The new Art Hotel Niebieski, apparently right next to the Vistula, is quite appealing, though outside the city center. We'll be staying five nights in Krakow and expect to be taking daytrips about half the time, so the location may be a plus. On the other hand, we've concerned about the possible inconvenience of getting to the city center, so we're considering the Pollera as an alternative. Comments, please.

How do you intend to be taking day trips? Because the Vistula is on the opposite side of the city from the train station (and I think the bus station is in same general location). If you are taking train for day trips, I would not find that a very convenient location.

I suppose it would depend on how far outside the city it is. I"m sure this may be easy once you've figured it out, but it wasn't that easy to get information on the tram system when I was in Krakow. I think the tourism office doesn't really think foreigners will want to use the trams or that tourists won't ever go anywhere outside the center city, because I couldn't get much out of them. I couldn't quite figure out where to get a ticket, for example, it wasn't obvious and they don't seem to have a general central ticket booth or place with info.

We have stayed at the Pollera twice. It is very centrally located to the city center as well as the train station.
It is an older hotel with a good restaurant that the locals use a lot.
The Vistula is too far from the action and my personal choice is the Pollera.
Having a car in Krakow is a drag, limited parking and highly priced.

We will have a rental car for day trips. Since the Art Hotel is outside the old city, parking should be a bit easier, less expensive, and more accessible. According to the people at the Art Hotel, it's a 15 minute walk to the city center. That doesn't sound so bad to me. In almost every city we've been to, there was always lots of walking to do. So I'm thinking that unless there's a strong reason to be right in the middle of things, the Art Hotel would be worth considering. I should note also that if we do select the city center location, we would stay at the Saski, rather than the Pollera.

The Saski and Pollera are similar hotels, the Saski being a little bit closer to the old city. A fifteen minute walk is a lot unless you plan on staying in the city center and not return to your hotel until evening. I've found that we would often walk to our hotel in the city center and return to old town frequently. Driving in Krakow is no picnic, heavy congestion lots of traffic and slow going. Many of the sites to be visited can be done by public transportion. Our car stayed in the parking lot across the street accumalating high parking fees for most of our visit there.

On the days we would be in Krakow, we would probably stay in the center most of the time. That's what we've done in other cities and we rarely returned to our hotel, regardless of how close it was, except to change before dinner. We can certainly handle a 15 minute walk each way and would use public transport to do so if that's feasible. By staying outside, we also would have free parking. I don't know what daily parking costs are in the center, but suspect that over five nights that could add up. Unless staying outside is really a terrible mistake, I tend to think that's what we'd do.

There's probably some way to take the bus/tram if you figure it out -- I was staying in city center so didn't spend a lot of time tryinig to figure out how to get the right tram tickets and how to pay, the lines, etc., as it wasn't crucial.

However, even their own web site says "20 min" walk to city center, not 15 min, and says it is in a western suburb. In my experience, when hotels say a certain time for walking, it takes about double that usually.

So, it could be a good deal for you, I'd just check the transportation options a little more and make sure there is a good close bus/tram line. That could be a very nice view as it is quite scenic near the river (I loved the views way up on the castle). Looking at their map, it doesn't look like a 20 min walk to me to city center, except if you define that as the very outer edge of the Old Town area, which I imagine is what they are doing. So that isn't to the middle of the main square, for example. It looks more like a 30 min. walk to the center market square to me. I would probably want to know exactly how far to a tram line stop, and wouldn't accept so-many minutes walk, but would want meters. Parking garages aren't really that expensive in Krakow, from what I noticed, maybe equivalent of 10 euro a day.

Here is a map with parking information within Krakow, and other transportation info
http://www.krakow-info.com/driving.htm

That is considered central Krakow and I imagine the 20 min walk is referring to that larger white ring street around the main area, not to the dead center (eg, Adama Mickiewicza avenue on the west).

It does look like a very nice hotel, however, and seems quite appealing for the price. If a tram line isn't too far away, it looks pretty good to me, and will make it easier for your driving and car parking. It might be a little pain if you want to go back to city center for dinner, though.

"Unless staying outside is really a terrible mistake, I tend to think that's what we'd do."

Your choice, but I wouldn't.

WE've stayed at the Pollers twice, both times with a car. Finding your way into the hotel which is in the walls is the pits. However, the location can't b beat. The firs time we stayed there (5 years ago) we had to pay for parking. When we were there this summer parking in the guarded car park was free.

It turns out to be about a mile from the Niebieski into Rynek Glowny, which is probably a 15-20 minute walk. (I walk about 1 1/2 miles every morning in about 25 minutes, without rushing, so it seems easy enough.) Also, there's a bus/tram that runs by the hotel to about a block or so from the square. Quite manage, I think.

Here's some information I just got from the Hotel Niebieski:
---------------------------------------
Our hotel is situated 1,5 km from Market Square.
The best public transport is tram (number 1 or 6)
If you go from hotel to the Center, tram stop is about 100 meters from hotel.
If you go from the Center to hotel, tram stop is opposite hotel.
The way by tram takes 6-7 minutes (4 tram stops).
Each tram runs 4-6 times per hour in business week and 2-3 times per hour in weekend.
Last tram runs at about 11 o'clock P.M.
One way ticket costs 2,40 PLN (about 0,65 USD).

Second option is to take cab.It costs 8-10 PLN (2,60 USD).

It is possible and very nice to reach the centre (Wawel Royal Castle) by walk,
by boulevards over Vistula river. It takes you 15-20 minutes.
--------------------------------------
I find this more reassuring than not and feel confident that the to and from, combined with our daytrips, will make the Niebieski a better choice. From the standpoint of facilities and location overlooking the Vistula, it certainly has its advantages. Even if a tram takes 10 minutes, I've spent a lot more time on the Metro, so this, too, doesn't amount to much.

hi i have been to cracow and i advise you to visit the main of salt it is located in Wieliczka small town near cracov it is better to take a small bus to go there . the buses leave near the train station every couple minutes . those are private buses . looks like minivan and they have a sign with the place they go (wieliczka ) the main is very beautiful and they speak english. about the information center they do have small center next to the train station you just have to walk 5 min from train station under the strret . if you want to communicate in english ask young people most of the time they do speak english.

Old City is closed to traffic so forget about driving in old city ... and walking 15-20 minutes everytime can be a drag. We stayed in Saski one of the apartments - were we got a good deal. Btw Saski is right IN old city. So for location it could not be any better. We were able to walk around at different hours of the day and evening in very beatifull old city section of Krakow, very close to different types of restaurants... droping in into our hotel to drop off shopping or just to take a quick rest.

As for Parking guy at the lobby of saski told us where to park cheap. Which was behind "Dom Turysty" 5-10min away.

So if I was you I would not rent your car until you see Krakow, then rent for full day trips (SaltMines and Camps can be done in one day if planned right), other places are not so close to Krakow, so best is to leave Krakow and just stay at new location.

Enjoy!

nrwayne,
Please don't take too much offense to this statement.
What I am hearing is "I have made up my mind to stay at the Art Hotel Niebieski"
I just posted to get someone to agree with me.
Since no one does, let me give you reasons why I am right and you are wrong.
Go for it!!

We will be renting a car for a full week, which is a better rate than renting locally as needed. Plus, we will be in Zakopane for nearly two days, one full day at Auschwitz/Birkenau, one full day at the salt mine and other places in that area, see we have 3 1/2 days to spend in Krakow. On the several dozen trips we have taken previously to various parts of Europe, the only time we return to our hotel is late afternoon to change for dinner. Shopping is relatively unimportant to us, which alleviates the need to bring items back to our hotel. For these reasons as well as the possibility of getting a tram, the Niebieski seems to work better for us. If we were to stay at the Saski, we'd still have to find parking for our car and then have the occasional walks to and from to pick up and drop off. For people planning to spend all or nearly all of their time in Krakow and not having a car, I would think the Saski or one of the other in town hotels might be better. In this case, however, the reasons for staying there seem less compelling.

We had similar trip, while in Krakow our rental was park for 2days nonstop, then we used it for day trips to Wieliczka Salt Maines and other places. OldCity is what is to see in Krakow, which is alive thru late hours. Rest of Krakow is really not much to see, so basically your choice is either to walk 20min to your hotel everytime you want to drop off anything or not. Please Note that OLD City is Closed to traffic, and you will not be able even to drive thru old City (unless you going to your hotel to drop off/pick luggage).

Auschwitz/Birkenau, there is 2hr camp tour, full day will be too much... what we did was we got early to Auschwitz (West of Krakow)and went around with a guide 2 hour tour...Then we went to Wieliczka SaltMaines which is East of Krakow which was a good mood pickup and prevented nightmares at night.

Enjoy.

PeterB

Thank you for your thoughts. Wherever we go, we rarely return to our hotel during the day, except late afternoon before dinner. Since there is tram transportation to and from the Niebieski to the center city, we would hope to use that rather than walking when we do have to return. I don't see that as a big problem, even taking into account the waiting. When we return in the evening, we have our evening meal, perhaps stay a little longer after eating, and then return to our hotel. We are not late night people and don't go to clubs. As far as Auschwitz is concerned, the current tour choices are 3 1/2 hours or 6 hours. With travel time added, that means we will have to allow at least 6 hours from start to finish even if we take the shorter tour. If we leave Krakow at 9, we get back about 3 p.m., which takes up most of the day. Since we have a special interest in Birkenau, we may well decide to take the longer tour, which brings us back at about 6 p.m. Either way, most of the day will be filled for this purpose.

Looks like you have all planned which is good - and will insure you enjoying yourself... You may already know about this site - but in case you do not...
http://www.auschwitz-muzeum.oswiecim...tart/index.php
http://www.krakow.pl/en/

Also when driving to Auschwitz (Oswiecim) take a pay highway "A4" towards Katowice (toll is over 1$ but you will save on gas and time with easy marked exit and ramp back)...

Thank you, Peter. Our plans are set now and we will be traveling with another family (altogether we will be eight people). They, too, leave their hotel for the day and only return in late afternoon, so the Hotel Niebiesski should be fine. None of us are night birds, either. We usually wrap up with dinner and then return for the evening.
As I mentioned, one of our trips will be to Auschwitz/Birkenau and I have tried to learn about guides for our group. I'm aware that there are guides available through the "Auschwitz Museum" and it appears that these guides are quite knowledgeable. Even so, the choices currently are the standard tour of 3 1/2 hours or the study tour of 6 hours. We'd prefer to have more time there, especially at Birkenau, and are wondering whether we should proceed to make arrangements through the regular Auschwitz guide service or whether there is an alternative that will be more advantageous. (In either case, we will be driving our rented cars from Krakow, so transportation will not be necessary.) We are interested in getting the best possible visit rather than simply checking off the death camp as another place for sightseeing. In addition, probably after leaving Zakopane, we were thinking of rafting on the Dunajec and wondered how we would integrate that with our plans. I'm guessing that we should allow several hours, which would work well with the afternoon drive from Zakopane back to Krakow. Your thoughts on this?

I would definitly get a tour guide which is available thru Museum... if for no other reason then not only they know a lot of the insider history, many of them when asked can get you in places outsiders can not ... not to mentioned that initial trip will be much more efficiant and less confusing... So definitly go with that, we did that in past and also watched other outside tours were tour guide just did not have keys to get in into few places.

As for trip to Zakopane... it looks like a very short distance from Krakow but only on a map... if you are lucky you avg. speed will be 50km/h if not so lucky and you get stuck behind some truck in this one lane hilly road...then maybe down to 25km/h ... As for rafting on the Dunajec ... location is bit more to the east of Zakopane ... which also means you can pick up quicker roads as well... btw in area there is a nice castle in Niedzica - which also has good restaurant as well as it's a hotel...
Price maybe similar to what you be paying in krakow http://www.niedzica.pl/turystykaa.htm
http://www.onetravel.pl/hotel.asp?ho...ll&jezyk=1
Palac Wezykow is another nice day trip from Krakow which also is hotel and has restaurant in addition to the Museum area.
http://www.onetravel.pl/zdjecia/widoki/Pas_Pal.jpg
When in Zakopane you may want to cross to Slovakia - which is not only much cheaper then Poland but also view on Tatry Mtn. more majestic... then maybe drive on Slovakian side to Dunajec area or Niedzica...