Tytano - the Coolest Place in Krakow?

Warning! This page is now archived. Tytano has now unfortunately closed its doors.

For visitors to Krakow wishing to veer away from the tourist trap of the Old Town, a visit to Tytano is a great option. This place is a real wonder! Often labelled as a "city within a city” it is in reality an abandoned cigarette factory and its outbuildings. However, don’t be put off by this as the intrepid visitor can seek out here an eclectic mixture of cafes, pubs, restaurants, beer halls and an entire factory floor filled with designer exhibits, art, and furniture from local creators. If you are not up for western, sterile, uniform life - get to Tytano!

Hidden top quality enterprises Tytano style

The overall feeling is that of one ginormous "squatting" venture since the cafes, bars etc are quite literally located in empty, abandoned buildings with boarded up windows, crumbling brickwork and graffiti. However, this most definitely has to be one of the hippest, coolest places to hang out in the city. It is to be particularly recommended on warm summer afternoons and evenings when the seating spills out into the alleyways and courtyards surrounding the buildings.
The history of Tytano goes back to 1876 and the Austro-Hungarian occupation when it operated as a cigarette factory named ‘Kaiserliche Koenigliche Tabakfabrik’. It operated for 125 years, ultimately taken over by Philip Morris, but abandoned in 2002.

Boarded up - yet thriving

Outside seating Tytano style

Following this it was taken over by Immobiliaria - a Spanish company who had ambitions to turn it into a giant luxury hotel. Luckily this never came to fruition. This company still owns the buildings but is now renting space out to the current collection of enterprises. The contract runs until 2020, but apparently they are queuing up to rent space and there is even talk of a climbing wall and cinema moving in.

At present you will find a fine selection of unexpected pleasures residing in pleasingly shabby, yet classy, innovative urbanite spaces. Choose from wine dens, beer halls, interactive fear escape activity, top notch restaurants and cafes, cutting edge designers displays taking up entire factory floors, fashion design exhibitions and soooooo much more. This place is so cool and is what the real creative heart of Krakow is all about. Don't miss it!