56. Coffee Club

One early morning we were in need of coffee right before a study meeting. On the way we found Coffee Club: a modern, fresh and delightful small café. Just with a few seats but a great variety of coffee, fresh-made sandwiches and sweet snacks as muffins and cakes, it is a convenient place to grab a quick bite or get a coffee to go.

The waitress behind the counter was really nice and with a quick chat she made our morning, besides the good coffee, even better.

They open early 7:30 at weekdays and 8:00 on weekends - if it is your neighborhood you should definitely check it out.

Coffee Index: 5,50 pln

https://www.facebook.com/krakowcoffeeclub

55. Kot Polski

Close to the Florianska gate with a view over the city walls, there is a cute and cosy café with an interesting theme: cats! Kot Polski is located at the bottom of Hotel Polski and functions both as a hotel bar and a café. The interior is in old, classic style with green furniture and dark wooden details.

The theme of cats is a nice contrast to the classic style; the cats are found everywhere, hanging, lying around, on paintings and in pictures etc. And it is even a yar where you can donate money to cat-shelters! Our theory is that the cute Polish lady that hosts the café is a real cat-lover.

It is not a big place, just a few tables. You can get normal coffees varieties, juices, hot chocolate and some cakes. 

Black coffee 6,50 pln.

54. Ambasada Sledzia

Surrounded by locals and some tourist we found ourselves just one street behind the busy Rynek in a really charming cafe: Ambasada Sledzia. Its kind of a student/creative people meeting point. With a really creative interior themed around "fishes" it offers tapas, snacks  cake, all kind of drinks (from coffee to beer) and is really reasonable. Most beverages cost around 4 pln and as you have self service it has a unique but interesting atmosphere. 
We spotted quite interesting people: art students, groups of chatting girls and locals having their after work beer.

The outside but roofed terrace was quite nice, even though some tables where blocked by dishes that people did not bring back inside after eating.

If you are fine with self service, reasonable prices, and maybe some rearranging and clearing tables yourself to find a table - its a nice place.


Coffee Index: 5 pln 
https://www.facebook.com/AmbasadaSledzia

53. Kawiarnia Roma

Would you like to have some Italian influences? On the Planty next to the the Church of St. Anne, we discovered a place called Kawiarnia Roma. Located in one of the old houses is this small, but very Italian-themed Cafe that offers all sorts of beverages, coffee for sure, some sweet snacks as cakes and ice cream. 

The first thing that we though of when entering this place was that it looked new and fresh, which is a contrast to most other coffee places in Krakow that usually have a chabby-chic style. It was nice with a change! The decoration is welcoming and small details as the stucco ceiling or the very old wooden entrance door. However, it is perhaps not a "Krakow experience", this café could really be located everywhere in Europe, but it is still a nice café. 

https://www.facebook.com/KawiarniaRoma

Drink coffee! It will make you live longer!?

This is your Brain on Coffee

This column appears in the June 9 issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Check it out: If you dink coffee - your risk of Type 2 diabetes, some kind of cancer and Alzheimer are decreasing!

See origional Link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/this-is-your-brain-on-coffee/?smid=tw-share

www.graphicology.com

52. Café Magica

At the corner of the Rynek Glowny, just by the Santa Maria church, we found a cute café, Café Magica. From outside it looks just like a plain, perhaps boring place, however inside, it is really cosy. One part of it is in a kind of greenhouse which lets in a lot of light but still it velvet ceiling gives a nice atmosphere. The furniture is soft couches and armchairs that makes you feel like being in an old couple’s living room.

The menu offers you coffee, cakes and some light dishes like sandwiches, salads and soups. At night, the cafe turns into a bar and they have various alcoholic drinks.
A particular remark is that they open from 8 am and close at 2am, so you can visit this place almost anytime!

Caffee index: 6 pln 

51. Stajna Restaurant & Bar

Perhaps not the most obvious coffee place, however, the Stajna is too much Krakow that we could NOT write about it! It is located in an alley in Kazimierz, and it is famous world-wide; several scenes from Schindler's List were shot at exactly this place.

The houses around are not restored in any way on the outside, but it gives a certain charm to the place. Outside the flats, you can see cloths hanging for drying, so genuine! Stajna is cosy both inside, in their "greenhouse terrace" and outside, where they have decorated the walls with pictures, flowers and details from the former Jewish inhabitants.

On the negative side, there are many guided tours walking through the alley, which could get a bit annoying after a while, however, if you don't want to feel like a exhibition object, there are some special tables "in use for that".

So if you are a Spielberg-fan, or just want to see houses that breath history, this is the place to go. 

http://www.pubstajnia.pl/main/main.php

50 coffee places visited!

We made it: 50 coffee places visited in Krakow! 

It was a challenge, but we saw how different coffee places can be: coffee quality, taste, flavor, cup size and arrangement have been different every time. We discovered some favorites, experienced surprises and disappointments but all in all Krakow has to offer so much good coffee places! 

We are not tired of coffee yet (how could we ever be?) and are looking forward to exiting coffee places we are going to visit in the near future.

50. Slodka Manufaktura Leona Café

To get shelter from the rain that drowned Krakow for a few days, we hurried into a café that we have been wanting to try for a while: Slodi Leoni Café. Already when entering through the door, we could smell the interesting scent that told us that this place is a little bit different. The next thing that we discovered was a big wooden shelf with various truffles in various forms and tastes. At once, we knew that we like this place!

The café is really small, but extremely charming. It is mainly decorated with dark wooden material which creates a genuine feeling, you see at once that this place has been an appreciated part of the neighborhood for a long time. The general theme would be love, as you can find a lot of hearts all over the café and our coffees where very nicely decorated with cute hearts in the milk foam. Slodi Leoni Cafe - we highly recommend it!

Coffee Index: 7 pln

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49. Ciastkarnia Vanilla

At a corner of a street in cosy Kazimierz, you find a lovely pastry shop and café: Ciastkarnia Vanilla. It is very small with only two tables inside, however, outside, they place a few more tables when the weather approves it.

It is a genuinely old place and it is only using old cake recipes and old methods as well as ingredients from Krakow without any conservatives. Thumbs up for that! The variety of cakes is amazing: as it is a special cake-place they have everything from creamy torts, fruit cakes to huge cookies - we are sure everyone can find something really jummy here. Also they offer home made ice cream that looked delicious.

Its a very popular place for locals - we were surrounded on a Sunday afternoon by groups of young people or families and couples having their afternoon cake.

coffee index: 6 pln 

http://www.cukierniavanilla.pl/

48. Nova Resto Bar

A rainy day, we decided to check out an other place in Kazimierz: Nova Resto Bar. It is a huge place, maybe the biggest you can find in the former Jewish Quarter. Around 400 people find a seat in a special designed venture. The orange colour that is a consistent theme throughout the decoration gives a nice retro atmosphere.

A really extended menu offers you a lot of healthy and/or Spanish dishes, american burgers and shakes as well as really jummy sounding ice creams and dessert options. You can really see that they have spend a lot of time and effort to make the menu nice.

When we entered we first thought: "oh man its full, looks like a children birthday party", but after some short waiting we got seated by a rather nice waitress. It was young people, tourists, students and young families with all their children that surrounded us and loud music in the background, still we had a quiet corner and enjoyed our food a lot. However, when we wanted to order dessert with anticipation, we were told that it was rush hour and we needed to wait at least half an hour... 

Coffee Index: 7 pln

http://novarestobar.pl/

47. La Campana Restauracja

In one of the neat streets on the fot of the Wawel hill in the direction of the Rynek, there is a hidden and really pretty green garden where you can sit and enjoy a coffee while listening to the birds singing around you.  

Even though La Campana Restauracja is a restaurant, they offer good Italian coffee and typical very good Italian desserts (the Panna Cotta is highly recommendable). For us, it was like a small trip into a green oasis with the sound of the twittering birds and when looking over the wall, you could glimpse a monastery which gave a particular peaceful atmosphere to the whole place.  

Coffee Index: 6 pln

No WiFi

http://www.lacampana.pl/en

46. U Ziyada Restauraja i Kawiarnia

In the basement of the Przegorzaly Castle where the Center of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University has classes, there is a fancy café: U Ziyada Restauraja i Kawiarnia  that is well worth visiting for example on a Sunday. Since the castle is situated on a hill, the Kawiarnia has a splendid view over the whole Vistula valley that is lovely in summer times.

They offer many forms of Lavazza coffee in a fancy environment and both inside and outside, this café is a neat experience. Perhaps it is not the cheapest café in Krakow, however, if you count the  view and experience as well, then you get value for your money. 

Caffe Americano 7,50 pln

http://www.uziyada.krakow.pl/

45. Kawiarnia Pod Baszta

Up on the Wawel hill, there is Kawiarnia Pod Baszta, a tourist café to serve the guests of the hill who are in need of a break between visiting all the museums and attractions. It is mainly a café and they serve many kinds of coffee and cakes. A special offer is a coffee and a cake for 13 pln! Still, they do also have some food, for example soups, pierogi (polish dumplings) and salads.

Kawiarnia Pod Baszta is a typical tourist café, but its outdoor terrace is quite nice when the sun is shining and you can sit outside and look at the splendid view of the Wawel Cathedral and the Castle. A funny remark is that even though you are at perhaps the greatest tourist attraction in Poland, the waitress still spoke very weak English. 

Coffee Index: 9 pln

No wifi available 

(On the picture down to the right, it is a mushroom soup, served in a bread bowl. Very typical food for Poland!) 

http://kawiarniapodbaszta.com/?sLang=en

44. Cukiernia - Kawiarnia Claudia

A cute pastry shop with a genuine polish lady that makes you feel welcome. That is how we would describe the Cukiernia - Kawiarnia Claudia.

It is small place, with only 5 tables, but the main idea is to buy sweets to take home with you. There are all sorts of Polish cakes and sweets and also fresh coffee beans to take away. The place is clearly decorated by  the lady herself,  if you enter or leave the Cukiernia don't miss to see the holy cross above the door.

Locals and everyday customers come in to pick up their sweets for the afternoon or just have a short chat with the lady, that owns the place. It is maybe not the place to hang out or have a cozy coffee afternoon, but if you want some local sweet specialties its a good place to go.

Coffee Index: 8pln 

No WiFi available