I know that there have been a few European minibreak threads recently, but haven’t seen much mention of Poland.

Does anybody have any experience of Cracow / Krakow? Things to do in the city or nearby.

I will be there for long weekend later in the month with the lady and another couple. Staying in an apartment in the centre near the old town.

Thoughts so far are a visit to Auschwitz (either by train or bus), then after that will probably wander around the city and need a few drinks.

I spent a week or so there for work a few years ago, but mostly was just outside the city, so although I remember it being a nice place, I didn’t really have time to explore or have good night out.

It would be good to get a couple of recommendations for somewhere with a bit of atmosphere, casual and a decent mix of Polish and other western/southern European foods for dinner – I quite like pierogi etc, but some others in the party may not.

Also a few decent bars near the city with bands or DJ that we can have a night out in without being surrounded by hoards of British stag parties.

I have had a look at trip advisor for ideas, but personal recommendations from those that know the city or have visited recently would be good.

Thanks in advance.

Peekay

i have been but it was on a stag do, so i can’t say I am very knowledgeable about the city. However, I did spend some considerable time studying the pavement.

One of my favourite euro cities, I was there in the Summer. Jewish Q for food after visiting the factory is hard to fault. I would suggest avoiding eating in the square with the exeption of the place down the side of the church built by the brothers…doh! can’t remember the name.

In Your Pocket always used to be an excellent guide to start from.
Liban Quarry is a sight that sticks in my mind:
https://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/liban-quarry_49806v

Wieliczka Salt Mines are well worth the visit, if you are lucky you may get the exceptionally fantastic Florence Welch lookalike we had as a guide.

The Wawel is the old castle and very worth a visit. The salt mines at Wieliczka are really good. You owe it to humanity to visit Oszwieczim/Auschwitz. The Jewish Quarter is lovely for cafe bars and restaurants. There used to be a really interesting flea market there in a Saturday morning, not sure if it still happens though. The Suckieniczca is obviously the centre ol the Stare Miasto/Old Town. It’s a pretty small city and you can walk around it in a few hours and to everywhere else within the confines of the city. The salt mines and auschwitz are a drive/coach ride away. If you had the chance to head down to zakpoane that’s also wonderful and if your can find your way to the top of Gevant, you’ll have an amazing days walking in the tatry mountains.

Bike tour is a good idea on the first morning, get your bearings –

http://www.krakowbiketour.com/abouttour.html

Jewish Quarter is also good for food / drinks, Bagelmama is good for a quick snack / breakfast.

This Milkbar is a great place to go for some traditional dishes, also cheap –

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g274772-d3573518-Reviews-Milkbar_Tomasza-Krakow_Lesser_Poland_Province_Southern_Poland.html

Wodka Cafe Bar is also worth a visit. Have fun!

Had a great weekend there.
As well as what’s been said before we did a trip to Auschwitz which is a trek away to be fair.

Ate very well, at that time it was near impossible to spend the money we had taken, that was including touristy places in the square.

We wandered into a bar/dance club on the square with solo dancers going mad to euro pop/trance. Interesting city.

Enjoy.

Regarding food, the Poles don’t go in much for haute cuisine; most of the traditional food is a legacy from them being a largely agrarian economy built on hard labour; it’s basically meat, potatoe and fat. They don’t go in much for vegetables unless they’re pickled and rotten.

That said there are some great places to eat and samnple the best of the food on offer. The place I always liked (though this is going back a while now so it may no longer exist) was called Chlopskie Jadwo, where the ‘l’ in Chlopskie is pronounced as a ‘w’. It translates as peasant food.

Smollets, platski, pierogi, scznitzel, bigos, barszcz are all tasty the first and second time. Then when you’ve not had a bowel movement for three days you grow a little tired of them!

There’s a load of nice places around the square on Szeroka in the Jewish quarter to eat and drink. We liked the courtyard at hamsa especially. Not far away there’s a street food market, Endzior, at plac nowy that’s quite fun. Good range of food. In fact that whole area is good to wander and pop in where ever takes your fancy. Also the central square, Rynek Glowny, is pretty good. Its a bit touristy but there is often something going on and there’s some good local food to be had.

For sightseeing we did a rickshaw bus thing tour of the ghetto that was very informative then got dropped off at shindlers factory which is very good museum. You can also walk round the camp from the film set of schindler’s list which is now a nature reserve with so eerie remains.

There is quirky transport museum with a range of eastern bloc cars in the Jewish quarter too

Auschwitz is well worth a visit. Go under your own steam if you can as all the buses seem to arrive at once. It was much better after they’d gone and we had a quiet wander on our own. Very different perspective.

Thanks for the tips. Will definitely head to Auschwitz and choose one of the places above to eat.

Would definitely recommend wieliczka and wawel castle. Went to a piano recital (Chopin, obviously) in one of the old bankers residences in the main square. That was wonderful, and only cost about 10€ I think. Zakopane is lovely but too far for a day trip.

I went as part of my university course , aim was to study air pollution there ….!

I think. Zakopane is lovely but too far for a day trip.

It’s 2.5 hours by car

Schindlers factory at the Jewish Quarter, otherwise most of the streets leading from the old square are worth exploring. If you bump into Dominika say hi to her for me!