Krakow

[centralTon]

14 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

Alchemia in the Jewish quarter is a cracking pub.

Forgot Alchemia, about 50m from Omerta. There's a cracking street food caravan there too.

[highlandcowden]

4 hours ago, harry94 said:

Old thread but heading to Krakow for a couple of nights next week. Pushed for time (only really got one full day then another half day) so I think we're going to get a taxi to the salt mines in the morning we arrive and then head to the salt mines.

When I went to Warsaw, I found a few  pubs that were very well hidden based on some advice on here. Is there anything similar people know of in Krakow?

dunno about hidden bars but krakows full of pubs.my rule of thumb is the old town is all the tourist/stag bars(live!premier league!), Kazimierz seems younger and trendier.north of the old town and around the train station is a bit more downmarket

[AberdeenHibee]

Krakow - beautiful city, amazing architecture, clean, cheap food and alcohol, great nights out, gorgeous girls, steeped in history, and all quite compact. Worth going to Auschwitz if you get a chance, even if it is very grim.   

I would also thoroughly recommend going to one of the shooting ranges if you get a chance/aren't overly fussed about Health & Safety.  Cost c.£10 to fire a whole clip each of an AK47, Uzi, M16, Glock, Magnum Revolver, Pump Action Shotgun, and Tactical Sniper Rifle.  Great fun and definitely subdues any hangover!! 

Edited May 13, 2019 by AberdeenHibee

[welshbairn]

On 08/05/2019 at 16:05, centralTon said:

When I went to Warsaw, I found a few  pubs that were very well hidden based on some advice on here.

Too well hidden for me to find, I gave up. 

[Guest]

On 5/8/2019 at 20:06, highlandcowden said:

dunno about hidden bars but krakows full of pubs.my rule of thumb is the old town is all the tourist/stag bars(live!premier league!), Kazimierz seems younger and trendier.north of the old town and around the train station is a bit more downmarket

Yes, totally agree with this. Krakow while a beautiful City is probably one of the poorer actual Polish experiences as just too touristy with a kind of Edinburgh vibe about the place.

The area around the Sheraton and Castle is also nice though and a walk along the River towards Kazimierz is perfect in the summer when the sun's shining.

For other Polish experiences I'd highly recommend a few nights in Torun and for a more genuine Polish experience Bydgoszcz is a great option (both served by Bydgoszcz airport).

Anyway, I'm sure you'll still have a great time in Krakow.

[Sarto Mutiny]

Going in November with the Mrs and aside from the salt mines and Auschwitz which we have already arranged, looking for any suggestions, especially for pubs and restaurants. I suspect it will be cold, but we can live with that.

[ArabGaz]

I would stick to the Jewish quarter for bars and restaurants. It’s a bit hipstery but the drinks are about half the price that they are in and around the main square and the tourist drag.

We went to an Israeli restaurant called Hamsa which was excellent. We were recommended a Georgian place as well but it was always packed out (good sign though).

Despite going last June it was pissing with rain most of the time so we did have to take cover in a few city centre bars. The ones I would recommend are Cafe Bunkier and House of Beer. Lovely city.

[MONKMAN]

Szara Gęś is outstanding for food, expensive for Poland but a lot cheaper than you pay for similar standard elsewhere.

https://szarages.com/en/

[spud131]

Mercy Brown's is a good cocktail bar. It's a speakeasy type of place and the entrance is through the cloakroom of a restaurant (no signage for the bar, just google it).

Starka was a really nice restaurant we visited and was pretty reasonable price wise.

[Mitch]

Booked to go at the end of October with the wife (C19 may mean it doesn’t happen).

Couple of questions:

- Getting from the airport to the city centre. Train the best option? I would just get a taxi but we have a good few hours to kill before we can check in to our hotel. Planing on Uber back to the hotel for the early flight home.
- Any tour company recommended for Autchwitz? Seen plenty online, but always like to book via someone recommended.
- Anything in particular in and around the city that you would say is a must do?
- Places to eat and drink would be good. Generally just go with TripAdvisor but good to hear from others on here.

[spud131]

Booked to go at the end of October with the wife (C19 may mean it doesn’t happen).

 

Couple of questions:

 

- Getting from the airport to the city centre. Train the best option? I would just get a taxi but we have a good few hours to kill before we can check in to our hotel. Planing on Uber back to the hotel for the early flight home.

- Any tour company recommended for Autchwitz? Seen plenty online, but always like to book via someone recommended.

- Anything in particular in and around the city that you would say is a must do?

- Places to eat and drink would be good. Generally just go with TripAdvisor but good to hear from others on here.

We just got the train from the airport to the city centre and back (I'm sure our return flight was super early but the trains start around 4am).

 

We booked an Auschwitz tour on viator, I'll look and see if I still have any emails with details of the exact one.

 

We done a food tour on the first night:

https://www.deliciouspoland.com/krakow-food-tour

Which was really good, there were only 4 of us on it and got plenty of food as well as a couple of beer and vodkas to taste. The girl who ran the tour was very easy on the eye as well!

 

Black Duck was one the restauarants I remember we went to which was really good, sure we had 3 courses each and some wine and it was like £35/40 for everything.

 

Starka restaurant was another one which was really good, we went for lunch one day and really enjoyed it and tried to get back their for dinner on our last night but it was fully booked.

[welshbairn]

Quite enjoyed the salt mines. Didn't go to Auschwitz but went a a synagogue where they had an exhibition of pictures drawn by children who ended up there, probably just as harrowing. There was something about going on a tourist's outing to a concentration camp that put me off.

[MONKMAN]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

Didn't go to Auschwitz but went a a synagogue where they had an exhibition of pictures drawn by children who ended up there, probably just as harrowing. 

I'd be very surprised if this was the case, the place is beyond horrific.  As you said though with being a tourist trap, it's quite bizarre seeing people take selfies next to a pile of dead kids shoes. 

I had food at a place in the square called Szara Ges which translates to grey goose.  Fairly fancy place and the food was outstanding, the bill would have been at least 3 x if it was somewhere back home.  Also went to a steak place called Pimiento, food again was very good.

 There's a lively cocktail bar called Movida just off the square, drinks blow your head off and again fairly cheap.

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by MONKMAN

[welshbairn]

19 minutes ago, MONKMAN said:

I'd be very surprised if this was the case, the place is beyond horrific.

There's a canal in Amsterdam with plaques showing the names and ages of wartime occupants of the apartment buildings opposite who died in concentration camps, every few yards you see another one. Incredibly moving, I don't usually react that way. I've been to various museums explaining horrible events and just thought yeah well, I knew that. I think maybe a kid's painting on a wall who you know was murdered in horrific circumstances shortly after can hit home just as hard as seeing where it happened.

[spud131]

There's a canal in Amsterdam with plaques showing the names and ages of wartime occupants of the apartment buildings opposite who died in concentration camps, every few yards you see another one. Incredibly moving, I don't usually react that way. I've been to various museums explaining horrible events and just thought yeah well, I knew that. I think maybe a kid's painting on a wall who you know was murdered in horrific circumstances shortly after can hit home just as hard as seeing where it happened.

Similar to Budapest where they've got about 20 or so brass shoes as a monument on the side of the river to show that the nazis got the Jews to remove their shows before them shot them into the river as the shoes had some value.

[dirty dingus]

I went last November the bars were great and found a few local ones with live music and shots of flavoured vodka which blows yer heid aff. I done Aushwitz the day after a bender it was freezing and it's really interesting but grim at the same time. Went to see Cracovia play and visited the Oskar Schindler museum and some really disappointing gallery that had a leonardo di vinci painting which was kinda shit. 

[Romeo]

Because football is shite and I have very little interest in it.... time to think about going away at the end of the year (covid permitting).

Looking at booking Krakow for November. I really wanted to go to Auschwitz but this is a definite no no for Mrs Romeo. I like the sound of the salt mines but saw a couple of people say it's too long/boring towards the end? Is it a set time tour and you can't leave? @The Mantis

Will deffo check out some of the pubs and as mentioned a few times the Jewish Quarter.

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 hours ago, Romeo said:

 I really wanted to go to Auschwitz but this is a definite no no for Mrs Romeo. I like the sound of the salt mines

They're the next best thing, send her to them.

Edited February 1, 2021 by Sergeant Wilson

[The Mantis]

3 hours ago, Romeo said:

Because football is shite and I have very little interest in it.... time to think about going away at the end of the year (covid permitting).

Looking at booking Krakow for November. I really wanted to go to Auschwitz but this is a definite no no for Mrs Romeo. I like the sound of the salt mines but saw a couple of people say it's too long/boring towards the end? Is it a set time tour and you can't leave? @The Mantis

Will deffo check out some of the pubs and as mentioned a few times the Jewish Quarter.

It was years ago...I think you can check out ok, the hardest thing was finding the lift then you have to wait for it to arrive and hope there’s room...
If I remember you would need to wait till they reach the gift shop or the cafe. It was pretty drawn out. Loads of stops to admire everything and take photos, I suppose the grand hall was pretty breathtaking but I just found it all a bit long.

btw we got the train from Krakow ourselves, very cheap and nearly empty, the conductors didn’t have any English but the staff at Krakow ticket office did.

 

Edit - I see I’m just repeating myself from page 1

Edited February 1, 2021 by The Mantis

[Northboy]

On 01/02/2021 at 16:06, Romeo said:

Looking at booking Krakow for November. I really wanted to go to Auschwitz but this is a definite no no for Mrs Romeo. I like the sound of the salt mines but saw a couple of people say it's too long/boring towards the end? Is it a set time tour and you can't leave?

No one could class Auschwitz as a fun day out but having been a bit reluctant to go myself I'd say it is the kind of place everyone should visit at some time in their life.  It's very humbling and you'll be better people for the experience.

I enjoyed the salt mines. Tours are in organised groups which you're probably better to stick with during the mine part of the tour. Once our group reached the main hall everyone split up and went their own way. You can skip through the gift shop and cafe but as the Mantis has said there can be a  bit of a wait for the lift.

For both tours we left Krakow around 0930 and were back in the city by lunchtime.