15 Krakow Hotels That Were Palaces, Inns and a Mikveh First
Two hotels that each claim to be the city’s oldest, the canons’ house where Copernicus is said to have lodged, a pool in medieval cellars, and the former Great Mikveh of Kazimierz.
Krakow’s Old Town came through the Second World War unbombed, so its hotels sit inside buildings that go back to the Renaissance and earlier. This list has the Pod Różą and the Pollera, each claiming to be the oldest hotel in the city, the Grand in the Czartoryski palace on Sławkowska, the Copernicus in the Kanonicza canons’ houses where the astronomer is said to have lodged in 1501, and Klezmer-Hois in the former Great Mikveh of Kazimierz.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Each hotel’s name links to its own site, so you see the current rate and book direct.
The grand dames of the Old Town
Hotel Pod Różą · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Floriańska
The Pod Różą has taken guests on Floriańska since the early nineteenth century and claims to be the oldest hotel in Krakow. Its Renaissance portal carries a Latin inscription wishing the house to stand until an ant drinks the sea and a tortoise circles the world. Balzac and Liszt are both said to have stayed; the hotel is run by the Likus group.
Grand Hotel Kraków · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Sławkowska
The Grand opened in 1887 inside the former Czartoryski family palace on Sławkowska. Henryk Sienkiewicz, Joseph Conrad and the tenor Jan Kiepura stayed over the decades, and the Mirror Hall, the Sala Lustrzana, survives as the hotel’s showpiece interior.
Hotel Saski Krakow, Curio Collection by Hilton · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Sławkowska
A hotel has traded on this Sławkowska site under the Saski name since the 1820s, by the hotel’s account, and in the nineteenth century its hall was one of Krakow’s main venues for concerts and balls. It reopened in 2022 as Poland’s first Curio Collection by Hilton after a full rebuild.
H15 Hotel Francuski · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Pijarska
The Francuski opened in 1912 on Pijarska, next to the Czartoryski Museum and a short walk from the Florian Gate, and was billed at the time as the most modern hotel in Krakow. It reopened under the H15 brand after a renovation that followed the Gessler family’s tenure.
Hotel Pollera · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Szpitalna
The Pollera was founded in 1834 by Kasper Poller, whose name it still carries, on Szpitalna near the Słowacki Theatre. A stained-glass window on the staircase was designed by Stanisław Wyspiański. It also presents itself as the oldest hotel in Krakow, a title Pod Różą claims as well.
Hotel Europejski · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Lubicz by the main station
The Europejski opened in 1884 on Lubicz, facing the main railway station. It brands itself Hotel Europejski 1884 and counts itself among the oldest continuously operating hotels in the city.
Palaces and townhouses turned hotels
Hotel Copernicus · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Kanonicza below Wawel
The Copernicus occupies two adjoining medieval canons’ houses on Kanonicza, the street that leads up to Wawel. Nicolaus Copernicus is said to have lodged here in 1501, when the house was the property of the Krakow Academy. The Likus group restored it and uncovered fifteenth-century wall paintings in the process.
Hotel Stary · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Szczepańska
The Stary is a Likus conversion of a Szczepańska townhouse whose origins the hotel dates to the fifteenth century. The swimming pool sits in the vaulted medieval cellars, and a rooftop terrace looks over St Mary’s and the Rynek.
Hotel Wentzl · Rynek Główny
The Wentzl occupies the upper floors of the townhouse at Rynek Główny 19, above the Wentzl restaurant founded in 1792 by Jan Wentzl. The restaurant counts itself among the oldest in Poland.
Pałac Bonerowski · Rynek Główny, corner of św. Jana
The Bonerowski Palace stands on the corner of the Rynek and św. Jana, with Gothic and Renaissance fabric inside. It takes its name from the Boner family, sixteenth-century bankers to King Sigismund I who, by the hotel’s account, held the house. It opened as a hotel in the 2000s after a long restoration.
Hotel Gródek · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Na Gródku
The Gródek takes its street name from the small royal castle, the gródek, built here after the 1312 revolt of the mayor Albert. It adjoins the Dominican nuns’ convent, on the site since the seventeenth century, and houses a small museum of archaeological finds dug up during construction.
Hotel Polski Pod Białym Orłem · Old Town (Stare Miasto), Pijarska by the Florian Gate
The Hotel Polski sits at Pijarska 17 beside the Florian Gate and the Czartoryski Museum, run by Donimirski Boutique Hotels. By the hotel’s account it has operated as a hotel since 1913, in buildings tied to the Czartoryski family; the White Eagle name comes from an earlier inn on the spot.
Kazimierz and the Jewish quarter
Hotel Rubinstein · Kazimierz, Szeroka
The Rubinstein is named after Helena Rubinstein, the cosmetics founder born in Kazimierz in 1872; the hotel says she was born on Szeroka Street itself, a few doors away. It occupies a townhouse whose core the hotel dates to the fifteenth century, with a rooftop terrace over the Old Synagogue.
Klezmer-Hois · Kazimierz, Szeroka
Klezmer-Hois occupies the building of the former Great Mikveh at Szeroka 6. The Ornat family runs it; they also founded the Austeria Jewish publishing house and bookshop. Klezmer concerts are staged in the restaurant most evenings.
Metropolitan Boutique Hotel · Kazimierz, Berka Joselewicza
The Metropolitan is set in a restored nineteenth-century tenement house on Berka Joselewicza, between the Old Town and the heart of the former Jewish quarter around Szeroka.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was a nineteenth-century grand dame, a palace or townhouse with medieval fabric, or a Kazimierz house tied to the Jewish quarter. Comfort alone did not qualify.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Each hotel’s name links to its own site, so you see the current rate and book direct.
Should I stay in the Old Town or in Kazimierz?
The Old Town puts you inside the Planty ring, a few minutes from the Rynek and Wawel. Kazimierz is a fifteen-minute walk south, quieter by day and busier by night, with the synagogues and the bars around Plac Nowy. Both sit within reach of the day trips on this site.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Krakow run to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Wieliczka salt mine, Zakopane and the Tatras, or Ojców and its castles. The Old Town hotels near the Planty sit closest to the coach pickups, and the Europejski faces the main station.