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Visitors would be hard pressed to have a bad meal in Krakow, and this whatever their budget. From little traditional cafés to gastronomic restaurants, Krakow has the gamut of eateries, and prices are low by Western standards. Try the local cuisine, which is excellent, from the wild duck Krakow-style (stewed with wild mushrooms and served with pearl barley) to soups (borsch and zurek especially) and the local take on cheesecake.

The restaurants below have been grouped in four different price categories:
$$$$ (over ZL150)
$$$ (ZL90 to ZL150)
$$ (ZL40 to ZL90)
$ (under ZL40)
These prices are for a three-course meal for one, including a pint of beer (wine is more expensive in Krakow) and service.

Gourmet

Cyrano de Bergerac
One of the very best restaurants in Krakow, Cyrano de Bergerac serves fine French cuisine in a beautifully decorated cellar in the Old Town. The ambience is a gentle combination of Polish tradition and French refinement, while the cuisine is decidedly French - and rather haute. The delicious food and the excellent wine cellar have attracted many distinguished guests over the years.

Ulica Slawkowska 26
Tel: (012) 411 7288.
Website: www.cyranodebergerac.pl
Price: $$$$

Pod Aniolami
An award-winning restaurant located in a 13th-century building on the Droga Krolewska (the Royal Route) from the Wavel Castle to the Main Market Square, Pod Aniolami offers fine Polish food. The cuisine is contemporary, but rooted in centuries-old Polish gastronomic traditions. The kitchen is particularly famous for its pickled meat grilled in the stove fire with beech wood. A beautiful restaurant, it is also very popular, so booking is essential.

Ulica Grodzka 35
Tel: (012) 421 3999. Website: www.podaniolami.pl
Price: $$-$$$

Business

The Olive
This restaurant offers Mediterranean and Polish cuisine under the beautiful glass atrium of the Sheraton Hotel. In this spacious atmosphere of year-round courtyard dining, guests can enjoy top quality food and a calm and relaxing ambience that is often spiced up with a bit of jazz in the evenings. A good place for a business lunch or dinner.

Sheraton Krakow Hotel
Ulica Powisle 7
Tel: (012) 662 1000.
Website: www.sheraton.com/krakow
Price: $$$

Pod Gruszka
Excellent Old Polish and international cuisine is served in the pretty period rooms of the ‘Pod Gruszką’ (literally ‘under the pear’). The restaurant is situated in an ancient house in the corner of the Main Market, and it has the domestic but welcoming feel of a private club. The food is gorgeous and very flavorsome. The soups are unbeatable. The bar is a favorite meeting place for Krakow artists and journalists.

Ulica Szczepanska 1
Tel: (012) 422 8896.
Website: www.pod-gruszka.prv.pl
Price: $$

Szara
An amazing setting under beautifully restored gothic ceilings, with wonderful food and smooth service, have ensured this restaurant’s popularity. The menu combines Polish classics with a range of dishes based on culinary impulses from Sweden, France, Japan and other countries. The restaurant is located on the Main Market Square, and particularly in the tourist season it is a good idea to book in advance.

Rynek Glowny 6
Tel: (012) 421 6669.
Website: www.szara.pl
Price: $$$

Trendy

Paese
Paese is a popular restaurant and deservedly so: Corsican cuisine is on offer here, and it is excellent. In addition, the atmosphere is so warm, friendly and relaxed that it feels like a little bit of the Mediterranean has moved in at this address on ulica Poselska. So for a bit of sunshine and a tasty meat, fish or pasta dish, this is the place to come.

Ulica Poselka 24
Tel: (012) 421 6273.
Price: $$-$$$

Cul-de-sac
With a modern, slightly minimalist interior, Cul-de-sac is an elegant, classy restaurant with plenty of style. The cuisine is classic continental with the accent on culinary impulses from the Mediterranean region. The menu changes with the seasons to ensure the best choice of fresh seasonal ingredients. There is an art gallery and a small architectural museum inside.

Ulica Na Gródku 4
Tel: (012) 431 2041.
Website: www.cul-de-sac.pl
Price: $$$-$$$$

Budget

Cyklop
This is a small pizza joint with friendly staff and delicious pizzas cooked in a wood fire oven. Located a short walk to the east of Krakow’s main square, it is an unassuming, but genuine place that is both busy and popular. Many regard it as Krakow’s best pizza place.

Ulica Mikolajs 16
Tel: (012) 421 6603.
Website: www.pizzeriacyklop.krakow.pl
Price: $

Rozowy Slon
A perennial favorite with the students of the nearby university, this salad bar, which serves decent Polish food at bargain prices, is a vibrant place capable of brightening anybody’s day on account of its smashing pop art décor. Patrons will be forgiven for believing they are eating in a giant comic book!

Ulica Straszewskiego 24
Tel: (012) 421 1047.
Price: $



Nightlife:

The combination of a large student population and an increasing number of tourist visitors means that the nightlife scene in Krakow has hotted up considerably over the last few years. The epicenter of nightlife is on and around Rynek Glowny, with pavement cafes a popular place to begin an evening. Distinctions between cafes, restaurants, bars and clubs tend to blur a bit, especially later in the evening when cosy cellar bars become party zones complete with booming dance music and sweaty dance floors. Live music tends to be rock or jazz, but there are occasionally more off-beat shows. Bars have tended to close fairly early in the past but more and more are opening until 0200 or even 0400. A cover charge may sometimes apply. The minimum drinking age in Poland is 18, and it is illegal to sell alcohol to someone who appears to be drunk.

Bars: Every week sees the launch of a new cafe or a pub, so keeping up with what’s happening in the city can be a bit of a challenge. Check the local press or websites such as www.cracowonline.com, www.cracow-life.com or http://where2b.org/where2b/en/events for the latest hip venues.

One of the best of the cellar pubs is CK Browar, Podwale 6-7, a lively pub with stone walls and lots of nooks and crannies to hide away in. Piwnica Pod Baranami, Rynek Glowny 27, is a Krakow classic pub with cheap beer, but also the venue for traditional cabaret shows every Saturday. Bodega Marqués Vinoteca, ulica Slawkowska 12, is a wine bar with an Iberian ambience, several hundred kinds of wine on offer and great Spanish tapas to boot.

Clubs: Krakow’s club scene has improved vastly in recent years, with new clubs opening all the time. Party goers tend to move from one spot to the next as the night goes on. One of the hottest dance clubs at the moment is Club Fusion (website: http://www.clubfusion.pl/) at ulica Florianska 15, although Kredens, Rynek Glowny 12, a cavernous cellar club, has a well established reputation for dance music too. Shisha Club, Maly Rynek 2 (website: http://www.shisha.pl/) is an oriental-style club with a labyrinthine, stylish interior and exotic ambience. Buddha Bar & Garden at Rynek Glowny 6, also offers oriental décor and atmosphere. Frantic (website: http://www.frantic.pl/), also in the Old Town at ulica Szewska 5, attracts a young crowd with its funky décor: it has two dance floors and three bars. And Zoom Club is one of the places to check out at the weekend, with visiting hip house DJs from all over Poland. Kitsch, ulica Wielopole 15 (website: http://www.kitsch.pl/) meanwhile, is the best gay friendly spot in town.

Live Music: Jazz is popular in the city and some of the cellar bars make for the perfect environment in which to hear bands. Klub U Louisa, 13 Rynek Glowny on the main square (website: http://www.ulouisa.com/) is one of the oldest places of its kind in Krakow, and one of the most famous. Today it is both jazz club and Internet cafe. Indigo, ulica Florianska 26, is another smoky cellar perfect to listen to jazz music in relaxed surroundings. Stalowe Magnolie (Steel Magnolias), ulica sw Jana 15, an expensive venue, is open from 1800 to dawn - jazz ends at midnight and recorded house music begins. The Klezmer Hois (Klezmer House) restaurant, ulica Szeroka 6 (website: http://www.klezmer-hois.cracow.pl/), in Kazimierz, offers nightly Klezmer (a combination of traditional Jewish music and 1920s jazz) from one of three bands, as well as other music on occasion. Boogie Café Bar, ulica Szpitalna 9 (website: http://www.boogiecafe.pl/) is a slick, stylish bar with a cosmopolitan feel and regular jazz concerts. Many of the city’s bars and clubs have live music one night a week.

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