Krakow Transportation Tips by budapest8

Map of Old City

Hope the map helps
Yet since I visited 4 years ago,
there are many maps online
and also good maps can be bought,
but I scanned this in anyway.
I guess 15 years ago, this might have
been of use, but Krakow is a major
backpacker destination and so very well
trodden paths by tourists have made this
city a favourite destination.

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Krakow at night by bus with MPK By bus Review

I must say that Krakow has a very good
public transport system. I wonder how many
cities in the USA of a similar size can boast
such a well functioning system?
I'm used to being spoilt for good transport
after living in Stockholm, London and Budapest
where one takes getting about after midnight
as not a problem or expensive.
Also very safe (well London is a bit dodgy these days).
But don't abuse the system and purchase tickets
beforehand in the daytime. Be prepared.

Night bus is NOCNEJ AUTOBUS...I think...pronounce noch ney ow to bus..
but I'm sure a Pole could correct me.

I had a quite bad accident when coming back from the main market square
and slipped on the icy cobbled streets, I couldn't walk and was in agony,
ironic thinking I came to visit my father who was having an
orthopedic problem. Well I remember there were buses running
to almost everywhere and took one to a chemist open late a few streets
away.

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Type: Bus

Krakow by bus with MPK By bus Review

When I stayed in Krakow for a week in a very
cold and snowy February 2005 to visit my
father who was having a hip replacement
operation, we had to travel from the centre
of the city out to the private hospital
close to the airport and zoo. So I found
the bus service to be very good and on time.


MPK (Miejskie Przedsiebiorstwo Komunikacyjne S.A.), maintains 130 day bus lines
totaling about 650 kilometers. Which when you think about it, no small feat.
In daytime the municipal buses are supplemented with minibus services
provided by numerous independent operators not included in the above map
From the bus station outside the main train station there are buses
leaving to many destinations and even tourist buses run by private
companies to nearby tourist attractions.

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Type: Bus

Krakow by tram with MPK By tram Review

One-way bus or tram/streetcar ticket is 2.5 zloties.
You can buy it at every newsstand and from ticket machines
at some stops. Immediately after boarding put your ticket
through the stamping machine, make sure it stamps onto the ticket
and keep till you get out.
The Polish word for tram is TRAMWAJE...I lived in Russia for
5 years and the Russians say TRAMVAJ so quite similar..
Polish is not spoken like it is read, so be careful.

The 1st section of the Krakow's tram network was built
in 1882 to be used by horse-drawn trams.
I think that Budapest had it's first Metro line soon
after being the first on Continental Europe.
Flat rails were used to construct the 900 mm gauge track.
I guess there must have been a horse dung patrol to
scoop up all the horse doo doo, or the city would reek
more like a farm than a major city.
I'm not sure about horse droppings, but do know
that cows pollute more with the methane from their
excrement than a single car, so how horse poo is
in ratio to a car, I'm not sure how that rates?
But not so green as one would think, or
should I say brown?

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Krakow by tram with MPK By tram Review

One of the best ways to feel the pulse of Krakow
is to take a ride on the well spread ot tram network.
MPK is the company operating the trams.
Krakow’s municipal transport company,
known in the city under its acronym MPK
(Miejskie Przedsiebiorstwo Komunikacyjne S.A.)
The MPK municipal transport company operates Krakow’s 25 tram lines
that consist of some 84 kilometers of double tramways.
Trams in Krakow don’t run in the night, i.e. roughly between midnight and 5 a.m.
Taking a tram from from the ring road surrounding the
main market square to the Jewish district of Kazimierz, a very historic district
with a sad history.
I live in the former Jewish Ghetto in Budapest and
although Kazimierz has been done up alot, you can still feel
and imagine here what took place than in Budapest as
there seems to be a stronger presence or atmosphere
of the evil that took place here.

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Map of Jewish Quarter Kazimierz. in Krakow

Take a tram or bus or even walk to Kazimierz. and see the
Jewish Quarter almost as it was except a lot of the old
buildings are now getting a makeover!
I will be posting many more pics and tips soon.

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