Krakow/Krakov discussion

ali1972

On the other hand, I went to Krakow last week and will gladly share my experiences if anyone genuinely does want info...

polr

@ali1972 : Me too! I love the place and am more than willing to share :-)

ali1972

Yaay! :T

Have to say, February was awfully quiet - even the pickpockets all the guide books mentioned had left for the winter...

bobby9205

Me too, I was there just last week having some dental work done.

Brilliant dentists, top equipment and a great place and most of all in the true money saving expert style - its CHEAP!!!

I saved a fortune having fillings replaced, a crown fitted and a orthodontic brace fitted, well chuffed.:T

Pee

How cheap is cheap? Could you get a hotel room for £50? (I think sometimes Eastern Europe can be a bit pricey with hotels...) How much would a half litre of beer be? Do they have nice restaurants? What sort of price might they be? (Just as a guideline.)
What time of year would you go? How long would you go for? Four nights, or less or more?
I have just been to Paris, which was lovely, of course, but the Euro and the general cost of living there made me feel like a pauper...

bobby9205

Pee wrote: »

How cheap is cheap? Could you get a hotel room for £50? (I think sometimes Eastern Europe can be a bit pricey with hotels...) How much would a half litre of beer be? Do they have nice restaurants? What sort of price might they be? (Just as a guideline.)
What time of year would you go? How long would you go for? Four nights, or less or more?
I have just been to Paris, which was lovely, of course, but the Euro and the general cost of living there made me feel like a pauper...

My my so many questions - I could just say "if you visit tripadvisor you will find all the answers" however here goes -

Rooms - depends on what you want, shared hostels from £7 per night to 5* hotels around £80. I have stayed in apartments mostly at around £50 per night - these would have cost around £150 in London they are that good!

Beer - around £1.50 for 500mls, but if you know that right places and the right nights 80p - got to Carpe e diem on Monday night, its student night!

Restaurants - £10 - £25 for a 3 course meal depending on how posh you want to go, this will include wine/beer.

Poland is in the Zloty not the Euro and the rate is really good at the moment, but its bloody cold at this time of year - 12 most nights and snow, so I would leave it for around a month or so til it warms up.

You will need around 4 days to do Krakow justice, theres loads to see and do.

Hope this helps!:beer:

bobby9205

forgot to add - if your a smoker Poland has just raised the limits you can bring back. Its now a guide of 3200 cigarettes per person, 200 costs around £18. So thats another money saving tip!

ali1972

Loads of good hotel deals on Expedia. I splashed out on a 5* at about £80 a night (it was either Vienna in a 3* or Krakow in a 5*, I opted for Krakov...) but there were very good deals around for 4* - some as low as £32 a night. I booked a week beforehand and still managed reasonable flights with BA from Gatwick, although I believe Easyjet fly there from various locations. My hotel was excellent (Sheraton) and included breakfast, which was a sight to behold.

Beer is cheap (compared to London) but wine is expensive (compared to London). If I hadn't been so bleary eyed at Gatwick at 7am I would have remembered to buy a bottle to take with me. You live and learn.

As above, you can eat very well indeed for not much depending on where you go. Surprisingly even the restaurants in my hotel were not bad value due to the exchange rate. I've paid more at Pizza Express.

I went for 3 nights which I thought was just right at this time of year (not all the attractions are open and it's not the weather for pavement cafes). I managed to fit this in:

Tuesday afternoon: Old Town

Wednesday: Wavel (Cathedral, Castle etc); Walk around the Planty (park which runs around the Old Town)

Thursday: Kazimierz (Jewish Quarter), Podgerze (Former Ghetto), Plazow (site of former labour camp as in Schindler's Ark), then a walk back from Podgerze along the river back to the hotel.

Weather when I went the other week was cold but not too unpleasantly - snowing but not windy so fine with layers and a wooly hat and gloves. Good thick soled shoes will keep your feet toasty. I walked everywhere - despite arriving at Plazow looking like the abominable snowman - which was a good way to exercise off the hearty food.

I guess if you go to places out of town (like the Salt Mines and Auschwitz) then you can fill a few more days but I had no plans to visit either on this occasion - Plazow was emotive enough.

Top Tip 1: There's a really excellent guide book featuring 14 walks called "Krakow Step by Step" published by Insight Guides. It takes in most of the sights.

Top Tip 2: If I was revisting, I would visit Plazow with a guide this time. Most guide books do not mention it at all so most of the background I found out after I actually visited which was a shame.

Top Tip 3: If visiting the Castle again, I would use a guide for The State Rooms, as there is little information available otherwise. For the Royal Private Apartments you automatically get a guide and it makes a huge difference.

The exchange rate is pretty good at the moment. There's 5 Zlotys to the pound, whereas when I visited Warsaw last August there were 4 Zlotys to the pound. I spent very little over the 3 days as even museums were very cheap compared to home.

iwantitnow

bobby9205 wrote: »

forgot to add - if your a smoker Poland has just raised the limits you can bring back. Its now a guide of 3200 cigarettes per person, 200 costs around £18. So thats another money saving tip!

I was advised that Poland was due to change the restrictions in line with most other European countries in January 2009, however this dcision has been delayed and the current allowance of 200 cigarettes still applies.

Can you advise where you got your info?

phatbear

iwantitnow wrote: »

I was advised that Poland was due to change the restrictions in line with most other European countries in January 2009, however this dcision has been delayed and the current allowance of 200 cigarettes still applies.

Can you advise where you got your info?

They became a full fiscal member of the EU on 31st Dec 2008 and therefore there is a guideline of 3200 cigs from Poland, you may say I have some inside info on this.

iwantitnow

phatbear wrote: »

They became a full fiscal member of the EU on 31st Dec 2008 and therefore there is a guideline of 3200 cigs from Poland, you may say I have some inside info on this.

In January I asked at the airport why they would still only sell 200 cigarettes per person and they advised that the restriction still stood. Is there any confirmation on an official website to confirm the new guidelines?