Krakow

City (more)
Kraków (pl)

Profile details

name
Krakow Help
time zone
GMT+01:00 Help
country
language
Polish, (official language) Help
English, (widely spoken) Help
scene brief
With hundreds of bars, pubs, and clubs in a compact old town and millions of tourists piled on the hundreds of thousands of students, experiencing the nightlife should not be the last on your list of things to do while in Krakow. If commercial hip-hop is your thing than you won’t have to look far for the chance to drop it low but the underground scenes are a bit more difficult to locate (if they exist). Help
arrival and transportation
Flying in is either accomplished by a touchdown at Krakow's small Balice Airport plus a train, bus, or taxi ride into the city centre or the nearby-ish Katowice airport and and an hour and a half bus ride to Krakow. Busses into Krakow are operated by various outfits. Trains are a popular choice but try not to fall asleep if you are alone.
Traveling around once in Krakow is not too difficult but no where near as comfortable as some options that you may be accustomed to in Western Europe. Travel by bus and tram during the day for some local flavor for a little over half a Euro for a one-off ticket. Trams stop operating around 11pm and buses are infrequent so best opt for a reasonable priced and only rarely dishonest Taxi at about 20 PLN for up to several kilometers out of the city center.
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eat
Polish food is most well-known for the peasant staples like pierogi and bigos. While in Krakow this author recommends you try these and the delicious soups like zurek and the best place to try them would be in a family home. If you can’t secure yourself an invitation the next best thing would be to visit one of the many restaurants in Krakow. Chances are you will not be overly impressed with the service anywhere but you should be able get descent Polish food in most places advertising it. Aside from Polish food you should stay away from any other place claiming any other type of cuisine with the exception of several good Italian restaurants and some very tasty burritos from Bagel Mama. Looking for some food to soak up the alcohol in your stomach after hitting the clubs? Your options are limited to kebab, zapiekanka and maybe some noodles. Help
drink
People in Krakow like to drink. If you want to fit in you will need to pull up to a shot glass with a few friends and throw away the vodka bottle cap so as to be certain that it will be emptied in that sitting. You can experiment with the unique flavored vodkas like the honey flavored krupnik, bison grass flavored Żubrówka, the bitter montain Żołądkowa, or the always appropriate cherry flavored wiśniówka. Most bars have all your favorite types of alcohol and beer has become increasingly popular but for the real drinking experience in Krakow it has got to be vodka. Help
sleep
The bureaucrats tie any construction project up in red tape so there are only a few modern hotels around the old town. Most places to stay like Hostels are, therefore, built into old historic buildings. Trying to turn a tenement house into a hotel is not an easy task so apartments are the most common and affordable type of accommodation in Krakow. Help
do
Take a tram ride to the end of the line to get a feel for how the locals live. Get some exercise while learning about the city on a Bike Tour of Krakow. Refuel by visiting a milk bar (bar mleczny). Spend some time at the cafes in Kazimierz. Relax under a tree on a bench in the “Planty”. Help
don't
Don’t drink in the streets unless meeting Krakow’s finest is part of your trip itinerary. Don’t think about doing any other drugs than alcohol. Don’t wear matching shirts with 10 of your best friends. Don’t be loud or obnoxious. Don’t plan on visiting Krakow only once. Help
noteworthy cultural events
drinking
All concentrations are available in Krakow 24 hours a day and you won't be hard pressed to find someplace or store to buy that last nightcap at 7 in the morning. You will see lots of young Poles spoiling their beer by pouring raspberry or ginger flavored juice in it - not recommended but when in Rome... Recommended are the various flavors of vodka, clean being this editors choice flavor. Try Źubrówka, Wiśniówka, Krupnik (mixed with apple juice for a "Tatanka"), and Źołądkowa. Help
smoking
As of September 2010 smoking is not allowed in bars and restaurants in Poland except for in designated areas. Most major brands are available at stores or kiosks. Help
when in... do as
For the proper Krakow nightlife experience this author recommends a drink or two in Kazimierz around 9 pm followed up by a Zapiekanka to prepare your stomach for a long night of drinking. Take a stroll toward the market square and check out your first venue around 11. It may not be too busy yet so enjoy another drink or two and give it till half past midnight before you give up on it. If the club is not cutting it for you give another one a try but do so before 1:30. Clubs in Krakow are often relatively small so a few big groups can turn a club from deserted into happening and then back into deserted within an hour. You may have been at the right places but just missed the right time. If all else fails head over to Wielepole and to the top floor where all the club casualties seem to end up as a last resort if they have not had enough. Help
club scene
The club scene in Krakow is dominated by cellar clubs that hold an average of 400 people and play mostly what you hear on the radio. Clubs are having a difficult time finding their identity as many are competing for the big spenders in a city where those guests are few and far between and students are the overwhelming majority. Thus, clubs are spending big bucks on pretty interiors while being forced to engage in some aggressive promotions to a wider variety of guests creating oxymora like “VIP student”. You might think that competition would be good for the clubber in Krakow and sometimes it is, enabling a savvy drinker to scrape buy on a thin wallet, but more often it only effectively spreads the party goers out among several mediocre parties, disabling one or a few from turning into good or great parties. This is especially an issue on nights other than Saturday night which is usually good almost everywhere as it the major night in Krakow. On other nights you can usually find the best party by checking out the where2B recommended events or the full party calendar for all events in Krakow. Most places have a door person that is mainly there to keep drunk and dangerous people out. If you arrive in casually elegant clothing you should not have an issue anywhere before 11 pm. Most clubs are small so arriving later will increase your chances of not getting in for one reason or another. Prepare to fork over 10 to 20 PLN (złoty) at a growing majority of places to get in. Polish clubbers tend to behave themselves more or less so try not to be too loud and annoying. The locals are rather inclined to only socialize with their friends at clubs but are friendly to strangers more often than not and the young people often speak English. The
top 20 clubs in Krakow as voted by members of where2B.org are Frantic and Cien. If you are looking for something a bit more underground check out Pauza or Łódź Kaliska.
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bar scene
People in Krakow do not go out for drinks very often after work or school and if they do is is often only with a few friends and mingling is not on the agenda. That said there are a few nice lounges and bars to go to have some drinks in the early evening. Help
live scene
There is not too much going on in the live music scene in Krakow but if you look hard enough you can defiantly find some places. Some bars have special nights during the week where there is a band but guaranteed live music options include Stalowe Magnolie, Harris, and Lizard King. Help
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Comments

Feb. 06, 2012
No_photo_micro
(anonymous)
Feb. 05, 2012
41079
Jak Malibu to tylko w Shaker's!
Jan. 28, 2012
Where2bkrakow
email us: krakow@where2B.org
Jan. 28, 2012
63929
does anyone know how to book tables? Im coming from UK?
Jan. 26, 2012
No_photo_micro
.
Jan. 25, 2012
Pic
@sarcia77 check frantic's past events on their profile
Jan. 23, 2012
63584
i'm looking for photos from 20th january in Frantic
Jan. 23, 2012
63702
Hello everybody ;]
Jan. 11, 2012
313688_275032892523880_100000515154099_1160707_3964125_n
Hi :)
Jan. 11, 2012
62771
Hello
Dec. 20, 2011
Pic
you need to open gallery from this party. on event profile under the poster is "gallery" button or jus...
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