Experience Warsaw’s retro revival and modern charm at milk bars and nearby attractions

Floor-to-ceiling windows offer a view of the busy Marszalkowska boulevard from milk bar Prasowy.

Bar Bambino’s large space has been updated with Midcentury Modern design that would look at home in Palm Springs.   (Adam Lach / Napo Images for Los Angeles Times)

Milk bar Rusalka   (Adam Lach / Napo Images for Los Angeles Times )

The Soho Factory in Warsaw is a blocks-wide redevelopment of old warehouses and factories not far from the busy restaurant Bar Mleczny Rusalka.

Old Polish-produced Nysa vehicles are parked outside Soho Factory in Warsaw.

Outdoor picnic tables at milk bar Prasowy afford opportunities for people- and tram-watching in Warsaw’s city center.

A view of the Old Town in Warsaw.

Milk Bar Prasowy has been business since 1954, now some walls are painted black.   (Adam Lach / Napo Images for Los Angeles Times )

Milk bar Prasowy.

Milk bar Rusalka is in the up-and-coming Praga district, across the Vistula River from central Warsaw.

Former royal palaces are part of Lazienki Park in Warsaw.

Lazienki Park in Warsaw, Poland.

Cobblestone and gravel paths link gently flowing waterways and sculpture gardens in Poland’s Lazienki Park.

Lazienki Park is a rambling spot in Warsaw where cobblestone and gravel paths linke waterways, gardens, museums, cafes and the Presidential Palace.

Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

The painted replica of the vaulted ceiling of the destroyed synagogue in Gwozdziec at the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews has been honored as the European Museum of the Year for 2016.

Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews is on the site of Warsaw’s World War II Jewish Ghetto and recounts the history of the Jews of Poland from the medieval days.

Chopin’s last piano (1840s), made by Ignace Pleye, is displayedl in the Frederic Chopin Museum in Warsaw. Chopin played and composed on this instrument between 1848-49.

The Frederic Chopin Museum in Warsaw.

Death mask of Chopin in the Frederic Chopin Museum in Warsaw.

Soho Factory is a blocks-wide redevelopment of old warehouses and factories.

Around the Soho Factory in Warsaw, you’ll find hip design studios, cafes, restaurants and neon and mural art.