Polonia Hotel

Good value hotel near railway station

My girlfriend and I stayed at Hotel Polonia for 2 nights in July 2009 during a weekend break in Krakow.

We reserved the hotel through www.booking.com and paid 219 Zloty (approx. £40) per night for a double room with breakfast.

The prime reasons for us choosing this hotel were two-fold:

i) Location: We knew that we'd be arriving in Krakow in the early hours of the morning (between 2 and 3am) on a bus from Katowice Airport. We therefore wanted a hotel that was within walking distance of the bus station;

ii) 24 hour reception: In light of the above, we obviously required a hotel with a reception desk that would be open to check us in at this early hour.

Location

Hotel Polonia is located on the corner of ul. Basztowa and ul. Pawia, directly opposite the front entrance of Krakow's central railway station.

The bus station is located behind the railway station, so we only had to walk for a couple of minutes when we alighted the WizzAir bus from Katowice Airport.

We made the same short walk in reverse the following morning when we retuned to the bus station to catch one of the frequent minibuses to Auschwitz (Oswiecim). We returned from Auschwitz by train, so again we only had a short walk back to our hotel from the central station.

The Old Town is just a few hundred metres away; it took us less than 10 minutes to walk to the main market square (Rynek Glowny).

There are plenty of restaurants and bars within a few minutes walk of the hotel and the Galeria Krakowska shopping mall is located on the square in front of the hotel, next to the train station.

Bedroom

My first impression of our room was that it was spacious and that the decor was somewhat dated.

The bed was a proper double (not two singles pushed together as we often find these days).

The wooden furnishings in the room included a stand alone wardrobe, a set of drawers and bedside cabinets. There were also a couple of armchairs and a glass-topped coffee table.

The floor was wooden laminate and there was a large Turkish-style rug beneath the window. There was patterned wallpaper on the walls and long dark patterned curtains covering the two large windows. It all felt very 1970s to me; not a complaint by any means, just an observation.

There was a small TV set mounted on a bracket in the corner of the room.

The en-suite shower room was clean, compact and, again, slightly dated. There were few concessions to luxury; simply tiled walls and flooring, a shower cubicle, a toilet and a washbasin.

Breakfast

We grabbed a quick breakfast in the downstairs dining room before heading to Auschwitz for the day.

The selection wasn't particularly extensive, or particularly inspiring, featuring cold cuts of meat, sliced cheese, bread rolls, boiled eggs and various salad items. It served our needs, but it wasn't very memorable.

Good value rooms in the centre of Krakow. Ideally located close to the train and bus stations. Rooms are somewhat dated, but they are clean and comfortable. I'd stay there again if I was ever in Krakow.

• Opinion of Price: about average
• Written February 19, 2012

Polonia Hotel Photo: Hotel Polonia, Krakow

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