Searching my Polish Ancestry
 

My husband and I will be taking a river cruise in Oct with time at either end in Budapest, Krakow and Warsaw. I would love to hear from travelers who could recommend great hotels in these 3 cities. Hotels near the heart of the city, walking distance to the markets, shops or whatever these fabulous places have to offer.

What level of hotel and budget are you looking for? Because I have a couple favorites in Krakow, but they aren't the cheapest, although not bad for that level of European hotel (4*).

We're okay with pretty much any level of pricing although not interested in low end. Would love to hear your favorites and why.

Pod ROza in Krakow was nice but make sure you like the room. Easy walk to train station and main square.

The tour to Auschwitz was an eyeopener -- I strongly suggest it.

I was going to name Pod Roza also, as one of my favorites. It's a very nice old-world hotel, historic, but I had a huge room with large tiled bath, beautiful parquet wood floors, Oriental carpet, etc. The people are very nice there, also. I didn't even have a deluxe room. It was an interior room, which I liked, as I was concerned about noise for a street room (this is on a very popular pedestrian market walking street, a few blocks from the main square). The only thing I didn't like about this hotel was the mattress was very very hard (about like those in Mexico, if you've been there). I don't know if that is common throughout the hotel or somehow I got unlucky or what.

My other favorite, which I just stayed in last summer for a change, is a smaller boutique hotel, newly opened: the Hotel Grodek. It had traditional furniture, and was just wonderful. Great breakfast, very nice staff. A very small, and quiet hotel, on the park around the edge. It's only a few blocks from the main square also, a little farther than the Pod Roza. The bed was more comfortable than Pod Roza.

So, both were great, but the Grodek is about US$50 more per night, I think. It's definitely one of the more expensive hotels in town (I paid around US$165 a night last summer for a single). It was worth it after I stayed there, I was glad I made that choice. For someone who hadn't been to Krakow before, they might prefer the Pod Roza, though.

Here are the URLs for those -- the Donimirski group has several nice hotels in that area:

http://www.donimirski.com/

http://www.hotelpodroza.com/

I booked directly with both hotels, by email.

Thank you all very much for the info on Krakow. Anything on Warsaw or Budapest?

I've just been to Budapest once and we stayed at the Gellert and were very happy. It is a bit isolated but the hotel made up for the little bit extra to walk. There are streetcars right outside which we used frequently since it was chilly in November. The room was gorgeous with a terrace overlooking the river, the bathes were lovely if a bit crowded and the breakfast was lovely. I highly recommend it and would love to return.