Journeys and Adventures

You may have noticed I’ve tried to give some good information and tips on visiting Morocco in my past seven posts—consider it a travel series on Morocco.  In the three months I’ve been blogging (yes, it’s already been three months and I’ve barely missed a day), I’ve had a few other travel series and you can find them easily by selecting the “Travel Series” page above.

For now, you’ll find a trip report on Krakow, Poland, and a “Twelve Days of Christmas Travel” special.  Look for more series to come each month as I explore topics like:

• Unique Accommodations

• Travel Website Reviews

• One-of-a-Kind Museums

• How to Travel Without Leaving Your Living Room

• Volunteer Vacation Ideas

• And many more!

 Photo Mercancia 2 by Capgrow, www.sxc.hu

Planning a visit to Krakow, Poland?  Here’s some practical information to help you with your vacation plans:

Getting There

v     The Krakow Balice airport can be reached by flights from London, Paris, Munich, and other cities across Europe.   The old town train station is a short 20-minute train ride from the airport—the tickets (which are approximately $2 per person each way) can be purchased directly on the train or from a kiosk in the airport.

v     Krakow can also be reached from major European cities by train.  The city is approximately 2.5 hours from Warsaw, 7.5 hours from Vienna, and 8 hours from Prague.  Check local train listings for the country you’re traveling from.

Accommodations

v     Krakow offers a large variety of accommodations ranging from hostels to five-star hotels.  Most accommodations are concentrated around the Old Town or Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter.

v     Prices, of course, also range from cheap to expensive.  Traveling in the off-season can also help keep prices low.

v     Check out the standard accommodation websites like hotels.com or HostelWorld

Eating

v     Krakow has a surprisingly wide variety of restaurants—many with high quality food and low prices.  Cuisine choices range from sushi to Italian, French to traditional Polish.

v     Traditional Polish food like borscht (beet soup), pierogis (small ravioli-style dumplings with various fillings), and golabkis (stuffed cabbage leaves) are available throughout the city.  Self-service restaurants like Domowe Przysmaki will give you delicious food at reasonable prices.

v     Cyrano de Bergerac is a unique cellar restaurant in Krakow offering Polish favorites with a French twist (like Blinis with Home Smoked Salmon with Melted Butter and Fresh Cream) and award-winning French cuisine (like Foie Gras of Duck with Caramelized Pear Blackcurrant Sauce).  The restaurant is a bit pricier than other Polish restaurants, but its lunch menu is a bit more reasonable.

v  Shopping 

   Popular souvenirs from Poland include amber, hand-painted crafts, and other folk art.  A market for these crafts is open from approximately 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Sukiennice Cloth Hall in the middle of the Old Town square.

v     The town also offers a large shopping center next to the train station with popular stores like H&M, MAC, and Jack Wolfskin.

Related Posts

Krakow, Poland Day Trip: Wieliczka Salt Mines
Krakow, Poland Day Trip: Auschwitz-Birkenau
Krakow Poland: The Wawel
Krakow, Poland: Old Town and Jewish Quarter
Krakow, Poland: Tour Companies
Krakow, Poland: Legends and Stories
Krakow, Poland

Photo by Jennifer L. Price, www.jenniferlprice.com

As with any city, Krakow offers several options for visitors hoping to take an organized tour.  Here are two of my favorites with reasonably priced interesting and unique tours:

Cracow City Tours

• Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum—Tour of well-known concentration camp (6 hours, 90 PLN)

• Salt Mine Wieliczka—Visit to extensive underground city that was an operating salt mine for more than seven centuries (4 hours, 100 PLN)

• Panoramic Bus Tour—An organized tour of the city including the Old Town, the Jewish Quarter, St. Mary’s Church, and Wawel Hill (3 hours, 120 PLN)

• Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains—Known as Poland’s Winter Capital, you’ll visit the mountains, an ancient cemetery, and unique cottages (9 hours, 159 PLN)

• Old Town Walking Tour—A walking tour of the Old Town with information and visits to the city’s university, the Main Market Square, and St. Mary’s Basilica (2-3 hours, 50 PLN)

• Jewish Quarter Walking Tour—“The best preserved Jewish district in Europe,” now an artistic neighborhood (2-3 hours, 50 PLN)

• On the Jewish Traces and Oskar Schindler Sites—Visit Schindler’s factory and other historic sites used to film the famous movie (2-3 hours, 60 PLN)

Communism Tours

• Communism Tour—A visit to the Nowa Huta district and other sights from the times of Communism (2.5 hours, 119 PLN)

• Communism Deluxe—The Communism Tour plus the additions of visits to a preserved apartment, lunch in an authentic milk bar, and the opportunity to drive a Trabant (4 hours, 169 PLN)

• The Real Krakow—The Communist Tour plus visits to the Jewish Quarter and panoramic views of the city (4 hours, 159 PLN)

• Crazy Farm—A chance to try Polish rural life with a traditional dinner, visits to animals, a horse-drawn carriage ride (5 hours, 199 PLN)

Please be sure to visit the websites to confirm prices, times, and available dates.

Related Posts

Krakow, Poland Day Trip: Wieliczka Salt Mines
Krakow, Poland Day Trip: Auschwitz-Birkenau
Krakow Poland: The Wawel
Krakow, Poland: Old Town and Jewish Quarter

Photo by Jennifer L. Price, www.jenniferlprice.com