Warsaw is the sprawling capital of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres (160 mi) from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres (190 mi) from the Carpathian Mountains. Warsaw gained the new title of a Phoenix City. On 9 November 1939, the city was awarded Poland's highest military decoration for heroism, the Virtuti Militari, during the Siege of Warsaw. It’s widely varied architecture reflects the city's long, turbulent history, from Gothic churches and neoclassical palaces to Soviet-era blocks and modern skyscrapers. It is a city where a fourth of the terrain is covered by parkland and a city of culture for all tastes and budgets.

Warsaw contributes about 12% to Poland's total income. With a speeding upward GDP growth of 6.5%, the city is ranked the 35th most expensive city to live in. Warsaw, especially its city centre, is home not only to many national institutions and government agencies, but also to many domestic and international companies. It was classified as an alpha world city (also known as a "major global city that links economic regions into the world economy") by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Study Group and Network from Lough Borough University, placing it on a par with cities such as Sydney, Istanbul, Amsterdam or Seoul. Warsaw leads the region of East-Central Europe in foreign investment and in 2006, GDP growth met expectations with a level of 6.1%.