Poland - Krakow. Advice required
Discussion
Looking to do this as a surprise birthday present for my wife, so rather than just hop onto trip advisor and select any top 5 hotel, thought I'd ask the opinion of any PHers who might have been, and can recommend a hotel in a good location. She's wanted to go for a long while. The long weekend would be in October.
Copernicus seconded - fabulous place. Large rooms, cheap (well it was when I went in 2005) and we were very well looked after. And close to the old part of the city too, well...in it!). Worth shopping around for prices - I found a Polish travel bureau who got me a cheap room rate with no deposit up front. I just had to turn up, apparently...I was sceptical but all fine.
I Stayed in Start hotel in Krakow. It appeared on Tripadvisor as "officially the worst hotel in Europe." One comment said "I left the hotel and slept on the street...out of choice."
I was keen to see how bad it was. Plus it was €9 a night, including breakfast.
It's actually a converted Soviet style 1960s military hospital converted into a hotel. ( I say converted, the only conversion was to change the name on the outside. And 2 of those letters were missing.) I slept on a metal hospital bed in a private ward/room, with a toilet that didn't flush and a cold shower. One small light but none of the plug sockets worked.
Breakfast was a bowl of sawdust with a couple of raisens cunningly called muesli. And long life fully skimmed milk from the Tesco superstore next door.
I went with 2 mates on a lads weekend, and wouldn't have missed the experience of the Start for the world. In fact, after visiting Auchwitz, it felt wrong to grumble about the hotel.
I was keen to see how bad it was. Plus it was €9 a night, including breakfast.
It's actually a converted Soviet style 1960s military hospital converted into a hotel. ( I say converted, the only conversion was to change the name on the outside. And 2 of those letters were missing.) I slept on a metal hospital bed in a private ward/room, with a toilet that didn't flush and a cold shower. One small light but none of the plug sockets worked.
Breakfast was a bowl of sawdust with a couple of raisens cunningly called muesli. And long life fully skimmed milk from the Tesco superstore next door.
I went with 2 mates on a lads weekend, and wouldn't have missed the experience of the Start for the world. In fact, after visiting Auchwitz, it felt wrong to grumble about the hotel.
Auchwitz definitely - you need to book a trip and the hotel can help you. You can't go round without a guide and they are timed tickets iirc, so if you just turn up you won't necessarily get an English guide and you'll be in a big group. We had a car to take us and a private guide for just us three and it made a huge difference. Make sure you include Birkenau too - mind boggling to see the sheer scale of the killing machine.
The salt mines are also worth seeing. A boat ride on the river is a nice way of getting a different view, and the Wawel cathedral and castle are a must - they are together so easy to cover both.
There a few streets which were the old Jewish quarters and were used in Schindlers Ark which are interested to walk round while you're on the history tour. The main square is enormous - head up the tower of the main church where the bugler was killed - great view. Lots of excellent restaurants - the food is great value over there and very nice.
Have fun - it's a lovely city. Don't think about hiring a car btw - get a transfer from the airport and a driver to take you outside the town. We went via www.kirkerholidays.com who are great and will take care of everything for you in advance.
The salt mines are also worth seeing. A boat ride on the river is a nice way of getting a different view, and the Wawel cathedral and castle are a must - they are together so easy to cover both.
There a few streets which were the old Jewish quarters and were used in Schindlers Ark which are interested to walk round while you're on the history tour. The main square is enormous - head up the tower of the main church where the bugler was killed - great view. Lots of excellent restaurants - the food is great value over there and very nice.
Have fun - it's a lovely city. Don't think about hiring a car btw - get a transfer from the airport and a driver to take you outside the town. We went via www.kirkerholidays.com who are great and will take care of everything for you in advance.
Auschwitz definite yes. The whistlestop tour we did of camp 1 and 2 wasn't long enough, we should have done the longer tour. We only had about 30 minutes at Birkenau (ie where the trains went in) and that was frustrating. Longer was spent at the first camp, where the main museum is.
The Wieliczska (I think) salt mines - we didn't get to them but they're supposedly worth seeing, with carvings made out of salt left by the miners that used to work them many years ago. Wawel (sp?) Castle in the old town is worth a couple of hours wandering around. The Jewish Quarter also. The central medieval square (name eludes me at the moment) is nice with the indoor market and lots of cafes etc. The old part of the city is rather pretty - the modern bit can be ignored really unless you have a thing for cold war Eastern bloc architecture...
The Wieliczska (I think) salt mines - we didn't get to them but they're supposedly worth seeing, with carvings made out of salt left by the miners that used to work them many years ago. Wawel (sp?) Castle in the old town is worth a couple of hours wandering around. The Jewish Quarter also. The central medieval square (name eludes me at the moment) is nice with the indoor market and lots of cafes etc. The old part of the city is rather pretty - the modern bit can be ignored really unless you have a thing for cold war Eastern bloc architecture...
topgunkos said:
Forthed!Also, round the corner is a fantastic Italian restaurant:
http://www.corleone.krakow.pl/aindex.html
Salt mine was my favourite trip.
Salt mines are well worth it. Pretty far from Krakow, I drove with a friend when we went, but there seemed to be plenty of coaches going there.
Basically consists of a 2 hour walking tour underground, we had a hilarious German guide (speaking very good english). There is a full sized church deep underground all carved into salt, incredible!! Cost about £15 I think which seemed a lot at first, but it's the sort of thing that would cost £35 in the UK!
Basically consists of a 2 hour walking tour underground, we had a hilarious German guide (speaking very good english). There is a full sized church deep underground all carved into salt, incredible!! Cost about £15 I think which seemed a lot at first, but it's the sort of thing that would cost £35 in the UK!
We stayed here:-
www.hotelwentzl.com
Lovely hotel, room with a balcony overlooking the Market Square.
We ate here one night:-
www.restoilluminati.pl/en
And we used this guy to take us to both Auschwitz and The Salt Mine:-
www.bobtaxi.com.pl
Would highly recommend all of them. It's a great place to visit!
www.hotelwentzl.com
Lovely hotel, room with a balcony overlooking the Market Square.
We ate here one night:-
www.restoilluminati.pl/en
And we used this guy to take us to both Auschwitz and The Salt Mine:-
www.bobtaxi.com.pl
Would highly recommend all of them. It's a great place to visit!
Stephanie Plum said:
Auchwitz definitely - you need to book a trip and the hotel can help you. You can't go round without a guide and they are timed tickets iirc, so if you just turn up you won't necessarily get an English guide and you'll be in a big group.
Not true, you can just rock up and walk round - only timed tickets if you want the guide. We choose to just walk round without a guide. Having a guide and lots of other people around you, some of the intense feeling is lost and powerful images it can invoke are difficult with all that chatter. Try to go round avoiding the groups.As others have said, make sure you visit Birkenau too - in fact for me Bikenau was a more powerful experince than Auchwitz - its even more intense, powerful and thought provoking - the sheer scale of the place and the basic conditions they had to suffer - makes Auchwitz look like Butlins.
becker-on-ph said:
As others have said, make sure you visit Birkenau too - in fact for me Bikenau was a more powerful experince than Auchwitz - its even more intense, powerful and thought provoking - the sheer scale of the place and the basic conditions they had to suffer - makes Auchwitz look like Butlins.
Definitely. We went in February one year - snow everywhere, several degrees below zero...seeing how basic those sheds were they lived in at Birkenau...God almighty... A very moving place.Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff