First evening in beautiful Warsaw
July 21, 2008
View from at the hotel entrance
Warsaw palace by night
Our ho(s)tel, called Castle Inn, was on the square in a regular old building. It didn't look like a hotel and so at first we didn't notice it. But luckily we didn't need to search long. We had booked the triple room on the upper floor but after carrying all the luggage upstairs (the building is one of the few that survived the war, and therefor one of the oldest in Warsaw, so installing elevators is therefor forbidden by UNESCO) it turned out that the place was occupied buy other guests. The receptionist however was a very kind young lady that apologized about a hundred times and insisted on carrying my parents big bags back down herself. After that, she started to toggle on her computer with a concerned frown on her face.
Us in the amazing restaurant :)
After jumping around euphorically (we almost literally did) we went out for dinner. Again we were so lucky to find this marvelous restaurant called U Barssa. I'm going to look up the name and address soon because this is really, really recommended highly to everyone visiting Warsaw. The food was excellent, the service perfect, staff was really kind and the interior -although a little posh- also very nice. It marked a perfect ending to a perfect afternoon, sealed by the nicely enlightened old squares of the city as we walked back to our upgraded room, feeling as if we were in heaven.
Create a free TravBuddy account or login to leave comments, meet travelers, and share experiences with the TravBuddy travel community.
View from at the hotel entrance
Warsaw palace by night
Us in the amazing restaurant :)
My mother and I
Lovely desserts :D
First glance of the Warsaw square
"Fake" old buildings, looking re…
A unique hotel in a unique building in a unique location
This hotel is amazing, wonderful, beautiful, splendid,... I loved it. Check out their website and watch the pictures of the different rooms and you'll know why. The decoration simply is unique, and so is the location of Castle Inn.
From the outside, you wouldn't say there is such an original hotel inside this grayish building. It doesn't even look like a hotel (that's probably why our taxi driver didn't know it was there). But from the inside, wow! Not the posh luxury of a five star resort but so different from your regular hotel.
Castle Inn is located on the Royal Castle square, in fact, is is right next to the castle. This is the heart of the old town of Warsaw, a beautiful place, full of old buildings, restaurants, and sights. The building is one of the few that survived the second world war, and so it is one of the few really old ones in the city. Almost all the rest are copies of what used to be there before the bombing. This alone makes the place pretty special. Though it is the interior that stands out so much.
There are about 18 rooms and they are all decorated by a different artist. They are sooo beautiful! I would just love to come back here and sleep in each and every single on of them. We had the room called Esther, but that was actually by mistake. As I've written in my blog we booked the cheap triple room on the upper floor, but instead we got a four person "suite" on the ground floor because of a double booking! It's the biggest room of whole Castle Inn and we got it just like that! Lucky us :)
The staff here is absolutely adorable. They are super friendly, speak very well English and are willing to help you with anything. The offer maps, advise, bus tickets, they make your phone calls to the airport,... anything you want.
If I ever go back to Warsaw, I would stay here again no doubt. In fact, I would go back just to check out some of the other rooms :) Everything here is perfect: originality, friendliness, cleanliness, location, accommodation,... just everything. It sure isn't the cheapest place to stay in Warsaw, but it isn't that expensive either, and it is worth every zloty you pay for it.
From the outside, you wouldn't say there is such an original hotel inside this grayish building. It doesn't even look like a hotel (that's probably why our taxi driver didn't know it was there). But from the inside, wow! Not the posh luxury of a five star resort but so different from your regular hotel.
Castle Inn is located on the Royal Castle square, in fact, is is right next to the castle. This is the heart of the old town of Warsaw, a beautiful place, full of old buildings, restaurants, and sights. The building is one of the few that survived the second world war, and so it is one of the few really old ones in the city. Almost all the rest are copies of what used to be there before the bombing. This alone makes the place pretty special. Though it is the interior that stands out so much.
There are about 18 rooms and they are all decorated by a different artist. They are sooo beautiful! I would just love to come back here and sleep in each and every single on of them. We had the room called Esther, but that was actually by mistake. As I've written in my blog we booked the cheap triple room on the upper floor, but instead we got a four person "suite" on the ground floor because of a double booking! It's the biggest room of whole Castle Inn and we got it just like that! Lucky us :)
The staff here is absolutely adorable. They are super friendly, speak very well English and are willing to help you with anything. The offer maps, advise, bus tickets, they make your phone calls to the airport,... anything you want.
If I ever go back to Warsaw, I would stay here again no doubt. In fact, I would go back just to check out some of the other rooms :) Everything here is perfect: originality, friendliness, cleanliness, location, accommodation,... just everything. It sure isn't the cheapest place to stay in Warsaw, but it isn't that expensive either, and it is worth every zloty you pay for it.
Nice restaurant with delicious food in a wonderful location
U Barssa restaurant is on the Rynek Starego Miasta, the main square of old Warsaw. This is a beautiful location, very cozy in the evening.
The restaurant itself is upstairs, downstairs there is a bar. We really enjoyed our meal here. The staff was very polite and helpful and there was live piano music all night long. The interior is rather rustic but nice. It really suits the location.
The menu is in English as well as in Polish, not very extended, but with something for everyone. Only vegetarian dishes are not to be found, but even I managed to pick something that I liked. And God did I like it! We all were very happy with the dishes we had chosen, as well as with the wine. Absolutely delicious. The deserts were amazing as well. I can't even repeat the name of my moms cake. I think it was chocolate cake with poppy seeds, but most of all it was huge :) My father and I had tiramisu, which looked a bit odd but tasted superb.
I must say, Warsaw is very expensive for Polish standards, and so is the food. We had a hard time finding nice places to eat. Either the food was over priced or the staff was rude. But here you get what you pay for. Prices are comparable with those of Western Europe, except here you get more luxury for it. I would really recommend U Barssa restaurant. It is the best place we've eaten in Warsaw and we all regretted that we didn't came back here on our last night.
The restaurant itself is upstairs, downstairs there is a bar. We really enjoyed our meal here. The staff was very polite and helpful and there was live piano music all night long. The interior is rather rustic but nice. It really suits the location.
The menu is in English as well as in Polish, not very extended, but with something for everyone. Only vegetarian dishes are not to be found, but even I managed to pick something that I liked. And God did I like it! We all were very happy with the dishes we had chosen, as well as with the wine. Absolutely delicious. The deserts were amazing as well. I can't even repeat the name of my moms cake. I think it was chocolate cake with poppy seeds, but most of all it was huge :) My father and I had tiramisu, which looked a bit odd but tasted superb.
I must say, Warsaw is very expensive for Polish standards, and so is the food. We had a hard time finding nice places to eat. Either the food was over priced or the staff was rude. But here you get what you pay for. Prices are comparable with those of Western Europe, except here you get more luxury for it. I would really recommend U Barssa restaurant. It is the best place we've eaten in Warsaw and we all regretted that we didn't came back here on our last night.
