it was not collected before: art. 42 of the Act on electronic delivery): watch your letterbox, or open an e-Doręczenia mailbox.
• Contracts: distinguish the employment contract (umowa o pracę) from civil-law contracts (umowa zlecenia, umowa o dzieło): rights (leave, protection) are not the same.

Common pitfalls

• Doing your shopping on Sunday. Plan for Saturday; only small shops run by their owner and a few exceptions are open.
• Forgetting the "bridges". In early May (1 and 3 May) and around Corpus Christi, many Poles go away: administrations and businesses slow down.
• Switching to first names too fast. Wait to be offered it, especially with older people or in a professional setting.
• 1 November: All Saints' Day is a major family holiday; traffic towards cemeteries is very heavy.

What changes by country of origin

• Everyone: same rules of daily life; 112 works with any European SIM card.
• French, Belgian, French-speaking Swiss citizens: the 3rd person of politeness (Pan/Pani) replaces the formal "you"; moving to the informal "you" is negotiated as at home, but more slowly.
• British and Swiss citizens: think about card charges outside the eurozone and phone roaming charges outside the EU (the United Kingdom and Switzerland are not covered by the European rule): to be checked with your operator.