Old Town Studios manages a string of 40 apartments cast throughout Krakow's Stare Miasto. Apartments are fairly anonymous, with particle-board bed units, simple kitchen areas, and en-suite bathrooms.

The eight apartments in the Kazimierz Apartments family are run by the same management team that organizes Old Town Studios. Expect lush flats with huge bedrooms, roomy kitchens, and equally large common spaces.

Hotel Jan is most notable for its location, smack dab in the center of the Old City. Rooms dispense with the need for stylistic intervention in favor of good, solid basic furniture.

Pollera's exquisite reception area is an art nouveau masterpiece. Rooms, as is so often the case, do not live up to the grandeur of the reception area, but they have their antique charms.

Hotel Campanile, a cookie-cutter hotel abutting the Stare Miasto greenbelt, offers 106 rooms in an imposing, modern building.

Occupying a bewitchingly charming corner of Stare Miasto, Hotel Saski carries itself with the sophistication of a faded, grand old hotel. The century-old elevator is a showpiece, and the expansive, empty lobby calls to mind vanquished grandeur.

One of three RT hotels in our Krakow listings, the 59-room RT Rezydent arguably has the best location of the mini-chain: It's a 30-second walk from Rynek Główny, Krakow's Main Market Square.

Hotel Logos gingerly straddles the line between impersonal Eastern Bloc monstrosity and quirky, retro Eastern Bloc artifact.

Hotel Astoria, a 33-room hotel in the heart of Krakow's Kazimierz 'hood, is a fairly unremarkable midrange hotel with better than adequate rooms.

Hotel Eden is a medium-sized, 27-room hotel in Kazimierz dedicated to serving a highly observant Jewish clientele. Located in the heart of Krakow's old Jewish neighborhood on a cramped cobblestone street, Hotel Eden occupies a restored row of 15th-century buildings.

Business hotels like PTTK Wyspianski may be a bit antiseptic for those chasing charm or authenticity. For the rest of us, sparklingly clean rooms, a bar on the ground floor, and proximity to Krakow's Main Square do the trick.

Karmel is one of the most gorgeous small hotels in Krakow. Located up a stairway in an impossibly cute corner of Kazimierz, the 10-room Karmel is a Krakow favorite.

Kazimierz's 35 rooms are basically run-of-the-mill, with a number of dainty touches that veer into fussy aunt territory, such as lacy curtains and a pink-orange color palette.

The RT Regent, one of four RT hotels in the city (three of which are located in central Krakow), is a 39-room property situated on a quaint, crowded Kazimierz street.

The Hotel Fortuna is a fine tourist-class hotel in a charming Central European idiom. Located in a sleepy corner of Krakow west of Stare Miasto, it's a good place for older visitors.

The 23-room Fortuna Bis is a good, even pretty, tourist-class hotel option. Room verdict: midrange standard achieved; design points withheld.

The friendly La Fontaine Bed and Breakfast is one of the few Krakow hotels actually on Rynek Główny (the Main Market Square).

The 38 rooms of Bed & Breakfast feel as much like a hostel as the do a B & B.

Barebones, baby. That's the Trzy Kafki Plus ticket. Encompassing 24 rooms on an anonymous street west of Stare Miasto, Trzy Kafki Plus is an ideal nesting place for backpackers and other budget-minded tourists.

Janexim is a funky guesthouse located just west of Stare Miasto. Encompassing 20 rooms (and an additional 10 apartments) Janexim feels more like a pension than a hostel.