Krakow, Warsaw and....

[serfty]

i have just come back from 5 nights in Krakow, 3 nights in Warsaw, 2 nights in Vilnius and 1 night in Riga...ran out of time to get to Tallinn. Great part of the world...Poland must be the next tourist European hotspot...cheap hotels and transport, good food and beer, lots of (at times, depressing secondary WW11) history, English widely spoken etc. But my favourite was Vilnius in Lithuania...too lazy to do a TR, but make sure you spend 2-3 nights here if you ever get the chance! Small walkable city with an Old Town, beautiful scenery, excellent cheap accommodation , food, alcohol etc....
A couple of photos:
Vilnius
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Trakai Island Castle....~35km West of Vilnius
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Five year on and I am planning to visit Warsaw (not Krakow) - Arriving 7am, departing midday two nights later.

I have reviewed the pre COVID the comments here and am wondering if much has changed since.

Any further suggestions, comments and discussion about experiences will be appreciated.

 

[kpc]

Five year on and I am planning to visit - Arriving 7am, departing midday two nights later.

I have reviewed the pre COVID the comments here and am wondering if much has changed since.

Any further suggestions, comments and discussion about experiences will be appreciated.

Are you just visiting Krakow?

We also did a one day tour from Krakow visiting Auschwitz (horrible but we felt we had to go!) and the Salt mine (much more interesting than it seemed). To do both in one day, you need to do a booked tour eg Auschwitz & Salt Mine tour from Krakow with KrakowDiscovery (not necessarily recommending this particular company - just found it on google to give you an idea). We stayed at the Hilton with an Exec lounge (? Double Tree) which was on the outskirts of the Old Town...easily walkable or you can Bolt / Uber if lazy / tired.

We also visited Oskar Schindler's factory in Krakow....but I think just walking round the old town in Krakow is the way to go. We did one of the Free Krakow walking tours but can't remember which one.

 

[serfty]

Are you just visiting Krakow?

Please accept my apology - I should have been more specific. I'm planning Warsaw only.

 

[OZDUCK]

We will be in Poland, including Warsaw & Krakow, in August this year so it is timely that this TR resurfaced for me to have a good read of it. The salt mine sounds like it may be worth a trip. Auschwitz is off the list. Our visit to Buchenwald in 2013 firmly convinced me not to go to another concentration camp.

 

[kpc]

Please accept my apology - I should have been more specific. I'm planning Warsaw only.

@serfty ...can't remember much about Warsaw. Stayed at Hilton..nice as was the EL...and did a free walikng tour of the city and old town. Went to Madam Curie's house / museum.

 

[Balad2005]

Next September I will be in Krakow for 4 days for a conference and i have already read @Mattg 's excellent guide: Quick guide to Krakow, Poland
and @RooFlyer 's excellent TR: More Central and Eastern European bling (incl Transylvania); *A flights, Accor hotels

The Q is I have 7 days free prior to the conference and was wondering where / what to do....I was thinking heading to Warsaw by ?train for a few days...is 7 days too much or should i head somewhere else as well? I will definitely be doing a day trip to Auschwitz, depressing as it will be

Try visiting Wroclaw in western Poland, wonderful architecture, faithfully rebuilt after WW2. It's a graceful city on the banks of the Oder river.

 

[Hunter4vr]

We will be in Poland, including Warsaw & Krakow, in August this year so it is timely that this TR resurfaced for me to have a good read of it. The salt mine sounds like it may be worth a trip. Auschwitz is off the list. Our visit to Buchenwald in 2013 firmly convinced me not to go to another concentration camp.

I'm from Warsaw so can give you some recommendations but that obviously depends on what you like doing, everyone is different.

For museums, the following are worth visiting, in addition to the usual (Łazienki Park, Royal Castle, etc):

• Warsaw Uprising Museum
• Muzeum Życia w PRL - Museum with items from the communist period and how people lived during the times. It was shockingly accurate.
• Muzeum Polskiej Wódki - Set in an old distillery, covers the history of Polish vodka, how it can be made from different grains and potato, including a tasting to compare the different types of vodka.
• Neon Museum - Collection of post-war neon signs from across eastern Europe. Something different than the usual stuff.

For Polish food, just go to any "Bar Mleczny" as it will be cheap and what everyday Poles would eat at home but if you want something bit more fancy then Restauracja Różana, U Wieniawy or Stary Dom are good.

For sweet stuff, try some Jagodzianki (Polish bilberry bun) from "Cała w Mące" (but most bakeries will have it) as August should still be bilberry season, and Pączki from "Pracownia Zagoździński" that has been around since the 1920's, but be prepared to wait as it is very popular.