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Shopping in Galeria Kazimierz

Krakow has a few places ideal for those who love to succumb to their shopping addiction once in a while. Galeria Kazimierz is perhaps the most charming one – although it does have the looks of a modern shopping mall, it is quite skilfully blended with the renovated old houses that surround it – and are, more or less, its part. Galeria Kazimierz is situated on the bank of the Vistula river, right next to, as the name quite clearly suggests, the historic Jewish quarter of Kazimierz.

But it's not just the charm that makes those who crave shopping come to Kazimierz. With its thirty-six thousand square meters of retail and entertainment area, Galeria Kazimierz would be interesting even if located in a traditional, tin cube.

Those who want something to wear, can choose between more or less expensive international stores like Boss, Calvin Klein, New Yorker, C&A, or the two-story Zara and H&M and many others, but the Polish shops like Vistula, Reserved, Cropp Town or House (the two latter targeted mainly at younger people) are also worth visiting.

Galeria Kazimierz also contains two perfumeries: Marrionaud and Sephora and a bunch of jewelery shops, including Svarowski, Apart and W.Kruk, all for those who want to supplement their clothing with something special – or just have something to remember Krakow by.

Those who need household articles or electronic goods should visit Euro RTV-AGD (or the Sony Center for the latter), and multimedia and books can be found in the ever-handy Empik.

If shopping isn't enough, there's always the cinema. Its 10 screens present the newest blockbusters, and since the theaters have a total capacity of over 1800 people, it's not likely that anyone should have problems with getting a ticket.

And for the hungry, Galeria Kazimierz has a few eateries, including a steakhouse, a Chinese bar, two Polish restaurants (upstairs, a fast-food-like one, and the more traditional Sami Swoi on the courtyard). Of course traditional fast food restaurants like KFC are also present.

And how to get to Galeria Kazimierz? The easiest way is to take the free Galeria Kazimierz bus (line name: GK1), that will take you from places like Wawel, Planty or Plac Matejki straight to the mall. There are also a few trams (1,7,9,14,22 to Grzegorzeckie Circle or 3,9,11,13,24 to Sw. Wawrzynca Stop) and buses (115, 125, 128, 184, 425 to Grzegorzeckie Circle). If you prefer to go by car, you can use the 1800-place parking lot – and of course, if you're in Kazimierz, the Galeria Kazimierz is just a few minutes' walk away.