"I've recently got back from Krakow having visited there for 4 nights (from Monday through to Friday) with my Dad. Having booked the holiday on the preceding Friday through Jet2, we ended-up staying at the Xerion Hotel in a standard room with twin-beds. Overall, the hotel selection was a great choice for what we wanted, and would definitely recommend; here's some pro's and cons below:
Pros:
+ Hotel was well situated just across the Vistula River, with around a 35 minute walk to get to the Main square (Rynek Glowny) in Krakow, an even shorter walk to get to the Old Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz) and particularly close to attractions such as Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory & the Jewish Ghetto Memorial.
+ We had breakfast only included in our reservation which was perfect... selection of hot english breakfast items (sausages, bacon, friend eggs, mushrooms, baked beans etc.), cold cheeses/meats, fruit, cereals, breakfast cakes/pastries, hot drinks (incl. comprehensive coffee machine)/cold juices etc. all of which were self-served from a buffet-style corner. Also included for free was the option of ordering an omelette, scrambled eggs and also oatmeal/porridge to be made for you fresh by just asking a staff-member.
+ The Tinctura restaurant where you have breakfast on the hotel's ground-floor is open from 0700-2200L (breakfast served between 0700-1100L) as far as I'm aware, and they do a great lunch/evening meal menu which came in handy on the night we arrived (having arrived late), as they cook meals up until 2130L as far as I'm aware. As for the bar section, a vast range of drinks on offer, cocktails, bottled beverages and some alcohol on draft which are well priced and served by a friendly staff-member; noticed many of the hotel guests used this bar after a long-day before heading off to bed, so a nice relaxed atmosphere. The restaurant has two sections, of which you can sit in either; one side where you can watch the chef's prepare the food, and the other where the bar is/breakfast buffet corner. Room service also available, but we didn't use this so can't comment too much on that front.
+ Hotel was always clean, tidy and modern, including our room, which was cleaned on a daily basis. Plenty of storage in the rooms too, and also a storage room for suitcases/baggage (staff access only) on your last-day if you have a late check-out (like we did) so you can continue exploring without taking your suitcases around the city.
Cons (areas for improvement more-so):
- Each bed had a singular large pillow in our room, the size of two normal pillows conjoined... we got used to adjusting this but did make it difficult getting comfortable the first couple of nights, so would like to see the hotel replace these with x2 separate pillows.
- We found our room temperature quite warm for the most-part, and the air-con control didn't appear to work when we tried using it. We didn't raise this with reception and the temperature wasn't unbearable, so they could've corrected this had we done so/it might've been use not knowing how to use it properly!
Here's some general tips having visited Krakow in case these help also separate to the hotel review above. It was my first-time on a proper city-break so I'm speaking from a beginner's standpoint:
- FREE ADMISSION to certain museums on Tuesday's: We spent our Tuesday (by chance) getting used to our surroundings in/around Krakow's main square, whereby we found-out they offer free admission to a number of museums you'd usually have to pay for! Namely the ones we ended-up doing which were free on the day included the Czartoryski Museum (housing a Da Vinci painting) and the Rynek Underground Museum. There's also a significant number of Churches throughout Krakow which you can explore inside and out free of charge (obviously in a respectful manner), and would recommend doing so even if you're not religious (as was our case) as they're quite the spectacles. We also did a free-walkative tour that day which I'd highly recommend with a group of other tourists where we visited the Bishop's Palace etc. and got recommendations.
- Book trips in advance to avoid disappointment: We did the majority of the usual day-trips... including Auschwitz-Birkenau & Wieliczka Salt Mines (through GetYourGuide), both of which are well worth doing, as well as Wawel Castle and Schindler's enamel factory. For the latter two, you don't need to book those in advance as you can just head to the locations to purchase tickets between the opening hours; tours are available but you can do these as self-tours (at your own pace).
- Use Tripadvisor for restaurant/bar recommendations: We were informed by our local tour guide that the best places to eat (quality and price) in Krakow are off the main square, in places like Kazimierz and the surrounding side-streets. We ended-up eating at Black Duck (traditional polish food), Sorrento Trattoria (highly-rated italian) and Shadow Resto & Bar (fine-dining in Kazimierz) on the nights, all of which were BRILLIANT and would highly-recommend. We also found ourselves gravitating to Ronnie Drew's Irish bar just off the main square for a couple of pints before dinner (plenty of other options from a drinking-standpoint though), but one bar noteworthy of a mention was The Trust Cocktail bar which were found through trip-advisor and is a must for any cocktail/fine-drinking establishment connoisseurs; they even had a guest mixologist on the night we went who won award(s) for his own gin which we sampled as part of a dedicated menu.
- Transport links are great: We just ordered Uber's to/from the airport which were cheap and bother driver's were excellent, with plenty of taxi options/apps available for use through the city should you prefer not to walk (Uber, Bolt etc.). The tram system is also very well connected which the locals would appear to use, we weren't brave enough to figure this out (plus the walks were preferred on the sunnier days) though.
- The city appears to be very safe and tidy which is refreshing to see; we didn't really see any trouble whilst we were there, and the locals are friendly/speak great English in all parts of the town.
Should you have any questions, feel free to get in touch and I'll do my best to answer! Had a great time (particularly as someone into nice food & history) and would thoroughly recommend!"
