Must see - In order to have a complete idea of Polish history, it's necessary to learn about the years of communism. For this purpose we chose this tour and it was excellent... read more not only because of the buildings we visited but mainly because of our tour guide who gave us plenty of information about the history of Poland and answered all of our questions.

  Loved it  - Loved the tour!
Our guide kept us engaged, filled us with many interesting facts about the place and it's history.
I recommend it!

  Fascinating tour for anyone - you don't have to be a history geek to enjoy the experience!  - We really enjoyed this trip with Mateusz. He was very friendly, knowledgable and enthusiastic. The Administration building is really interesting and full of retro architecture and decor; it's one of... read more the most unusual tours we have been on. The underground bunker was fascinating. So much has been left untouched - it really is like stepping back in time. The drive to and from the centre of Krakow in a Lada was great fun too.

  A rare glimpse behind the iron curtain  - I went on the Nowa Huta guided tour with my Irish partner and his kids, and it was such an incredible experience! Even though I’m from Kraków, I was blown... read more away by this glimpse into a part of history I didn’t know much about. It honestly felt like traveling back in time!

Our guide, Mateusz, was amazing—his stories were super engaging, and his passion for the history of Nowa Huta made the tour even more special. You could tell he really loves what he does!

For my Irish guests, it was a fascinating look behind the Iron Curtain, something they’d only heard about before. This tour is an absolute must for anyone visiting Kraków!

  Well worth a visit  - Fantastic loved it.

A fascinating glimpse into the recent past. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and really brought to light the background of what life was like... read more in the steelworks in the 50s, 70s and 70s

  Excellent tour of Poland's communist past  - Excellent tour with Mateusz to Old Nowa Huta, a relic of Poland's imposed communist past and one of only two existing 'utopian' communities. Built between 1949-1955, this model socialist community... read more was intended to counter Kraków's intelligenstia and their anti-communist leanings, with a thriving working-class and self-sufficient suburb (even bomb shelters!). Great chat - cheers from Canada!

  Think two hours touring an abandoned administrative building might be boring? Think again. Our guide was so knowledgeable that every detail was a revelation. A sure bet for anyone interested... read more in Cold War history. Go with this organization that's helping preserve the fascinating memory of Nowa Huta.

  A fascinating tour of the 1950's administration building and the underground bomb shelters giving a great insight into the communist era. Mateusz is an entertaining and knowledgeable guide speaking excellent... read more English and has amazing access to the buildings. Easy to get to on the tram from the centre of Krakow or from the Nowa Huta museum.

  We loved the Nowa Huta and Cold War Shelter tour, it was our favourite part of our visit to Krakow. Our guide was extremally knowledgable, enthusiastic and fun. I'm Polish... read more and my partner is British and we both learned tonnes! We think Nowa Huta is a seriously underrated part of Krakow and we would recommend this trip to anyone. Plus, we left with beautiful and really unique photos taken by our lovely guide!

  Incredible tour of the ideal communist city by a foundation that’s not a regular tour company - If you’re at all curious about Poland under communist rule, this tour is incredible. The tour is by a foundation that promotes Nowa Huta as a heritage site, so... read more it’s not a regular tour company. My guide genuinely cared about the history, because it’s his family’s history. He was fantastic. You get picked up in a 1980s communist era car, extremely small and a trip back in time. I had a private tour, so it was really a conversation with the fantastic guide. I highly recommend it.

  A different type of history to the centre of Krakow and well worth a visit. - Once you've had your fill of the castle with a dragon, the trumpeter playing every hour on the hour, horse-drawn carriages and olde-worlde buildings it's time to find something else... read more to do. We would highly recommend a trip to Nowa Huta. Having grown up in the 70s/80s I knew about the Cold War but nothing about what it was like to live in the Eastern Bloc. I expected Nowa Huta to be ugly, dark, cramped and horrible.
To give the weather credit it was very foggy first thing so our first impressions of Nowa Huta were gloomy, grey and damp - it all felt very Communist.
We met our guide Mateusz a short walk from our accomodation as the car couldn't come into the very centre of the old town. He had a 1976 Lada for us. There was another couple with us at the start of the tour and the other guide came along in a Polski Fiat 126 so we were able to swap between cars which gave us a feel of being in a typical family car and a luxury party members car.
We started our tour in Nowa Huta in 'rose alley' which has been renamed after Ronald Reagan. Mateusz had photos of what it used to look like to give us a good idea of the area in the past including when it had the statue of Lenin. We then visited the steelworks administration centre - just the hallway not the centre itself followed by a museum nuclear bunker. Finally we saw a tank outside a block, heard why it faced the wrong way and then visited the Arka Pana church. The other couple with us then left and we continued on to visit the 1950s flat. This flat is only seen by people visiting with the Fundacja Promocji Nowej Huty and was tiny. We ended up in a milk bar and had a variety of foods for lunch before being driven back.
Mateusz was an excellent guide and happy to answer any of our questions however random. He is very enthusiastic about the topic and the area.
If you get the chance to go to NH then definitely go.

  Fascinating tour and great fun - Fascinating tour with an outstanding guide, Matthew (Mateusz). Lots of very interesting stories about Poland then and now, all in a fun to ride in Polski Fiat.