(Krakow) As night falls, the center of Krakow, Poland’s former royal capital, transforms into a hub for endless bachelor parties by ultra-alcoholic tourists, endless bar crawls and wild parties.
In this pearl of Gothic and Renaissance architecture, locals complain about the incessant tide of drunken tourists who “scream,” “vomit,” “fight” and disregard the law on nighttime rowdiness.
Tired of these disturbances, Krakow residents took legal action against the town hall, accusing it of not knowing how to resolve the problems linked to noise and excessive drunkenness.
“Failure to respect the law has become a symbol of tourism in Krakow,” Ryszard Rydiger, the lawyer behind the initiative, supported by several dozen residents, told AFP.
Tourists from all over the world behave like “Tarzans in the jungle, unmolested by anyone,” he says.
Krakow – around 800,000 inhabitants – welcomed 9.4 million tourists in 2023, according to official figures. But the city has been facing the problem of unruly tourists for many years.
In 2023, the police intervened 6,800 times in the city center, or more than 20 interventions per day, often for alcohol consumption and destruction of public property, according to the spokesperson for the municipal guards, Marek Aniol.
While the issue of public disorder seems endemic throughout historic Krakow, residents point to Szewska Street as the epicenter of the problem.
“Every day until six in the morning, Szewska Street becomes the place of noisy gatherings,” the residents say in their complaint.
Jan, employed by a club to attract customers to this street, calls Szewska a place “in the heart of darkness.”
“The city should intervene,” said this 23-year-old man to AFP, who also mentioned the disorder, but also the competition in which the clubs engage and which sometimes provokes fights in the street.
One of his colleagues even “ended up in the emergency room” after being “beat up” by several men because he brought many customers into the club.
But even beyond the city centre, night fever is causing problems for residents.
“You can’t take a leisurely walk in the evening or at night,” says Weronika, a 25-year-old doctor. “(Normal) life is very disrupted.”
Krakow has, however, taken some steps to try to resolve the problems.
The new mayor Aleksander Miszalski announced this week the appointment of a municipal manager responsible for nighttime.
A year ago, the city was the first in Poland to ban the sale of alcohol from midnight to 5:30 a.m., a move supported by more than half of residents.
According to the police, after the first six months of applying this measure, their interventions were reduced by half and fewer intoxicated people ended up in sobering up centers.
For three years, Krakow has also used “City Helpers”, volunteers responsible for providing information to tourists at night and calling the police if necessary.
The municipality has already launched numerous advertising campaigns aimed at encouraging visitors to comply with the rules and reducing public order disturbances.
“Of course we need tourists,” says Jan, “but we need proper legislation to keep the tourists, but without the noise, the disorder and the dirt.”
What began as a public security operation in 2021 later turned into a targeted campaign against British tourists, known for their ultra-alcoholic stag trips to Krakow.
While early posters plastered around the city politely urged locals and tourists to respect each other and “keep their belongings secure,” the latest campaign has been much more direct.
“You are in the city of Polish kings, this deserves respect,” the posters read.
Rydiger says these “actions are going in the right direction,” but they are “totally embryonic” in terms of solving the problems.
“For years, tourism policy was ‘come, come, come’, but it did not set clear boundaries on what is and is not allowed,” he said. underlines.
