Private Rooms in Poland

Because Poland does not attract as many tourists as either the Czech Republic or Hungary, you won’t find as many private rooms offered for rent when you arrive at the train station in Warsaw, Krakow, or for that matter, any other destination. It’s not that the entrepreneurial spirit is lost on the Poles, demand is just not as high. There are, however, other ways to find accommodation in private rooms. As with hotel reservations, booking services that handle private room reservations can now be found in the larger cities. Many will have several thousand rooms at their disposal. Once again, make sure that the booking agent can show you the location of your prospective lodging on a map. Ask if it is convenient to public transportation and how long it takes to get to and from the center of town.

“If you talk to enough people you hear it all. So it’s always difficult to sort out the truth when you’re traveling. Ask one fellow traveler for advice about accommodation and you’ll get an answer that will make you want to stay only in private rooms. Another person will tell you some horror story about all the inconvenience they endured because their host wouldn’t leave them alone, or because they felt isolated on the edge of town. Whatever. I think you just need a little common sense, the kind of thing which separates the good traveler from the one who always ends up disappointed. I stayed in several private rooms when I first came to Poland, and I always had pretty good luck. I don’t think it’s that difficult – ask some questions, figure out where it is on the map, ask to see it first, and find out how much it is per night. Try to talk about the money so you’ll know if that’s all they seem to care about.”

No matter how you approach finding a room, keep a few rules in mind and above all else use common sense. Before you agree to anything, make sure you know the location and the price per night. If you plan to stay longer than a few nights, find out if you can make a deal – it’s much easier for a landlord to rent you a room for a week or two than it is for him or her to track down new lodgers every couple of days. You could agree on a price per week, for example, which adds up to a dollar or two less per night than if you paid the daily rate. And never pay more than a night in advance, unless you’ve become friendly with your host and can rest assured that you will have your money returned to you if you have to depart earlier than planned.