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22 HOTELS<br />
Accommodation at a Glance<br />
SPLURGE: The most expensive suite in town remains<br />
that of the Monopol; monied megalomaniacs will<br />
enjoy striding the balcony of room 113, which was built<br />
especially for Hitler to address the crowds below in 1937.<br />
The Radisson remains a top choice, not least for its<br />
dining options, while for more custom care spread out<br />
in the luxury boutique suites of the Granary.<br />
CHEAP: <strong>In</strong> Wrocław, cheap never has to be a byword for<br />
poor quality. A stay at Mleczarnia is highly recommended,<br />
while Boogie and Avantgarde remain student faves. If<br />
you want something more private and upscale, Cilantro<br />
Bed & Breakfast offers very high standards at shockingly<br />
affordable prices.<br />
LADS: The Campanile is a decent option: large, wellpriced<br />
and happy to except groups; likewise the Scandic<br />
and Novotel. A great location and gadgets galore can be<br />
found at PURO, but if the budget is tight and location is<br />
key you can’t do better than The One Hostel.<br />
COUPLES: Europeum is a class choice at a price that<br />
won’t break the bank, while Art Hotel is a plush boutique<br />
full of personal touches. If you’re really trying to impress,<br />
check out the personalised service of the Granary or the<br />
city’s signature hotel - the Monopol, with on-site spa,<br />
terrace wine bar and excellent restaurant.<br />
FAMILIES: An apartment should be your first choice<br />
and Leopart and Wrocław Capital Apartments have<br />
a fine selection. Note that Mleczarnia is also happy to<br />
accommodate families and even pets in their private rooms.<br />
Polish Name Days (Imieniny)<br />
<strong>In</strong> Poland, name days (imieniny) are widely celebrated<br />
and have traditionally been given a greater importance<br />
than birthday celebrations, particularly as one gets on<br />
in years. Printed in every local calendar, these name<br />
days represent the feast days of Catholic saints. Every<br />
day of the year is assigned two saints – one male, one<br />
female – and chances are if you share a name with a<br />
saint (as almost all Poles do), you too have a name day.<br />
Some names are even repeated more than once in a<br />
calendar year, in which case you celebrate the first name<br />
day after your birthday.<br />
Name Day celebrations in Poland are social events,<br />
traditionally involving the gathering of friends and family<br />
at the celebrant’s home or in the bar of their choice.<br />
Differing slightly from western birthday celebrations in<br />
which the celebrant is often seen as a ‘guest of honour’<br />
and might expect to be bought drinks all night, in name<br />
day gatherings the celebrant traditionally plays the role of<br />
host, buying drinks for friends and ensuring that guests<br />
are taken care of. <strong>In</strong> return, guests should bring small gifts<br />
(typically chocolate, flowers or vodka) as you would on<br />
someone’s birthday. The Polish birthday song ‘Sto Lat’ (A<br />
Hundred Years) is sung, and its mindless simplicity might<br />
be tempting for foreigners to criticise until they reflect on<br />
just how dreadful the English happy birthday song actually<br />
is. Name Days are so important to Polish culture that they<br />
are prominently displayed in most of the country’s trams<br />
and buses, thereby ensuring that you know who you should<br />
be buying flowers for that day; information that you’ll find<br />
less readily available on public transport is the name of<br />
the line or the destination of its next stop.<br />
No matter what end of the price spectrum you’re able to<br />
entertain, in Wrocław you have plenty of options from 5-star<br />
presidentials to budget boarding houses, boutique b&b’s to<br />
boisterous hostels, historic apartments to business suites.<br />
The market is positively flooded with hotel rooms (well over<br />
3,500), with several new options opening each year. As<br />
much as we’d like to, we simply can’t list all of them in our<br />
printed guide, however you can find a more comprehensive<br />
list of Wrocław’s accommodation options on our website<br />
and mobile application.<br />
With the increasing irrelevance of official rack rates these<br />
days due to online booking discounts, special offers and<br />
other price variations, we no longer find it particularly<br />
instructive to list room prices in our guide. Case in point,<br />
anyone who uses the Hotel Calculator function on our<br />
website - wroclaw.inyourpocket.com - will find a better<br />
rate than the official prices we once printed; as such, we<br />
encourage you to do just that (and you can thank us later).<br />
Accommodation is categorised here subjectively based on a<br />
combination of lodging type, location, price and amenities,<br />
and in our print guide we only list those lodgings that we most<br />
recommend to tourists.<br />
Cream of the Crop<br />
Monopol (Hotele Likus) A-4, ul. Heleny Modrzejewskiej<br />
2, tel. (+48) 71 772 37 77, www.monopolwroclaw.<br />
hotel.com.pl. First opened in 1892, the neo-Baroque<br />
Monopol Hotel became one of Wrocław’s most fabled and<br />
recognisable landmarks thanks to a guest list including Greta<br />
Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Adolf Hitler and Pablo Picasso, as<br />
well as popular appearances in film and television. After a<br />
lengthy renovation courtesy of the acclaimed Likus hotel<br />
group, the Monopol has a full five stars pinned on its epaulets.<br />
121 rooms come furnished with turn-of-the century antiques,<br />
including 14 exquisite suites. <strong>In</strong> addition to top business<br />
facilities, Monopol is home to one of the most enticing spa<br />
and wellness centres in Wrocław (see Leisure); add to the<br />
package terrace and rooftop bars and restaurants above exclusive<br />
boutique retail spaces and this legend is alive and living<br />
well. Are you? Q121 rooms (107 singles, 107 doubles, 14<br />
suites). PTHA6UFGKDCwW hhhhh<br />
Platinum Palace ul. Powstańców Śląskich 204<br />
(Krzyki), tel. (+48) 71 324 99 00, www.platinumpalace.<br />
pl. Wroclaw’s five-star hotel scene gets an almighty kick in the<br />
rear. Built in 1906, this was once the finest private house in<br />
the city. Having served for a time as the Wroclaw Academy of<br />
Music it has been lovingly restored and converted with both<br />
taste and style into a breathtaking hotel. While the exterior<br />
remains classical, the interiors (the rooms especially) are<br />
modern, bold and even futuristic. It might cost a fortune to<br />
stay here but it’s worth every penny. Located 4km south of the<br />
market square but well-connected by tram, hop on numbers 2,<br />
6, 7 or 17 getting off at the ‘Orla’ or ‘Krzyki’ stops and you’re<br />
only a short walk away. Q46 rooms (41 singles, 41 doubles,<br />
5 suites). PTHA6UFGKDwW hhhhh<br />
Radisson Blu C-3, ul. Purkyniego 10, tel. (+48) 71 375<br />
00 00, www.radissonblu.com/hotel-wroclaw. Overlooking<br />
a quiet park rooms come with clean, light colours, heated<br />
bathroom floors and a telephone next to the toilet. Stay in<br />
the business rooms and you’ll have newspapers delivered to<br />
your door and dressing gown and slippers to pad around in.<br />
Facilities include a gym, fantastic restaurant and Sqwiggles<br />
Bar - where expert bartenders mix lethal cocktails for off-duty<br />
businessmen. Q162 rooms (13 singles, 144 doubles, 5 apartments).<br />
PTJHAR6UFGKDW hhhhh<br />
Wrocław <strong>In</strong> <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> wroclaw.inyourpocket.com<br />
Sofitel Wrocław Old Town A-3, ul. Św. Mikołaja 67,<br />
tel. (+48) 71 358 83 00, www.sofitel-wroclaw.com.<br />
Outstanding quality inside a modern glass marvel. Ultramodern<br />
fittings include Bang & Olufsen sound systems,<br />
marble bathrooms, jacuzzis and dressing gowns. Le Louis<br />
De-Or Bar and the Pan Tadeusz and Lounge restaurants are<br />
attached to an impressive atrium. Q205 rooms (189 singles,<br />
173 doubles, 15 apartments). PTJHARUFG<br />
KDwW hhhhh<br />
The Granary La Suite Hotel Wroclaw City Center<br />
B-4, ul. Mennicza 24, tel. (+48) 71 395 26 00, www.<br />
thegranaryhotel.com. A shell of its former self after<br />
Festung Breslau, this historic 16th century brewery building<br />
has been reconstructed and conceived as a city centre<br />
luxury boutique hotel - the only one of its kind in Wrocław<br />
and quickly earning a spot in the ‘Small Luxury Hotels of the<br />
World’ collection. Consisting of 47 spatially unique suites<br />
which adapt to the building’s tapering roof letting in lots of<br />
light, each comes with separate dining, living and sleeping<br />
zones, custom-designed furniture, wireless internet and<br />
satellite TV, while the upper floor duplex suites also come<br />
with fully equipped kitchenettes. Additional services include<br />
the restaurant, spa, fitness centre and business facilities,<br />
as well as valet parking, chauffeur and room services. An<br />
experience you’re unlikely to forget with a wow factor of five,<br />
everything at The Granary is tailored to your needs, and the<br />
expectation is that you’re super-needy; so go ahead and<br />
get a foot rub while they put grapes in your mouth. You’re<br />
on vacation, dammit. Q47 rooms (40 singles, 40 doubles,<br />
7 apartments). PTHAR6UFGKDwW<br />
hhhhh<br />
Upmarket<br />
Art Hotel A-2, ul. Kiełbaśnicza 20, tel. (+48) 71 78<br />
77 100, www.arthotel.pl. A plush boutique hotel found<br />
on one of Wrocław’s most engaging streets. Modern<br />
rooms come with personally controlled air-conditioning,<br />
mini-bar and satellite TV, and feature a chic upmarket<br />
aesthetic. Vaulted cellars dating from medieval times<br />
house the hotel restaurant. Q80 rooms (18 singles, 56<br />
doubles, 5 suites, 1 apartment). PTJHAR6U<br />
FLGKW hhhh<br />
Best Western Prima A-2, ul. Kiełbaśnicza 16-19, tel.<br />
(+48) 71 782 55 55, www.bestwestern-prima.pl. A modern<br />
hotel occupying a quiet corner of the Old Town. Striking a<br />
neat balance between business and pleasure Best Western<br />
offers top class conference facilities, fitness studio and a<br />
quality onsite restaurant. A glass lift whisks guests to smart<br />
rooms furnished with floral touches. Q79 rooms (78 singles,<br />
66 doubles, 1 apartment). PTJHA6UFLG<br />
KDW hhhh<br />
Dwór Polski A-3, ul. Kiełbaśnicza 2, tel. (+48) 71<br />
372 34 15, www.dworpolski.wroclaw.pl. Don’t let the<br />
address fool you, this historical locale in the style of a Polish<br />
manor house is located right across from the Town Hall on<br />
Worcław’s market square. A fabulous ensemble of olde-world<br />
sophistication with touches of modernity, this 16th-century<br />
building provides comfortable rooms throughout featuring<br />
satellite television, free wireless, minibars and renovated<br />
bathrooms. The apartment is wonderful indeed, with plenty<br />
of fancy trimmings and a private entrance for the discreet<br />
guest. Add-ons are minimal, but there’s a feast of traditional<br />
bars and restaurants throughout the building representing<br />
every aspect of Polish food, drink and hospitality. Q28 rooms<br />
(24 singles, 22 doubles, 4 apartments). THA6G<br />
KDW hhhh<br />
wroclaw.inyourpocket.com<br />
HOTELS<br />
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Radisson Blu Hotel<br />
Purkyniego 10,<br />
50-156 Wrocław, Poland<br />
tel: +48 71 375 00 00<br />
fax +48 71 375 00 10<br />
reservations.wroclaw@radissonblu.com<br />
www.radissonblu.com<br />
September - December 2012<br />
23