If you are looking for a chocolate on the pillow, fluffy towels and robes, this is not your kind of place. You could never call the lumpy mounds pillows and the rough towels could scour grime off the back of an elephant and leave scars. The threadbare bedding would be quite at home in any of Dickens’s poorhouses.
Our apartment owner in Krakow recommended this place, he was right about its central location {ten min, walk from the bus station} but I think the place has deteriorated since his visit.
Constructed in 1958 in the Zakopane style it boasts what is claimed to be the biggest wooden roof in Europe. In my opinion this building is only attractive from the outside. It was intended as a grand edifice for the enjoyment of the communists and to reward its elite members. It really was a showpiece in the fifties era with its stone and wood architecture and immense public areas. There were 600 beds and the hotel was a Zakopane cultural institution. The hotel housed an international book and press club, art gallery " The Pegasus" cabaret and a dance hall. Famous Polish Artists designed the café and restaurant. The receptionists told us they even had a special club for studying the Flora and Fauna of the area and guides lectured on all kinds of topics.
Today there are 300 beds comprising 29 double and triple rooms with bath and satellite TV, 51 tourist standard rooms housing from two- ten persons, restaurant, conference hall, common room, guide office which organizes trips and sells maps, plus a small bookstore.
The public areas were dark and gloomy my photo shows the reception area in a better light than it really is. The cavernous hallways were dimly lit, shabby, and smelled of disinfectant, Returning late at night I would advise a flashlight because the halls are very dim.
Our room was furnished with two creaky beds covered with a sickly green counterpane, a couch and chair Archie Bunker would have given away, and a TV locked on one channel. The lamp, fridge, and electric kettle worked.
Beneath high deep ledged windows sat a small table with two chairs we only needed another chair and we could have hosted the three bears, the chairs were well made and very tiny. The adjoining bathroom comprised of a tiled immaculately clean shower with hot water and good pressure. The toilet and tiny sink like the shower was clean, but plopped on top of the sink was a yellow piece of utility soap- perhaps the same one they used to wash the towels.
Popular with groups the accommodation ranges from Dorm rooms to suites, but judging by our "suite", the word must mean something else in Polish. By the way, we paid $50 per night, but for backpackers, this would be a central and cheap place. We did sleep well, and breakfast was included and was surprisingly adequate.