Telephones in Krakow
Pay phones are available throughout
Krakow in
street booths, post offices, and other public places such as
shopping malls. Once
found, a public phone will easily connect you with any place on
the earth. There is no operator, just dial either zone
code plus local number for calls to anywhere in Poland including
Krakow or a country code plus the number abroad for
international calls.
Poland's largest telecom, Orange (formerly TP S.A.), has practically monopolized
payphones, theirs to be fed with cards on sale at newsstands,
some shops, gas stations, etc. The competition happen to install
coin-operated phones but they are scarce.
If you brought a cell phone from abroad it should work in Krakow
as in the rest of Europe outside your own country as long as
your telecom has a roaming deal with any of Poland's
counterparts (most cellular telephony operators have it).
Otherwise, bar a simlock, you may purchase a new SIM card for your phone,
i.e. a 'starter' package, at an outpost of one of several
telecoms active in Poland - they are omnipresent throughout
Krakow - for as little as an equivalent of 1.5
euro or so. Alas, you cannot make them easily operational
nowadays. First, one needs to register the prepaid SIM card with
the operator at a branch office producing a valid identity
document with the bearer's address.
Note:
When operational, keep your cellphone off in
restaurants,
museums,
theaters,
churches,
etc even if it appears others don’t mind.
Poland’s country code is 48. Krakow’s zone code is 12, Warsaw’s
22, Poznan’s 61, Gdansk’s 58, Katowice’s 32, Lublin’s 81,
and Szczecin’s is 97.
Internet Access in Krakow
Internet cafes, once found on every street in downtown
Krakow, are now a rarity but they still exist.
Most
hotels
in Krakow provide free Internet access to the guests.
Wireless internet is available outdoors on
Krakow's central Rynek Glowny square
near the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice)
and on Szeroka street in the
Kazimierz district
as well as several other parts of the city and at some municipal
institutions. Indoor Wi-Fi
hotspots are installed in
shopping malls,
hotels,
restaurants,
cafes,
gas stations, etc but often you need to get the access code from
the staff.
Postal Services
Krakow's main office post is situated at 20 Westerplatte street
at Wielopole street, on the eastern edge of
the central Old Town historic district,
just beyond the
Planty garden ring.
Local post offices are located in most neighborhoods and the Old
Town historic center can boast several. Also, the
Krakow shopping
malls usually have a post office somewhere among their
stores.
Making Oneself Understood in Krakow
Never bet overly on the language skills of Krakow natives: they
usually speak English but often only slightly better than Frenchmen or Italians.
And do not guess
Polish spelling pronunciation – it’s simple but different (“keep
the rest” is Polish “reszty nie trzeba” in
writing, and something like “raeshty nye chaeba” in an
English phonetic transcription). All Poles are literate so write
in block letters Polish addresses and names you want to inquire
about. When inquiring about directions ask another person to
confirm: people happen to have better intention than information
or better information than intention.
See useful Polish words and phrases
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Basic Krakow info for visitors
Good hotels in
Krakow
Lodging guide to Krakow
There are over 25,000 beds to choose from.
Best restaurants of Krakow
Travel to Krakow
Over four million visitors show up in Krakow every
year. Many arrive by air, but most take advantage of the fact
that Krakow lies at a major European road and rail junction.
Krakow's Transport
How to move about the city.
Eating the Krakow way
It is hearty indeed.
Shopping in Krakow
The city’s central Old Town historic district, turned into a pedestrian precinct, teems
with stores of all sorts.
Gift Ideas
Make everybody happy back home with a souvenir from
Krakow.
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