Which city is better to visit: Warsaw or Krakow?

my brother & i are coming to krakow in winter next year. is there a better neighborhood to stay in besides 'old town'?? we'll probably be getting a 2 bedrm flat for the 3 weeks we're there. we wont have a car so we'll be only hoofin' it & using buses & trains. i dont want to be w/the rest of the tourists-we'd rather see the real krakow & it's residents. also, is there a decent rockabilly scene w/good folks?? id like to meet them as well.

Krowodrza... maybe

both are very nice

Been to Krakow 12+ times at this stage and also been to Warsaw, its a completely different city to Krakow. Its obvious that Warsaw is where decisions made and it is turning into a very modern city (not quite there yet but certainly getting there), the underground was so clean etc... There is still alot of evidence of the "ugly" buildings that were built after the war but no where is perfect.

But anything new really looks the part including the new "old town", zloty terasy (fantastic building, go to see it even to see the hyperbolic glass roof), polish TV's building and of course Galeria Mokotow (which has a cable-stay walk bridge to it)...impressive. Dont forget to go see the museam to the 1944 Rising aswell... well worth it.

I was completely taken by surprise by Warsaw coz when i went there initially i had quite a number of reservations but it completely changed me.

For me what makes Warsaw so good is Lazienki, is so big and a fantastic place to walk around and take it easy, a serious plus point for me.

I suppose Krakow has kinda washed off of me at this stage, but its a city with so much tradition and culture it still is my favourite city in Poland.

For me Warsaw is like a representation of the new poland, modern, vibrant and to be honest a bit of a unknown quantity where as Krakow is like a link to Polands glory days going back through the centuries with a modern city mixed in.

It hard to compare both cities as they are completely different:
Warsaw - modern, fast paced, vibrant
Krakow - more romantic, easier pace.

I hoping to move to Warsaw "its where its at".

Hi,
I've lived and worked in both.

I didn't like Warsaw, I found that in Warsaw you didn't get value for money like you do in Krakow. Any extra money you may earn in Warsaw is easily eaten up by far higher living costs-Rent / transport costs / pubs n restaurants.

Warsaw does have the best nightclubs, where Krakow is more of a relaxed pub culture.

It's nice to be on the doorstep of the mountains as skiing is only an hour away from Krakow and then in the summer nice walks or mountain biking in the fresh mountain air.

But hey in the end I think it'll always come down to where you make friends......as without them it doesn't matter which town you're in.

Overall I think Krakow offers a better quality for a balanced life and provides us with that.....je ne sais quoi ( I just don't know what exactly / but what I don't know is good )

Kracow is very nice city, students, nice pub, nice amosphere, but after 7 days you get absolutely bouring, is too small for me, however warsaw, beatiful city, big one, you dont finish to see what the city offer to you, so Warsaw a millon times better

hfm Kracow is very nice city, students, nice pub, nice amosphere, but after 7 days you get absolutely bouring, is too small for me, however warsaw, beatiful city, big one, you dont finish to see what the city offer to you, so Warsaw a millon times better

I agree

^^^^
This.

Warsaw in first place every time, Wroclaw second, Krakow trailing in third place - sorry!

"Which city is better - Warsaw or Krakow?"

Poznań

Warszawa is like an average hamburger. Kraków is like an excellent steak.
Warszawa is about money and vanity. Kraków is about high art and art of life.

But I'm biased :)

Krakow is like Paris - dependent on its past, faded glories. Nice, but its had its day really.

Warsaw hasn't really had any real "glory" within living memory - so it can only look to the future, and I'm not the kind of person who lives in the past. :)

But I'm biased :)

Not at all. Krakow had a glorious past, an interesting present and promising future. The old lady is looking very good at 752. And I like her size: not to small, not to big :) Just about perfect.

Warszawa is way to cosmopolitan - like any other city, really - for my taste. But, hey, whatever makes you happy!

"maybe it's cos I'm a Londoner..."

lol

Tough question,
Warsaw is a metropoli, very cosmopolitan, big, full of trendy caffe and bars..
Krakow is more personal, but it is full of souvenirs shops and tourist oriented business, despite that, the city is gorgeous.

£ódź you believe it?...

I am a fan of both Warsaw and Kraków... but I have to say that I like Gdańsk / Tri-City best of all :)

I £ódźnt. ;)

the old Cork Dublin debate.

Zabrze is obviously the best city out there, sorry to all those living in the dark.

They are all the same...kebab stands, pubs, slow shops, malls full of overpriced clothes and electronics, bureaucracy to end all bureaucracy...the only difference is their size.

Obviously you've never been in Kraków :)

what he probably meant to say was that they are all equally as bad as each other.

Obviously you are wrong. It has some older looking buildings and the castle and that's the only notable difference. Everything else is the same...

good point, but what about the people, are they the same?

Yes...they are still Polish and act the same as any other Pole. It is some myth people love to perpetuate in order to make themselves 'better' or 'different'. People from Warsaw think they are smarter, better, more interesting...people from Krakow think THEY are...on and on...

Hahaha... so true, even in the media you notice these things, even actors do the same thing Oh I'm better because I'm from Krakow, and you are a wiesniak because you are from Warsaw.

I too am a fan of both. I spend 3 days per week working in Warsaw and the other 2 days + weekend in Krakow where I live. They are contrasting cities and each has it's own unique qualities. I'm glad I'm fortunate enough to enjoy the best of each. For me I love the bustle of Warsaw and the charm of Krakow.

Kraków....need I say more?

That reminded me of the time I was still living in Poland and my company was sending me to Warszawa (from Kraków) once a week. Even with this inter-city/3 hours/whatever/ train I quit after one and half year. It was fun at first though :) I was always going to Hortex for ice creams first.

They both have their pluses, but neither would agree.

I moved to Warsaw (from suburban London) about 10 years ago. Mainly was drawn by my London friends (who all had jobs in Wawa) and my girlfriend (who also worked here; she was reluctant to move anywhere else, esp. to Krakow, for lack of job prospects – the pay in Wawa was 2x what she could expect in Krakow). Also I was drawn by the (slightly richer) cultural life in Wawa – in the form of better libraries and museums, which is important in my line of work.

But to tell the truth, I've regretted my decision to come to Warsaw ever since.

Perhaps it's a case of the grass is always greener, but Kraków has something that Warsaw will never have – as in a historical atmosphere and 'culture' (as the Poles call it) among the inhabitants (meaning a pleasant demeanour and ability to not annoy your fellow citizens). There's a good reason for this. During WWII over 200,000 people were killed during the Warsaw Uprising (not to be confused with the Jewish Ghetto rising, which killed an additional Nx10,000); the city was then flattened, quite literally, by Hitler's destruction squads; 85% of the buildings were levelled. So what you see today is all fake; it's all been rebuilt. And the people are not real, historical Varsovians, merely a horde of village folk drawn in from their farms to find work and repopulate the deserted ruins. (This will doubtless not be a popular among some of the fanboy and fangirl forum junkies; but it's a standing joke outside of Warsaw... the city is full of 'peasants'.) The end result is that the city has no 'heart'; it has no continuity with its past; it's an assemblage of immigrants, in the worst sense, without sense of community or commonality (much like London, in fact!). Things are quite different in Krakow, which saw very little destruction in WWII, and somehow, still has 'soul'.

Then of course there's the question of social life. Warsaw is great if you're in your early 20s, maybe even into your early 30s. Lots of pretty (albeit often fatuous) girls, that will make life here fun. But if you're older than about 35 then this place is purgatory. No one over about 35 goes out to all those wonderful clubs. It's really not like Western cities where there are still lots of things to do in the evenings when you're in your late 30s.

A guy walking down the road last Saturday night came up to me and asked (he was pretty plastered, but not all that bad looking). "I'm 50, do I deserve to live? Is there anything left for me here?" The simple fact is there is nothing to do here when you are more mature....

OK, so this is my personal view. But after 10 years here I'm entitled to one. (All you trolls who are about to criticise me can just F OFF. I've put up with country for 10 years so I qualify for having my own views on the place. It's my personal viewpoint – OK?)

All in, Krakow is just a lot prettier and a lot more cultured than Wawa. There is a Lonely Planet guide for Krakow, but none for Warsaw. QED.