Piątkowe Picie: Touring the Bars and Cafes in Tczew, Kociewie

“You’ve got a feeling lost inside. It just won’t let you go” – Noel Gallagher.

Tczew in the Kociewie region of Poland’s Pomorskie Province is not a totally obvious tourist resort, nor even a top drinking town for my Piątkowe Picie, Drinking Friday adventures. But as most of you know, I prefer to visit towns, villages and wacaday republics rather than stick to the normal tourist hubs. Having spent enough time in the “City Hat-trick” or the Tri-City/Trojmiasto of Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia, it was another trip away, by bus and train to delightful little Tczew.

My friend Karolina from Tczew (who I met in Romania under my original blog story when I reviewed the Little Bucharest Hostel) helped me a lot on my adventures to her town – giving me travel tips, ideas and even telling me the correct bus routes to take, so I dedicate this article to her – Karolina Kokosz, she preferred not to be shown, but to prove she is real, there is a photo (Karolina covered) of us having a smoothie in Gdansk just after my trip to tour her town of Tczew, where I wrote about it and was also featured in the local newspaper. The photo is at the bottom of the article.

The thing is though, that while nearby Starogard Gdanski (itself smaller than Tczew) has a thriving night life, some cool quirky bars, nice cafes and a special brewery (Browar Kociewski at the Hotel Ren), Tczewians tend to head to Gdansk to party. Yet I still had a few nights out on the rip here, during a sad time in my life. Without further ado, here are Best Bars and Cafes in Tczew, including the ones that I visited on three trips to the town in 2016. Chance officially brought me to Tczew 4 times in fact in my first 10 months living in Poland.

1.Old Pub
With a name that suggests it is the oldest pub in town, this one is worth a look – Old Pub! It’s very close to the main church and only 6-7 minutes walk down the hill from Plac Hallera. Pop in for a chinwag in a cosy typical titchy bar that did remind me of poky bars in Bangor, Northern Ireland. As quaint as towny Tczew gets.

https://www.facebook.com/Old-Pub-Tczew-397048097031711/

2.Przystan Bar and Restaurant
This was my favourite bar in Tczew by a mile, Bar and Restauracja Przystan. The reasons are many. Good beers on tap, good food, good coffee, the best view, the most modern and good staff. I ended up in here three times! It is down by the river.

I was here for sunset twice, and for beers and coffee with Justyna and Piotr. They also have Wi-Fi and before depression kicked in, I was able to do some final edits to my Backpacking Centurion book in this very pub!

3.Link Hotel Bar
Sometimes we miss the obvious in life, or a D: Ream once professed “we don’t see the wood for the trees”. But here in my very hotel, the Link Hotel was probably the cleanest, most pristine bar in town. And moreover, the one with the best dark beer selection – I love a Ciemne Piwo and I got it here before retiring to my cosy room!

Link Hotel *** ul. Jagiellońska 55 E 83-110 Tczew

W celu dokonania rezerwacji, prosimy o kontakt mailowy: E-mail: [email protected], bądź telefoniczny: Telefon: 58 562 14 48 Telefon kom.: 510 331 363

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.linkhotel.pl/
https://www.facebook.com/linkhoteltczew/

4.Risto Cafe and Kanion Grill
I gatecrashed some kind of private party here at Risto Cafe on my only real late night on the rip (where I was also only one of 4 customers in Atrium Nightclub!), not much to write home about but one on my list! Above all else, it has a decent beer garden and also serves up food, I had a quick look in the day time too though it was closed on my sunlight visit.

RISTOCafe
ul. Wojska Polskiego 11
83-110 Tczew
tel: 058 777 44 74
tel kom: 0 503 054 600
email: [email protected]
https://pyszne.pl/ristocafe-tczew#!
https://www.facebook.com/KanionGrill
http://www.ristocafe.pl/

5.Galeria Kociewska Food and Drink Court
The first floor (second level) of the town’s largest shopping Centre, Galeria Kociewska came as a pleasant surprise. There is a food and drink court here which is licensed and so you can have alcohol with your pizza, pierogi or curry!

6.Bilardownia
Piotr invites me out for a beer on a quiet Monday night, but there aren’t many bars open! SO it comes as a pleasant surprise that one of the bars has live football, cold beer and pool tables. Sometimes Polish people refer to pool as billiards which confused me at first. This bar has crazy blue lighting and is a good place to watch the football in!

7.Golden Skuare Bar
Because the Link Hotel was full for my last few nights backpacking Tczew, I turned to Couchsurfing for a change. It is rare for me to use it but my other local friend was not helpful in my quest to find a bed for the night, thankfully Piotr replied and let me stay in his cosy flat with him and his cat. Piotr is an Arka Gdynia fan and his local pub was the Golden Skuare!

It’s not much more than a small room with booths in a quiet street next to some locally run shops. Now this is what travel is all about for me. This is as uncommercial and unglobal as it gets.

8.Yak Bar
Despite finding like a wacaday Tibetan mountain hideout, Yak Bar has the best kebabs in town. A kebab house for a night on the rip? Yes as my local friend Piotr told me, you can get a beer and a kebab at 2am! While I got addicted to Kebab King on the streets of unwet Warszawa, this one sat less exciting for me, but still worth a punt.

9.Mocca In the Square
Having spent a double hat-trick of years in the English seaside town of Bournemouth, one of my frequent haunts there was a bar called The Moon in the Square. A flashback attack then as I parked my bicycle next to Mocca in the Square (Plac Hallera) on my tour of the town. Great pierogi and coffee here and it has an outdoor beer garden for sunny days.

This is also quite a traditional and quaint place and the things I loved about Tczew and Starogard is that they are relatively bereft of my hated American consumerism and capitalism. A sneaky “DickMonalds” makes a penis like appearance near the tank on the edge of town, but for now, the traditional old square and stare miasto of Tczew is Polish, Catholic and unchanging. Keep it that way!

10.Atrium Nightclub
To make it a complete ten for Tczew, I am adding in Atrium Nightclub. This is probably not the only club in town, but it was on my Friday night walk home so I popped in. Compared with the trendy and patrty like vibe of Basement Club in Starogard Gdanski, this is a quiet place.

Imagine the fact that I was the only customer at the bar with a beer and there were only 3 other customers in there the whole night. Free entry of course, a dancefloor and beers for 5 zloty are tempting, but in reality there wasn’t much happening here.

11.Warsztatowa Cafe
I recently returned to Tczew (in September 2017) having now met Mateusz from the town, and toured his Micronation, Krolestwo Dreamlandu. After watching two football matches, firstly Polonia Gdansk and secondly Klub Piłkarski Starogard, we headed for a drink in Tczew. I couldn’t quite believe that my original list on here of top 29 bars omitted this secret place and arguably the best bar of the lot!! The relaxing Warsztatowa Cafe is on a side street and not obvious. Rafał and I headed for a drink thanks to Mateusz recommendation.

And while that completes the list, a town like Tczew doesn’t have many bars or cafes, so I thought I’d try and list them all here. These are the ones that I heard existed but I didn’t make it to on my first three trips to Tczew! Maybe next time? Invite me to your bars and cafes, I’d love to meet you all! If you have a bar, restaurant, pub, club or cafe not on my list – just email me – jonny (at) dontstopliving (dot) net or follow my Facebook Page and I’ll pop by next time! Here are the also rans…

12. Restauracja Hacienda – https://www.facebook.com/Hacjenda50/
13. Fresh Gordon Burger Bar – https://www.facebook.com/freshgordon.tczew/
14. ŁasuchBar – https://www.facebook.com/LasuchBar/
15.uDany Bar – https://www.facebook.com/uDanyBar/
16.Maxx Kebab – https://www.facebook.com/MAXX-KEBAB-1532789813702946/
17. London Street – https://www.facebook.com/London-Street-1527097077528952/
18.Grill Bar Pigo – https://www.facebook.com/grillbarpigo/
19. Baru Krzycha – https://www.facebook.com/BaruKrzycha/
20.Upstairs Club – https://www.facebook.com/UpStairs.Club.Tczew/
21. Klimat Tczew – https://www.facebook.com/TczewKlimat/
22. Kluchaeu – https://www.facebook.com/Kluchaeu-TCZEW-254170094770245/
23. Pub Staradama – https://www.facebook.com/pubstaradama/
24. Bar Twister – https://www.facebook.com/Bar-Twister-1589574374671854/
25.Apetyt Bar – https://www.facebook.com/apetytbar/
26. Manufaktura Smaku – https://www.facebook.com/manufakturasmaku/ and https://www.manufakturasmaku.com/
27. Jadlo Stacja – https://www.facebook.com/Jad%C5%82oStacja-880728382022539/  and http://jadlostacja-bar.pl/
28. Bar Dworcowy – https://www.facebook.com/BarDworcowyTczew/
29. Akbaba Tczew – https://www.facebook.com/akbabatczew/
30. Pub Underground – https://www.facebook.com/Pub-Underground-832861903425649/
All bars in Tczew – https://www.facebook.com/search/105643489468144/places-in/110290705711626/places/intersect/

All in all I loved my time in Tczew, being featured in the local news and enjoyed cycling the sites and making new friends. Plus it will never be forgotten thanks to my wedding invite and my real honest friend Karolina Kokosz. But as you can tell, it’s not really a town for a night on the sauce. But looking at my final photos on here, it’s a truly CHARMING town, love it!

Again, this post is dedicated to my friend Karolina Kokosz, who wished not to be identified but helped me a lot on this trip.

Here are a few videos from my time in Tczew: