Krakow City Guide

Eating

Budget: Rozowy Slon - A favourite with the students of the nearby university, this salad bar, which serves decent Polish food at bargain prices, is a vibrant place capable of brightening anybody's day on account of its smashing pop art décor. Patrons will be forgiven for believing they are eating in a giant comic book! Ulica Straszewskiego 24, tel: (012) 421 1047.
Mid-range: Pod Aniolami - An award-winning restaurant located in a 13th-century building on the Droga Krolewska (the Royal Route) from the Wavel Castle to the Main Market Square, Pod Aniolami offers fine Polish food. The cuisine is contemporary, but rooted in centuries-old Polish gastronomic traditions. The kitchen is particularly famous for its pickled meat grilled in the stove fire with beech wood. A beautiful restaurant, it is also very popular, so booking is essential.  Ulica Grodzka 35, tel: (012) 421 3999. Website: www.podaniolami.pl
Luxury: Cyrano de Bergerac - One of the very best restaurants in Cracow, Cyrano de Bergerac serves fine French cuisine in a beautifully decorated cellar in the Old Town. The ambience is a gentle combination of Polish tradition and French refinement, while the cuisine is decidedly French - and rather haute. The delicious food and the excellent wine cellar have attracted many distinguished guests over the years.  Ulica Slawkowska 26, tel: (012) 411 7288. Website: www.cyranodebergerac.pl

Drinking

If you’re looking for drinking venues then you’re spoilt for choice in Krakow. With over 100 bars and pubs in the Old Town alone you can choose the traditional vaulted cellars, patronised by chain-smoking Poles or experience trendy bars playing the latest dance music. There is a good selection of clubs playing cheesy pop and disco as well as some student clubs which are worth a look. Half a litre of the local brew will cost you £1 and it is easy to have a night out for under a tenner! Many of the bars and clubs don't close until the wee hours of the morning so pack the Alka Seltzer and get ready to party!

Bars:  Visit CK Browar, Podwale 6-7, for a lively cellar pub experience.  Piwnica Pod Baranami, Rynek Glowny 27, is a Krakow classic pub with cheap beer, but also the venue for traditional cabaret shows every Saturday.

Clubs: For cool dance music check out Club Fusion at ulica Florianska 15.  Frantic in the Old Town at ulica Szewska 5, attracts a young crowd with its funky décor.  It has two dance floors and three bars.

Live Music: Jazz is popular in the city and some of the cellar bars make for the perfect environment in which to hear bands. Klub U Louisa, 13 Rynek Glowny on the main square (website: www.ulouisa.com) is one of the oldest places of its kind in Krakow, and one of the most famous.

Things To Do And See

Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square)
Dating from 1257, this was one of the largest market squares in medieval Europe. Occupying the centre of the square, the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) is filled with market stalls in its vaulted ground-floor passages. Along the sides of the building, pavement cafés draw locals and tourists alike.  Surrounding the square are impressive period houses and two of the city's most important churches.

Zamek Krolewski (Royal Castle)
Located at Wawel, the Royal Castle was the seat of Poland's kings from the 11th to the early 17th century. The majority of the castle is Renaissance in style (1504-35), although Romanesque and gothic elements remain. Today, it is a museum, and among the treasures in the historic interior of the State Rooms is a collection of 16th-century Flemish tapestries, paintings and period furniture.  You will also find the Dragon's Den, a cave reached by a spiral staircase, where Prince Gracchus supposedly killed the Wawel dragon.

Katedra Wawelska (Wawel Cathedral)
Part of Wawel, this cathedral is the coronation site and burial place of almost all of Poland's monarchs.

Muzeum Narodowe (National Museum)
The museum's large collection is located in a number of separate buildings.  The Main Building houses a collection of decorative art, 20th-century Polish art and Polish arms and national colours, in addition to temporary exhibitions.

Muzeum Czartoryskich (Czartoryski Museum)
A large collection of ancient art from Greece and Egypt, as well as Oriental artefacts, weapons and Turkish carpets can be found here. European paintings and sculpture cover the 13th to 18th centuries - the most famous works here are Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine and Rembrandt's Landscape with the Good Samaritan.

Stara Synagoga or Alte Shul (Old Synagogue)
Kazimierz was originally a separate town, only merging with Krakow in 1868. Here the memories of the Jewish community who lived in the Kazimierz district for centuries (up until the Holocaust) are collected..

Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego (Jagiellonian University Museum)
Housed in the mid-15th-century Collegium Maius, the oldest building of the Krakow Academy (the university's forerunner) this museum is home to an eclectic collection.  Visits are by guided tour only, which includes important rooms and reconstructed professors' chambers, as well as significant historical objects, such as astronomical instruments that may have been used by Copernicus.

Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa (History Museum of the City of Cracow)
The branch in Rynek Glowny occupies three burgher houses and displays objects from Krakow's earliest times. Other galleries showcase a collection of portraiture and antique clocks.

Shopping

The main market square is known as the Rynek Glowny, here you’ll fine the Cloth Hall which is particularly good place for buying souvenirs and Polish handicrafts, such as lace, dolls and leather goods, as well as high-quality, reasonably priced amber jewellery.

One of the oldest markets in Poland – the Stary Kleparz vegetable market dates back to the 14th century.

Large supermarkets, such as Carrefour and the 24-hour Tesco offer the best prices for traditional Polish products, such as vodka and Krowki (literally ‘Little Cow') sweets.

Key Phrases

Hello - Witam
Goodbye - Do widzenia
Yes - Tak
No - Nie
Please - Proszę
Thank you – Dziękuję
Excuse me - Przepraszam
Do you speak English? - Czy mówi Pan / Pani po angielsku?
I don’t understand - Nie rozumiem
Where is the ... - Gdzie jest ...
Train Station - Dworzec PKP
Tram/Bus stop - Przystanek tramwajowy/autobusowy
Bank - Bank Tourist Office - Informacja Turystyczna
What time does the train leave? - O której odjeżdża pociąg?
I’d like a single/return ticket - Poproszę bilet w jedną stronę / powrotny
Do you have any rooms available? - Czy macie wolne pokoje?
How much is it? - Ile to kosztuje?
I need a doctor - Potrzebuję lekarza
What time is it? - Która jest godzina?
Call the police/an ambulance – Proszę zadzwonić na policję / pogotowie

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