Poznan a Short Guide

I thought I'd write a little bit about Poznan following my first visit there a couple of weeks ago.

Firstly the city is not too far away from the airport which is a good thing if you plan to get a taxi from the airport into the city. I seem to remember paying about 20 zlotys to get into the city.
There is a great old town square in Poznan, the 'Stare Rynek' is what they call it. It has some fantastic cafe's and bar's all around the edge. It gets a bit boring if you spend all your time around that area though, one bar or coffee shop seems to be the same to me after a while.

I like to get aquainted with a city by walking around by foot. It can be pretty tiring but you really get a good feel for what a city is like. I often think that is better than being shown around by a local because they might take you to a place they really like, you could spend ages there and not see much else. Just my opinion, but I think you can't beat going out on your own and exploring.

I like to stay in cheap hostels and there seems to be a shortage of them in Poznan for the foreign traveller. I stayed for one night in the Frolic Goats Hostel, just off the old town square. It wasn't bad but was then completely booked for the next night so I had to find somewhere else. I ended up staying in a hostel that was very Polish, only Polish people staying there. It was recommended by the Poznan Toursit Office. It was actually the Poznan academy of Music, most of the day all you could hear was students practicing on their musical instruments! Luckily they stopped during the night. The price was good though, it was 35 Zlotys for one person. Good value if you are basically looking for a bed with nothing else.

Sometimes when I'm in Poland I end up eating in the Sphinx restaurant, they are so popular, everwhere I go in Poland these restaurants are packed. They do give you a nice dinner though, it seems to be a mixture of Polish food and Western European/American style food.

As far as property in Poznan goes, prices are rocketing. In April prices here rose by 11.3%, that truly is unbelievable. I'm surprised there isn't more talk about that here in the UK. In the first quarter of this year property prices rose by over 20%, it will be interesting to see what the rest of the year holds.

New apartments are selling fast because demand is so high. Polish people's standards are rising as they country gets richer and workers are looking for better quality housing.