Flats in Bielany — prices, the district, listings

Stare Bielany around Konfederacji square is low-rise pre-war and early post-war housing set in greenery, closer in character to Żoliborz than to panel-block estates. It is the most expensive and most intimate part of the district.

Chomiczówka, Wrzeciono and Wawrzyszew are estates from the 1970s and 1980s: large, well planned, fully serviced and built in the floor areas people look for most. This is where most listings are and where a reasonably priced two-room flat is easiest to find.

Młociny is the opposite pole — new buildings and services around a transport interchange, a shopping centre and a university campus next door. Bielański Forest and the Vistula bank close the district off to the east.

Metro line one stops here at Słodowiec, Stare Bielany, Wawrzyszew and Młociny. Młociny also serves suburban buses and trams, so a single address covers half of the northern metropolitan area.

By car you use Wisłostrada along the river or the Armii Krajowej route east and west. The Maria Skłodowska-Curie bridge links the district with Białołęka and shortens the drive to the right bank.

As everywhere along the metro, a kilometre of distance from the station can matter more than the floor or the finish. Walk the route from the flat to the platform before deciding, especially in Wrzeciono and Chomiczówka.

People who want greenery without moving out of town. Bielański Forest is a real forest rather than a park and you enter it straight from the street; together with the Vistula boulevards that is a package the centre cannot sell you.

Students and university staff: the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University campus and its halls of residence drive academic-year rentals, which shows in listing turnover at the end of summer.

Families looking for more floor area than the same money buys in a central district. Less so for anyone who wants restaurants and theatres downstairs — evening life happens closer to the centre.