Katowice Travel Forum

I will be travelling to Katowice at the end of September with my husband and daughter for a four day stay. I am feeling a bit apprehensive as to how safe it is to wander around, especially in the evenings. This is our second trip to Poland. We travelled to Sopot 5 years ago on an organised coach trip, but during that stay, one lady had her bag snatched, and an elderly couple had their room broken into and personal items were stolen. We have booked this trip entirely by internet, flying with Wizz-Air and staying at the Hotel Katowice. I booked this before finding this website, and now realise this may not be the best of places to stay.
We intend spending a day in Krakow, and also wondered how far the Salt Mines are from Katowice, and how is the best way to travel there if we have time.
I hope I am worrying unnecessarily. Any replies will be gratefully received.

Hi.

Poilish people dont like Katowice. It is not the best city of Poland. But I have spent a few days there and I liked that.
You have to be with attention. I dont think that city is dangerous.
You can visit also Monastery of Franciscans in Ligota-Katowice. There are also regular buses to Krakow from bus station.
If you will have time you can make also trip to Pieniny mountains - Kroscienko and Szczawnica towns. There are regular buses from Katowice.

Enjoy:)

Sihi is quite right, most Polish people don't like Katowice and it's not a tourist destination, but I've spent a lot of time there and I've got to like it.

First of all, let me reassure you re the Hotel Katowice -- I've stayed there many times without any problems at all. It's a big hotel, central, clean, secure, the staff are friendly and speak good English.

I normally arrive by international bus, but I think the airport transfer bus stops at the Hotel Katowice. If not and it drops you at the bus station (in front of the train station) then it's only about 5 or 10 minutes walk to the Hotel Katowice.

As sihi says you can take a bus to Krakow -- takes about an hour and a half -- I normally take the train -- again about an hour and a half -- trains are frequent, probably one an hour -- I'll send you a message re ticket booking and type of train etc.

I would suggest you take an early bus or train to Krakow -- you must visit while you're in Katowice -- you can get to Wielicka salt mines from there -- again I'll send you a message re that.

Re security, as a tourist in any city you should take normal care with your belongings when around train/bus stations, when leaving the hotel or if walking alone late at night -- however, I must say that I've never had any bad experience in Katowice -- I don't consider it to be different from any other Polish city in that respect -- I've always found it perfectly safe to wander around in the evenings. The hotel is very close to the centre anyway, only about 5 minutes walk. Should you want to use a taxi, there are normally some outside the Hotel Katowice -- if not the reception would order one for you.

General information / photos re the city on my Katowice page.

As I said, I'll write to you separately re trains to Krakow and getting to Wielcka salt mines.

Ben

Hi Ben,
Thankyou very much for your reply. Any info you can give re trains and getting to the salt mines would be gratefully received. We travel on Thurs 23 Sept.
I am travelling with my husband and grown-up daughter. She has not been to Poland before and she is so looking forward to the Polish food.
My husband is of Polish descent. He was born here in England, but his mother is from around Krakow area, and as far as we know, there are no relatives there now.
His Polish language is very basic, but we are able to get by with what he can remember, and any words that he has not used before we try to find in our phrase book.!!
I have booked return seats on the transfer bus from the airport to Katowice, via the Wizzair website.
Would you say it is not worth getting a taxi from the bus station to the hotel?
Sorry for not replying sooner.
Regards Julia

I sent an e-mail to you yesterday I think re trains to Krakow - hope you got that ??

Re Wizzair's own airport bus, I'm not sure where it drops you off -- I know the Katowice airport bus actually stops at the Katowice Hotel - however, if the Wizzair one drops you at the bus station in front of the train station, then it's just a 5 minute walk to the hotel from there -- if you have your back to the train/bus station, go 'right' along ul. 3 Maja for about 200 yards -- that brings you to the Rynek -- turn left there onto ul Korfantego -- the hotel is about 200 yards up there on the right hand side.

I don't think they will, but should the Wizzair bus stop drop you at the international bus station on Sadowa on the other side of Plac Wolnosci, then you'd need to get a taxi from there.

Re Wieliczka, I've not been myself, but I think minibuses go from near Krakow train station -- the main company is Uni-bus ..... jopurney takes approx 40 minutes and they drop you near the salt mines.

The staff at Hotel Katowice are very helpful and speak good English -- if you wanted to go to Wieliczka from Katowice rather than Krakow, I would ask them the best way -- I'll check the trains website and see if I can find anything, but I know the bus drops you nearer the salt mines than the train station.

To get to Wieliczka by train from Katowice, you have to change at Krakow. Here's the trains website departures page :-

http://www.rozklad.pkp.pl/cgi-bin/new/query.exe/en

I took WizzAir flight from Milan to Katowice in August.
The bus takes you to the central Train/Bus station, which is actually quite close to the Katowice Hotel. Anyway you can also ask the driver to leave you directly in front of the hotel, I think it won't be a problem for him/her.

Anyway, I think that, if you are still on time, it would be much better if you book an Hotel in Krakow and not in Katowice. In Krakow there is plenty to see, it's a wonderful town, and you are close to the salt mines. While in Katowice there's really little to see, it's really not a touristic place at all.

I think both Katowice and Krakow are safe places, I didn't have any problems in both of them, but as usual, as a tourist, you have to pay a bit of attention, like in any other big city, but I don't think they are more dangerous than London, for example.

For the train timetables take a look at Pkp site:
http://www.pkp.pl/english/rozklad_eng.php

I agree about safety. Polish large cities are the same same safe such as other cities of European Union.
And you will see that Krakow is friendliest city:)

Some info about Roayal Salt mines in Wieliczka is there: www.kopalnia.pl

Enjoy your trip:)

Hi, I would like to say a big thankyou to you Sihi, Ben and Carletto for all your help. I am now certainly looking forward to our trip very much. Julia