Jama Michalika: how to find it, what to see

Where it is

Jama Michalika is at Floriańska 45, 31-019 Kraków, in the Bełzińska tenement house. Floriańska is one of the main streets of the Old Town, 335 metres long, and it runs from the north-east corner of the Main Market Square to St Florian's Gate in the old city walls. The café is on this street, close to the gate, and the Jan Matejko House stands at number 41. If you find the gate or the Matejko house, you are on the right stretch. Floriańska falls within the area UNESCO protects as the Historic Centre of Kraków, so you will be walking through a protected quarter, not a modern shopping street.

Walking there from the Main Square

From the Main Square, find the north-east corner and walk along Floriańska with the shopfronts on both sides. If you start from the Cloth Hall or St Mary's Basilica, both on the Square, you only have to cross the Square to reach the corner where the street begins. The street is part of the Royal Road, the coronation route of Polish kings, which runs from the Barbican and St Florian's Gate down Floriańska, across the Main Square and up Grodzka to Wawel. The street is straight, and the café's name board hangs over an arched doorway at number 45. Allow extra time if you are crossing the Old Town in the dark for the first time.

Read next: Floriańska Street: a short evening walk

Taxis and the last few steps

One guest wrote that a taxi driver left them away from the venue and they had trouble finding the door, until the organiser phoned to guide them in. Set your destination to the street address, Floriańska 45, not to the show name, and be ready to walk the last stretch. If you arrive from a hotel outside the Old Town, the easiest plan is to get to the Main Square or the gate and walk the rest. Keep your booking confirmation on your phone so that you can reach the organiser if you do get turned around, and check that your phone has signal before you set out.

When to arrive

Every date on the booking page lists a start time, and the evening runs for one and a half to two hours in total. Aim to be at the door a few minutes before the time shown, so you can find the room, show your confirmation and settle at your table before the first set begins. Use the time on your own confirmation, not a time remembered from another date, since the calendar can show different times for different dates. Arriving late means walking into a room that may already be performing. If you are running behind, contact the organiser through your booking rather than hurrying in.

What to look at inside

The café has two main rooms. The older one, where the Green Balloon cabaret began, has wall paintings and display cases of the cabaret's puppets. The second is named after the painter Karol Frycz, who designed its furniture, stained glass and lamps around 1910. Between sets and courses, scan the walls for caricatures of Kraków's writers and actors, and look up at the stained glass. You do not need to know who is who: the point is that artists drew these pictures on the spot, and the room still has them, so the walls are a second show running alongside the first.

Read next: Inside Jama Michalika: the rooms to see

The café in six dates

Jama Michalika has a long and well-documented history, and a few dates are enough to place the evening in it. The sources agree on most of them, and where they differ the guides on this site say so. If you read nothing else before you go, read this list, then look at the walls with it in mind. Each date marks a change in who used the rooms and why: first a pastry shop, then an artists' den, then a cabaret stage, and later a café and restaurant again. The sources agree on the order even where they differ on small details.

• 1895: Jan Apolinary Michalik opens the Lwów Confiserie at Floriańska 45
• 1905: the Green Balloon cabaret gives its first show, by Culture.pl's date
• 1910: two rooms and a kitchen are added, and Karol Frycz designs the interiors
• 1918: Michalik sells the café and moves to Poznań
• 1960 to 1991: a later cabaret, also called Jama Michalika, plays in the hall
• 1992: the painted decorations are restored, according to Polish Wikipedia

What to wear

The booking page sets no dress code, and reviewers describe an easy, friendly night. Smart casual fits the room: you are in an art nouveau café, not a ballroom, and you may end up on your feet dancing. Wear shoes you can move in, and bring a layer for the walk, since Kraków evenings cool quickly outside the warmer months. If you are coming straight from sightseeing, a quick change is welcome but not expected, and nobody will mind a day's walking clothes. Travel light, since you will be sitting at a table, not a cloakroom counter.

Families, accessibility and seating

The organiser lists the dinner-and-show ticket as wheelchair accessible but not stroller accessible, and notes that infants cannot sit on laps. If someone in your group needs level access or has a pushchair, message the organiser through the booking page before the date and get the answer in writing. Guests describe sharing tables, so a party of two or three may sit with other guests. Larger groups should book the same date together and say so in the booking message, in case the organiser can seat you close. Children who enjoy noise and costume tend to do well; those who need quiet may not.

Around the evening

The folk dinner takes most of an evening, so plan the day around it. The Main Square, with the Cloth Hall and St Mary's Basilica, lies at the other end of the same street, and the walk along Floriańska is itself an evening outing. Eat lightly at lunch, because the dinner is three courses, and leave the rest of the night free instead of booking a second show. If you want a drink afterwards, the Old Town has plenty of bars to choose from. If you are staying for several nights, put the show early in the trip, so that you can use what you learn about the city's artists on the days that follow. Many visitors then notice the same names across the Old Town.

The café on an ordinary day

Jama Michalika is a working café and restaurant, and it continues the pastry tradition of its founder, according to its owner's own description quoted by Culture.pl. A visit by day gives you the rooms without a band and without a booking, and it is the best way to read the walls properly. Coffee and cake there cost far less than the show, but you will not see the folk performance. Many visitors do both: a quiet look on one day, the show on another, and the second visit feels different because you already know the room and the stories behind its walls.

Who this isn't for

Wanting a private table, a quiet conversation or a long menu rules this evening out: the show shares the room, and the meal is a set dinner. Anyone who needs to leave early will also struggle, since the show and the courses run together. And for those who only want the interiors, go on a day when the café has no show, order coffee and cake, and take your time with the walls, which you cannot do while a band is playing. The two visits suit different moods, so choose the one you want.