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Where to party in Poznan?
Poznan is a university town in the north of Poland. It lies around three hours from both Berlin and Warsaw and makes a great day trip from either city. However, it also has a pumping nightlife so if you can stay a little longer, you can sample some of the drinking and eating options. Here is our itinerary for a pub crawl around an incredible five bars in Poznan.
Poznan old town drinking options
Poznan may be small but it has many cool bars and restaurants within close distance of one another. You can easily stumble from one bar and into another in minutes. Beware, ladies, the old town is cobbled so you might want to leave the stilettos at home before you head off on your pub crawl in this university town.
Just friends – Stary Rynek 80/82
Start your evening early with a drink at Just Friends on the east side of the square.
Just Friends is more like a café bar than a pub with pretty Christmas decorations draped around the bar. You can take a seat at the bar or enjoy table service. It’s a great place for an afternoon or early evening drink but lacks the cosy atmosphere us Brits crave.
After your pre-dinner appetiser, head around the corner to the far North side of the square for dinner at Whisky in the Jar.
Whisky in The Jar – Stary Rynek 100
On the corner of Stary Rynek, this busy bar and restaurant has large booths and an American style menu (Note, there are also Whisky In the Jar bars in Wroclaw and Lodz). It is a popular establishment both because of its location and for the generous portions on the menu so it pays to book ahead. Of course, we didn’t but we were happy to share a table and thus jumped the queue. So it was that we met Ian and Alison from Liverpool as our two groups became one.
The website provides details of the full menu which is jam packed with sumptuous looking steaks, burgers and grills at reasonable prices. Our meal for six (mains only) including beers came to around £100 which is pretty impressive.
The drink selection includes a variety of cocktails in jars, beers and spirits and it is a great place to while away a Saturday night. We may even have been a little tipsy when we left!
Guliwer – Stary Rynek
Once you have lined your stomach with food, exit Whisky in the Jar and head to the Guliwer pub just metres away on the North West corner of the square. It is an unpretentious place with an antique bar, bustling tables and exposed feature walls. Drinks are exceptionally cheap considering the location with pints from around £1 and spirits for a few pounds.
You may wish to hang out there and let your dinner settle before you leave to burn off some calories on the dance floor. Turn right as you exit the bar and immediately right to find your next hangout for the evening. The Ba Rock is just a short walk down this road on your left.
Ba Rock – Wielka 9
The Ba Rock is an underground cellar with live bands and a DJ. It’s a lively venue with an energetic crowd and table service in the grungy cavern.
It is quite likely that you will be feeling the effects of the cheap beers by now so feel free to get on that dance floor and shake your stuff. After all, you will struggle to hold a conversation in this bar on a busy weekend night.
Hola Hola bar – Wrocławska 10
Your last stop for the evening is at the Hola Hola bar on your way back to your hotel. (We stayed at the Hampton Inn Old Town which is just a short walk from the Stary Rynek. We paid around £60 a night including breakfast for two). The Hola Hola bar has a cool funky vibe in a more sophisticated setting. It is on one of the principal roads leading from the south side of Stary Rynek square.
Try one of the spirits served in jars, cool cocktails or the wines served in oversized glasses.
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If you want to follow in our footsteps here is a convenient map of our pub crawl.
Other entertainment
We visited Poznan in December when you can wander the stalls of the Christmas market sipping on mulled wine. I have no idea whether all the local revellers were simply getting into the Christmas spirit but we ended up joining an impromptu street dance. As we stumbled from the Whiskey In The Jar into the frigid night, our breath billowing, we joined an enthusiastic conga line.
Getting to Poznan
If you visit on a day trip from neighbouring cities, you can buy tickets from around €20 from Poznan to Berlin or Warsaw. The journey takes three to four hours and is quicker by bus.
Alternatively, you can fly from Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Doncaster, London Stansted, Nottingham East Midlands, Birmingham and Glasgow. Wizz Air flies from Doncaster to Poznan and you can read my review of Wizz Air here.
Stay
We stayed at the Hampton Inn Old Town which is about a five minute walk from the Old Town Square. It is a modern hotel with bright communal areas, spacious rooms and brightly lit bathrooms. The only negative is that the beds are rather firm but it is in a great location and the service was excellent.
What do you think?
Maybe you have visited Poznan and have some other top suggestions for great bars and restaurants. We would love to hear your thoughts.
What was the Christmas market like?
We’ve been doing the London one’s for a few years now and was very disappointed this year ☹
We did Berlin a couple of years ago and that was amazing – thinking about maybe Austria for 2020, because of the disappointment..
I haven’t been to the London one so don’t know how it compares. If you have been to the MANCHESTER one, it is nothing like as big as that one. I certainly wouldn’t make a trip especially for the Christmas party as it is on the smaller side. It’s a nice distraction for a while.
If you want somewhere for Christmas markets, assuming you haven’t been, we absolutely loved Tallinn. It takes up the whole main square and there’s tons of other stuff to do in the town too
I passed through the Manchester one a few years ago, so it may have changed in size, since.
There are actually quite a few in London; we first went to the one on the South Bank some time ago and it was excellent. Lots of food options, plenty of Glühwein being dished out from small scale market traders and numerous independent crafts stalls selling festive themed wares and trinkets for presents.
The London Bridge market stretched between London Bridge and Tower Bridge – we tried this one a few years ago and it was similar, but with a bigger emphasis on food and drink both to eat there and for presents. We also nipped up to Leicester Square, which was more intimate but more thematically built.
This year, we started at Covent Garden then went back to South Bank (via the Somerset House Ice Rink and Baileys Treat Tent), walked up through the Trafalgar Square/ Tate Gallery market to the Leicester Square market. This year, all three markets were very corporate, appearing to be run/ operated by Rekorderling and Under Belly, with the same stalls and wares sold at each. I say sold, but a lot of the stalls were cash only, unlike previous years, so I suspect they sold a lot less. There were also price differences between each site, which was a bit strange.
Simon you definitely sound like an expert on the London markets and certainly not an expert on Europe Christmas markets however I know there are a bunch of blog posts on the subject so it might be worth a google if you are looking for inspiration for next year. That said the top places I’ve been for Christmas are definitely 1) Tallinn 2) Riga 3) Koln and 4)Strasbourg. Slightly biased towards the latter as I lived in the area for a year. Will find you the Alsace link from a trip down memory lane I took with Jason a few years back.
How was your Christmas? Surely you must be heading away soon?
Well, we’re did get to the Berlin markets a couple of years ago, just before they were rammed into by that truck – literally days before! But if you’re going to Europe to di a German market (or four/ five!), it should really be in Germany!
I’ve got a few months to research other markets, and I quite fancy the idea of Austria if I’m honest. I’ll certainly check the Alsace review, thanks!
Yeah I have to say I love Germany at this time of year. We are seriously tempted to head to Munich for new year eve and I think they have a Christmas market too. Anyway have a fab new year. Glad you missed the horrific attacks in Berlin
P.s here’s an Alsace post if interested https://frommilestosmiles.com/spa-weekend-in-alsace/
It sounds really nice. How were food and drink prices?
Around £1 for beer, probably double that for spirits. Main meals between £4 – £10