Excellent hotel for the price

I went with my girlfriend to Krakow for a long weekend and stayed at the Royal Hotel. Having prebooked the hotel at £30 a night, we were very pleasantly surprised. The hotel was in a really good location opposite the Wawel castle and a 10min walk through the park or along a main road to the Old Market Square.

The hotel was very clean and the staff were exceptionally helpful: helping us with a bit of Polish and booking taxis and a restaurant for us.

Although it isn't 5 star accommodation, I think you'd struggle to find a better place for the price. I would strongly recommend it to anyone on a bit of a budget...a very pleasant stay.

Pleasant stay at the Royal

Four of us had a long weekend (Saturday to Tuesday) at the Royal in Krakow. We took the advice of Davey from the Krakow forum and got a taxi from the airport. The hotel is not anywhere near where the airport bus goes, so it was easier. With four of us sharing a taxi, the 70 zl wasn't very much. The Royal is an hotel at the base of the Wavel Castle and within easy walking distance of the old town, so in terms of location it is fantastic. It certainly has an air of faded elegance and, as a marketer, I kept thinking of the potential this place could have. We were in the two star section and our room was large, the bathroom big and modern and we had a very comfortable night's sleep once we worked out to close the outer window of the double glazing. With it open the noise from outside was terrible, with trams coming and going at all times. However, we both windows shut, no problem. The room was basic, yes but perfectly comfortable. There was a tv but with only polish (and one german) channel. The room also had a refrigerator (empty, regretably). There wasn't a hair dryer, which would have been nice after the wonderfully forceful shower. Downstairs at the hotel there isn't much going on. There is a small bar between the one star and the two star sections but it had limited seating capacity and closed at 10 p.m. The service was perfectly fine and the drinks OK too. The dining room(s) are huge and, it seemed to me, could have been used for a nice lounge area instead. I believe there is also a cafeteria but it was closed for renovation when we were there. Whilst we were there, there was a conference going on which was the strategic planning group for the hotel chain that the royal belonged to and I longed to ask them what there plans were.... I'll keep an eye open to see what happens to it in the future. During our visit, we visited the Jewish Quarter, the Cloth Hall, The Royal Castle, The Cathedral, Auswitz and the Salt Mine (this is an absolute must, provided that you don't mind walking dowdn 380 steps at the start of the tour!). Don't bother to book escorted tours for either Auswitz or the salt mines as it's very easy to do these on your own. We caught a bus from the bus station (behind the train station) first thing in the morning and spent a couple of hours there, returning on the 12.55 bus to town. It's very much personal choice, of course, but I found the couple of hours there quite enough as it can feel quite harrowing. As regards the salt mine, we caught a mini bus from just outside the bank opposite the main post office and caught the last English speaking tour at 5 p.m. It takes about 40 minutes to get there, especially in rush hour, so leave plenty of time. All you have to do then is walk back the way you have come a little and walk up the hill to the left and the salt mine entrance is up there on the right. It's really easy to do these things on your own and much, much cheaper. One word of advice about visiting the castle, too. On Sunday when we tried to visit, the queue to buy tickets was really long. When you buy a ticket, they tell you what time you have to visit which bit. So for example, you might buy your ticket at 9 a.m. but then you are told you cannot get into the next tour until 3 p.m. Sundays seem really busy with local people so it's probably much better to go on a Tuesday or later in the week. We went up at 9 a.m., bought tickets for the 10.10 tour then went to the Cathedral while we waited and it all worked out perfectly.

We ate out quite a lot and particularly enjoyed the "Folk Restaurant" off the Market Square. This place has some interesting food (but beware that it's sometimes not available) and the decor is interesting. There are stuffed birds and other animals adorning the painted on forest scenes around the walls (OK, you have to be there to appreciate it!) but it was very pleasant. On our last day, we retreated with sore feet into here because we couldn't do any more sight seeing around the Market Square. There was filming of a movie called "Post Mortem" going on and there were swaztikas and old german military staff hanging about the streets. I await seeing the movie eventually.

All in all we had a good time and The Royal represented excellent value for money. Because we bought our flights on easyjet's sale and booked the hotel separately, the whole trip only cost us £80 each. We struggled to spend much money too, because everything is such good value. We hope you enjoy your stay as much as we did.

Excellent value, excellent service

This hotel is a gem, it is situated at the foot of the Wawel hill and most of Krakow attractions are within walking distance. If not, the tour buses and taxis stop just outside. I had a 2 star triple bedded room, it comprised of two bedrooms, a bathroom with bath and shower and a separate toilet. It is like staying in a time warp so the furniture is circa 1930s but very clean and comfortable. the room was made up daily.

the breakfast was plentiful but not a lot of variety and the breakfast room was very crowded at times.

The meals in the hotel were very good, very cheap but again not particulalry varied. there is an excellent restaurant called La Strada within two minutes walking distance.

the room comes with a fridge but no kettle so take your own as there is no room service and meals and drinks are only served until 10pm.

no real negatives other than the room was a little cold on occassion.

Staff were excellent, very helpful.

So good , I'm going back soon.

Great Location-nice

Amazing location. Each room is a bit diff. so you never know what you will get. Bathroom lacking in cleanliness, but overall good place to stay. HUGE rooms-breakfast included. Nice staff.

Pleasantly surprised

My family recently stayed 4 nights at the royal. Old fashioned feel about the place, it was obviously a high graded hotel in years gone by. Staff all helpful and could not fault the location.

Rooms adequate and reasonably spacious , bathrooms small but highly practical.

No adverse comments . In all this Hotel well suited our purposes.

RMD- North Yorkshire

Mystery on the Vistula

The great mystery is WHY this hotel is only rated a 2 star.

We arrived quite apprehensive after reading some of the reviews - but no-one staying here need have any concerns.

It is an absolutely MAGNIFICENT building dating from 1898 and beautifully restored.

LOCATION: Superb, right at the foot of Wawel Castle and handy for the Cathedral, river walks, Jewish district and old town. We LOVED the location.

ROOMS: Very large and very high ceilings. Extremely comfortable and clean 4' beds (as singles) Old fashioned furnishings which matched the building. Double glazed.

TV had no English channels :-(

No coffee making facilities (take own traveller kettle)

Empty fridge provided and courtesy bottled water.

BATHROOM: State of the art shower (semi circular cubicle) Very clean.

Towels were large and functional but not mega fluffy (a reminder that it's a 2*!)

FOOD: All you can eat hot and cold buffet served in grand dining room. Excellent.

Cafe: the 'apple pie' is to die for - more like apfelstrudel with chocolate and cream. Mmmmmm !

AMBIENCE: Grand - a magnificent building. Thick walls means no noise from other rooms. Impressive entrance. Small lift - no safety door.

Staff friendly and helpful. They can book you on trips eg Auschwitz.

We had a look at this strange 'back to back' system with the 1* part being to the rear of the building. The 1* looked perfectly good too.

I've stayed in a Hilton Hotel that wasn't a patch on the Krakow Royal.

Would recommend this hotel to anyone! We paid £40 per room per night for this and consider it an absolute bargain.

Great Location - Fusty smelling rooms

We stayed at this hotel for 3 nights in September 2005. The location of the hotel is fantastic - just below the Wawel castle. We had originally booked to stay in the 3rd class of room in the 2 star section of the hotel, however on viewing the room we decided to upgrade to the 1st class of room. The 3rd class of room was very small, in an attic section of the building and was reminisicent of a prison cell. It had a very small window and generally had an unpleasant atmosphere. The 1st class of room was spacious with a good view and a large bathroom, however the decor was very tired looking and the room had a fusty smell. The rooms were not well cleaned as i found out when i dropped crumbs on the carpet on the first day - i had to live with them until check out 3 days later. Breakfast is served every morning in the room. It is delivered in aeroplane style plastic containers and consists of bread, meats, cheeses and a coleslaw type substance. Overall i was very dissapointed by my stay in Hotel Royal. It is a beautiful building in a great location, and it is a shame that it is let down so badly.

Excellent place to stay!

I stayed in Hotel Royal, Krakow for 9 days in August 2002.

The location of the hotel is fantastic- directly opposite the Wawel Castle & only a few mins walk along a main street to the City Square.

I stayed in a twin room which was large & clean.

Staff were very helpful & the food in the hotel restaurant was great.

In short this hotel offered excellent value for money. If I was to return to Krakow I would definitely stay here- I recommend it highly.

Nice hotel, great location

There are actually 2 Royal hotels with 2 different street addresses, they are back to back on the street. One is a little more upscale than the other. The location is great, just accross the street from Wavel Castle and on the park surrounding the town center. We had a room on the street side and it was quite enough at night. Great value and a 5 minute walk to the town square. Breakfast (Eurpoean of course) was fine. Room was large with what must have been a 20 foot ceiling! Paid about $60 US per night. A much better choice than the noisy hotels located just of the town square.

A truly royal experience

Spent two weeks at the Hotel Royal during my stay in Krakow for my brother's wedding. Had a very beautiful spacious suite with a great view of Wawel castle. The hotel is walking distance to Wawel, the Old Town Market Square, and Jagellonian University. The staff was very friendly and helpful and the restaurant always offered a menu with a variety of fresh, delicious entrees. Make sure you check the weather before you go, however, as I don't think they provide heating from May through the summer months. Overall, the hotel provided a very pleasant experience, nevertheless.