thinking of booking a weekend sometime this year (hopefully still summer) to take in auschwitz. id have guessed that krakow would be the best airport to look at and look for digs but after google mapping, katowice looks nearer.
krakow is also nearer the salt mines which would be good to see too.
a couple of mates recently went and flew to katowice and then hired a car to krakow, so theres a few options.
im guessing krakow will be the better city to stay in, most people rate it, so is the right answer "it doesnt matter which airport you use, just stay in krakow?"
and will 2 days be enough if we want to see auschwitz/birkenau plus the salt mines, or should we aim for 3 or 4?
thanks
We had 2 nights, we did Auscwitz/Birkenau on day one, salt mines on the 2nd day then did the castle, I really liked Krakow, would love to revisit, would stay for 4 nights and have a couple of days just sat around the square.
Have a good one.
Krakow is fine, easy to fly into and a short journey from the airport into the city. Also doable is Brno if you can find someone that flys there, and Ostrava.
Vienna / Bratislava / Prague are ~4 hours by car. Don't forget to visit the salt mines in Krakow.
thanks, currently on google flights which seems easier to compare prices than skyscanner......
just thinking of car hire (which my friends took as they flew to katowice). if i flew into, and stayed in krakow is it viable to get to auschwitz and the mines under my own steam, public buses, trains etc or would it be better to hire a car? im guessing booking official trips would be expensive plus you have a set timetable.....
thanks
Much better to hire a car. You can do it by public transport and there are loads of coach tours but it means you are there when all the buses are in. By car you can set your own agenda and stay a bit later when it is much quieter. Really makes a difference to the experience. You can also visit some of the factory sites not on the tour. I think this element of the whole Holocaust is somewhat forgotten so I believe its worth doing.
Krakow is a great city well worth a bit of your time too
Krakow is great we did 3nights so we went to aushwitz on the train there , slow and an experience and bus back, both easy if slow. Salt mines we went on train, easy and quick BUT we were meh about the mines apart from the elevator back up, good fun if crowded.
We then took the train to Vienna which was easy, slow in Poland bit quicker in Czech republic and superfast in Austria.
Loads to wander and see in Krakow, go slow and have a good look.
We are going back so a train odessey from Prague Krakow Budapest and the somewhere else in central Europe.
Bus to wieliczka (sp?) for the salt mine was pretty cheap from memory. Public transport in Poland generally is IME. Krakow has a tram system iirc. You can train it to Zakopane in the mountains for bobbins. Think there is a polish equivalent of airbnb too which nets pretty cheap places to stay. Know any polish people?
If you hire a car and the cheerful, friendly, happy person handing over the keys asks you where you're headed for say something other than Auschwitz.
As for the place, I'm sure a tour guide would be great but I was happy to reflect quietly on my own. I think the person I visited with went for about 2 hours without saying a word to each other.
The salt mine was great and that was mainly down to the guide.
First off - the 'in your pocket' guide - pdf, app, website (and they're all a bit different) are worth inspecting/downloading - you can also pick up a hardcopy from tourist information .
Re saltmines, there's the option of the main tour, or main tour with a separate bit added that you don't see otherwise, which is worth doing. (Excursion tours via hawkers etc in central krakow tend to just do the main tour).
We actually did the Schindler factory over two days, and the gestapo cells (2 parts) https://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/ulica-pomorska_80950v which is fascinating (?) but probably no less chilling than Auschwitz as a result of the detail/testimonies. Couldnt really face doing Auschwitz too.
The Liban quarry - the site of a nazi labour camp - is kinda eerie, but a confusing mix of stuff from filming schindlers list https://polandian.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/schindlers-list-death-camp-krakow-off-the-beaten-track/
Nowa Hutta - a drive/tram ride out of town is interesting, grand, soviet era new town built to support the nearby steelworks. Quite austere originally but now quite pleasant with lot of mature trees.
Theres various caves/caverns a drive (train ride ? - I forget) from town which were worth a visit.
Check out a few of the milk bars if you can - basic buffets. In particular one on Grodzka (but I think theres a very basic one in the centre of nowa hutte.
There's a huge range of craft beers (and numerous bars with them) in krakow - check out beerpubs.pl (beerpubs.com). Problem is trying to work out what's what..only place we found with a beer menu was stefa piwa, tho we were staying just round the corner from house of beer (I asked for a menu there and the barman gestured at the wall of beer !)
http://www.beerpubs.com/index.php?page=browse_pubs&pub_browse=1&location=kraków
Admittedly we do places in a fair bit of detail, walk a lot etc, but spent about 10 days there -a lot to see if you go looking for it. Hth..
For the full experience you should go in the winter to understand how people suffered with little food or clothing. That being said chapeau for making the effort to visit.
Think there is a polish equivalent of airbnb too which nets pretty cheap places to stay. Know any polish people?
looked on the english version itself and properties seem quite cheap still, and no, unfortunately i dont know any polish bods.
If you hire a car and the cheerful, friendly, happy person handing over the keys asks you where you're headed for say something other than Auschwitz.
why, if you dont mind me asking?
First off - the 'in your pocket' guide - pdf, app, website (and they're all a bit different) are worth inspecting/downloading - you can also pick up a hardcopy from tourist information .
thanks, duly noted.
For the full experience you should go in the winter to understand how people suffered with little food or clothing.
think id prefer to just imagine the coldy cold bit, makes me shiver just thinking about it (in more ways than one)
thanks for all the advice chaps, accommodation looks easy enough to sort, car hire is still 50/50, and i dont think id save much by flying to katowice and then paying transfer, just need to find some affordable flights when both me and the missus can both be off together.
thanks again
Katowice is not a great place. I hesitate to say it was a dump only because it has been quite some time since I was there (2003) but it dreadful then and the Poles I've spoken to since all say it hasn't got any better.
If you're going to hire a car in Poland, just be aware that the death toll per passenger km in Poland is only exceeded by Greece. It is properly scary at times. There's no reason not to do it, but in all honesty you don't need to hire a car.
Krakow is a wonderful city and since you can't take your car beyond the outer ring road it's pointless having one (in my view). Stay in the city iteslf, walk or take the trams and then for the day trips to Wieliczka or O?wi?cim just take the bus trips that are easily booked.
Again it's been some time since I was in Krakow as well (2008) but I know the city well having spent the whole summer of 2003 there.
As an aside I have some 'street photography' from that trip that would probably provide an interesting contrast to today!
[url= http://www.tearsinrain.co.uk/krakow-summer-2003/ ]Krakow Summer 2003[/url]
No doubt as to which is the nicest city but they are only a short drive apart anyway.
The "Polish MTB Capital" is more or less equidistant from both and you can hire pretty cheap...
http://endurotrails.pl/wypozyczalnia/