Long the only option in this picturesque and well-preserved small town - which managed somehow to avoid the war damage that disfigured most other Prussian-Polish towns - Hotel Centralny has been around for a century, through several changes of political regime, but is now showing its age. While its rates remain seductively low, the fairly noisy street location, absence of room-darkening drapes, and frayed/crumpled carpet in the dark hallway (not to mention a beeping battery in the smoke alarm that the monolingual staff seemed unable to remedy) made for a less than ideal experience; especially since (as I discovered only once I got there) two nicer-looking small hotels have now opened inside the walled old town itself - Karczma Chelminska looked especially inviting (although I didn't look inside); and Chelmno itself certainly deserves to be on every Polish itinerary. more