Which city is better to visit: Warsaw or Krakow?

Now now, stop using electoral results to base your opinions on :P

(it's true what you say - Krakow isn't the cosmopolitian city that it pretends to be.)

I think it's time to give props to Poznań and Wrocław:)

Easily the most forward-looking and open-minded cities in Poland.

Penny for 'em :)

:):):):)

Guys, I really don`t understand what you see in Krakow. It is dirty, polluted, drab, small, congested. Yes, there are a few pearls here and there but it is not enough.

Ok, I know. You think Krakow is attractive because you don`t live here. You only come as tourists for two or three days, do your sightseeing and leave. :):):):)


Poznań - yes.

Wrocław - never. Those guys there still need to learn lot of culture.

you might not say that, if you lived here.

That leaves Poznań, then. ONE - NIL!

Easily the best place to live in Poland is the tricity area. But, alas, I live in Warsaw....

Have a look at our Krakow photo gallery at imaginepoland.com - Hope it helps. Its a beautiful city.

Lived in Krakow for 5+ years, now around a year in Warsaw. Warsaw beats Krakow by miles in every possible aspect IMHO.

For those who are more into small provincial towns then into big cities, I could understand a preference for Krakow. Anything else? Warsaw.

Sad to say but Cracow has only 10 km2 of... Cracow. These are historical districts - Old Town, Jewish Town, Podgórze - former Austrian Town, Nowa Huta - former Communist Town, etc. The rest is rather poor and rather provincional city from post-Soviet era. Yes, Cracow has mostly past.

Why?
Cracow under Habsbourg's domination lost its province - Małopolska which was partitioned to two parts. Northern part with Lubelszczyzna and Sandomierszczyzna (now - Świętokrzyskie) went to Russia and Austrian part was incorporated to Red Ruthenia called also Haliczyna (austr. Galizien). Cracow lost its power and become a provincional city. Northern part lost its geographical and ethnic self-ID and never recovered it.

After WW1 Cracow didn't get its province back. New provincional border replaced partition border and runned 5 km away from the city border!
After WW2 Communist's centralization finished the job. After independence recovery the centralization become even more destructive.
Sometimes we call it "gulonization" after "gulon" - former Russian part citizen.
One says that last times we can talk also about pomeranization.

150ha of historic site that's only 1.5 km2...

When we count Austrian fortifications, Tyniec Abbey and other historical parts we can get more km. But yes, Cracow has this one golden km2 slightly overrated, I believe.

Hi Lee are you still in Poznan. I'm going with a friend this month and would like some recommendations for restaurants/sight seeing etc. Thank you

OK, so from my understanding, Krakow would be better for a day or two of sight seeing and appreciating culture and Warsaw is more cosmopolitan/modern? I'm in Poland for a few days (doing business in Poznan- would be grateful for feedback /recommendations here). Out of all 3 cities would Warsaw be the best place to celebrate news years eve? Many thanks Kellyanne

In that case Warsaw will be more convenient to get to.


Probably though all three are OK. Many bars and restaurants are ticket only and are sometimes sold out. A good idea is to speak to the people you're visiting in Poznan and ask suggestions. Remember to dress well for New Year's Eve - the locals certainly will.

well maybe she thinks about spending New Year's Eve outside - there is an outdoor New Year's eve concert and celebration both in Warsaw and in Kraków - however you should dress adequately to the weather (it can get pretty cold) and bring your own booze -

Have you ever been to that one? I made the mistake of going once. It isn't very nice. Plenty of very young people of the type who can't afford the normal things that people do in Warsaw, very tight crowds so not easy to get there or out again, metal crash barriers and police (but fights breaking despite their presence), no toilets (so not such a good idea to have much of a drink) and basically mediocre pop music and flashing lights.

No I haven't been to any - Thanks for the warning

Maybe it's better in a smaller town, but really the Warsaw celebrations aren't a place for visitors.

In a future new Commonwealth, Warsaw should stay Capital of Poland, and Krakow should become Capital of Commonwealth.

OK this is an interesting one and I visited this topic because I already lived in Krakow for 1 month and wanted to find other options, I haven't visited Warsaw yet, I visited Wroclaw and it is pretty but way too small: I liked Krakow, it was pretty, walkable, the new bike system is super efficient, the women are pretty and very nice, I dated a few of them BUT I thought the city to be a bit small and lacking some excitement, kind of like in a small town. Don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to live here again next summer because it was comfortable and I'm so in love with Polish women BUT after living in Prague for 2 years, I thought Prague was the perfect sized city and had much more things to do and excitement EXCEPT that Czechs in Prague were unfriendly and so were the women.

That's why I was thinking about Warsaw but everybody says it is ugly, is it at least walkable? I stayed in Kiev for 9 days and I found the city to be really ugly (sure it has an old town and the river) but it is very whatever and the rest is communist stuff and absolutely not a walkable city, also nobody speaks English in Kiev and the women situation is weird (lots of hookers, lots of distrust to foreigners), the weird people factor I encountered in Kiev I guess I would never find it in Warsaw, but I wouldn't even want Warsaw to be similar to Kiev and if it is non-walkable that is a deal breaker for me. What do you think?