The central city of the Metropolis GZM with 2.2 million population
High rating by Fitch: A-
20% of the Katowice budget allocated for investments
Central academic center – 19 universities with almost 90,000 students and over 22,000 graduates a year in Metropolis
Very well developed transport infrastructure – the best road network in Poland, promoting the development of sustainable transport (friendly to pedestrians, drivers, cyclists, people using public transport), an access to 3 international airports (within a 30- 100 km radius)
One of the largest centers of modern business services in Poland - 126 BPO, SSC / GBS, IT and R&D centers from a metropolitan perspective
One of the largest regional office markets in Poland with an office space of 716,000 sq m
Dynamic development of business tourism
Over 50% of the city are green areas
High quality of life (many cultural, sport events, investments in social and sports infrastructure, etc.)
Katowice on the map of Poland and neighboring countries
- access to 2 highways A1 and A4, express roads S1 and S86, important European road routes (E 40, E 75 and E 462) and railway routes (E30, E 65, C-E 65)
- Silesian Intercity Road, so called DTŚ – which is a high-speed freeway that enables convenient transfers between cities in the Metropolis
- integrated transfer hubs in Katowice: transfer hub „Ligota” built in 2018, 3 more integrated transfer hubs were completed in 2020 („Zawodzie”, „Brynów”, and „Sądowa” with International Bus Station) with over 1,100 parking places
- 3 international airports only within 100 km from Katowice: Katowice Airport – 30 km from Katowice, Kraków Airport – 67 km, Ostrava Airport – 100 km
- majority of European capitals or airline transfer hubs available within 5 hours total travel time
Katowice is one of the best-connected cities in Poland, fast travel around Katowice and adjacent cities is ensured by an extensive public transport network – bus and tram, as well as rail transport. Public transport in Katowice, which is a member of Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolia (GZM), is organized by the Metropolitan Transport Board. In the Metropolis there are:
- over 400 bus lines
- 30 tram lines
- 7 trolleybus lines
Every year Katowice becomes more bicycle friendly. City by bike – Silesia’s largest bike-sharing system – has operated in Katowice since 2015.
- 124 bicycle stations with 1002 bicycles
- over 180 km of bicycle infrastructure of which 85 km are beautiful, scenic paths in green areas (forests, parks)