Krakow

I think Kazimiriz is now the trendy area. The castle's great, there's a Leonardo in one of the museums and the brown, twin-towered church is a thing of beauty. Krakow managed to dodge the bombs in the second world war, which is unusual for Polish cities.

I'm not going to be darkening the doors of Pizza Hut, I'll be on an artery-hardening diet of pierogies.

hostel was disgusting and it rained, a lot, though

Apparently Chlopskie Jadlo seats people in "cosy sleighs". I am intruiged.

also, its a lovely lovely city. go to nova huta if you can, if you want to see what building an enourmous steel works next to a beautiful old city does to it.

the castle is definately worth doing to as well.

er....theres loads of little subterranean bars but god knows where they were/are.

also, its a lovely lovely city. go to nova huta if you can, if you want to see what building an enourmous steel works next to a beautiful old city does to it.

the castle is definately worth doing to as well.

er....theres loads of little subterranean bars but god knows where they were/are.

some vocab

"djenKUje" - thanks
"przhePRASham" - excuse me
"proshe" - please

maybesome of thats right. ??!! thats really gonna help eh

lol -- this, other than my hotel room number (and they figgered that out after a few goes) was all i used.

So where next? Vilnius? Riga? Bratislava? Split?

TOMBOT doesnt believe in the Holocaust.
-- Spink, Monday, November 21, 2005 2:06 PM

waht??

Revive...

So, I'm finally going to my namesake city - I'll be there for 5 days in the first week of June - and am mightily excited.

Any more Krakow tips?

How about cheap accommodation; any particular hostel recommendations? I was given flights as a birthday present, but need to sort out my accommodation etc. myself, and am on the cheap/poor end of the scale.

I stayed in Hostel Giraffe (http://www.hostelgiraffe.com/) when I was there in 2006, and it was fantastic. Cheap, clean, awesome staff, nice big bar. It can be pretty lively and noisy though, so depends on what you want.

only go to bars in Kazimierz. atmosphere is better and more natives, less tourists. i used to have a very detailed guide to krakow that i wrote, might have to try to dig that shit out of old e-mails.

I stayed in Nathan's Villa and had a brilliant time. It's a chain hostel but don't let that put you off, it's very well set up, not overlarge or impersonal and great for meeting people.

I'd recommend you a particular basement bar but I can't remember what it's called. You'll stumble across a good one eventually anyway, there are shitloads.

i used to have a very detailed guide to krakow that i wrote, might have to try to dig that shit out of old e-mails.

That would be great if you could the table is the table.

Both those hostels look pretty good. The colour scheme on the Hostel Giraffe is fantastic, though a bar next to the bedroom may be a downside.

I'm going to pick up a guidebook at Waterstones today, probably the Rough Guide to Poland (future proofing for when I hopefully fall in love with the place and go back to explore the rest of the country), unless anyone has other particular recommendations.
I may also have a two week stab at a few basic bits of Polish. Despite my online persona I actually know zero.

Oh yeah, one downside of my recommendation - I did get kicked out after four nights cos they'd booked a large chunk of it for a stag group and had to find somewhere else to stay, so I'd recommend booking for the whole duration of your stay if you go with that one.

I've just booked myself into the above mentioned Nathan's Villa for the week. It got good write ups in the guidebooks and sounded good on the website, so in the interests of decisiveness I went for it.

I'm now working my way through my Rough Guide To Poland.

I thought I'd revive this old thread as I'm off to Krakow for the first time next month and would love to hear any food & drink recommendations. Plus any tips for places to buy records.

I'm in town for Unsound and staying in Kazimierz.

You're staying in the right place for bars. Alchemia is nice. Kolanko no.6 is decent too. Singer remains one of the best despite people complaining that it's too heavily frequented by tourists - last time i was there i was the only customer and it was like being in another world. It's such a condensed district you can easily poke your head in somewhere and if you don't like the look of it, move ten yards down the road to somewhere else.

I'm awful at remembering the names of cafes but there are a few nice ones just off the central square. Zakątek is good and atmospheric. It's tough as a lot of places are closing due to high rents.

If you're after current Polish music (which i'm kind of assuming that you wouldn't be) then Empik should be ok. Otherwise, maybe Records Dillaz if it's still there. There used to be a place called High Fidelity run by a guy who would refuse to let you in to the shop, or physically eject you, if he didn't like you (but was otherwise extremely helpful) but i'm fairly sure that's gone now.

Thanks a lot for this, much appreciated.

I'm really hoping High Fidelity is still open, as I've heard good reports, despite the owner's rep.

This link seems to suggest someone had paid the place a visit last month, so fingers crossed...
http://www.recordjunkie.com/stores/view/389

Is it straightforward to get a train to Katowice? As that seems to hold a bit more promise on the records-front.

I remember a very nice, cosy vodka bar called simply Wodka just off the main square. All kinds of different flavoured vodkas. Worth a visit.

Ah nice, thanks!

Katowice is easy to get to on the train from Krakow Glowny. Most take quite a long time, though (two and a half hours plus). You might be able to find an express one, though. Bus might be quicker but trains are probably more comfortable and nice if you aren't in a mad rush.

Excellent, thanks for the info.