This is how we spent a couples weekend in the medieval city of Krakow located in the south of Poland. A very walkable city, and it’s a stunning place, also felt very safe walking around everywhere day or night.
Flights from Bournemouth
We grabbed ourselves a bargain just five days in advance via the ryanair website direct, £44 return flight for one adult with a small carry on backpack for under the seat.
Parking – Parking can be pricy at Bournemouth airport and it was coming up as £80 for three days, instead we paid £50 for parking with justpark which had a large gravel car park based at adventure wonderland. It was pretty dark when we arrived with not much lighting and pretty precarious to cross the main road by the airport, but it only took 10-15 minute to walk so worth it. They also run a shuttle bus at certain times of day if you pre-book or notify in advance. We were content with a brisk walk.
We love flying from Bournemouth due to it’s small size so no long walks to your departure gate and very quick to get through all the different elements, particularly late at night like our flight was as not many going out so quieter.
Arriving in Krakow the border control was quite lengthy as expected with Brits heading to Europe these days, but once out it’s straight forward to find your selected mode of transport to the centre. In our case, we ordered an uber, ten minute wait and then around 20-25 minutes to the centre at a cost of £12.
The highlight has to be returning though, as literally within ten minutes we were off the plane, a short queue at border control, pass the one or two conveyor belts for luggage and outside. Speedy! Outside you can find a small booth for taxis, a bus stop with a single route bus and the large car parks. You have to pay to pick up/drop off here but it is, again nice and quick.
Accomodation in Krakow
There were a generous amount of options for accomodation when looking in Krakow, many of them seemed to be apartments as well as hotels.
We went for AR Apartments, due to it’s central location near the castle and spcaious layout in the apartment at a cost of £193 for three nights. The entrance was a bit tricky to find, tucked away beside a bank, but once we found it, 24 hour receptnist in the lobby, quick lift up to the apartment so nice and easy. The apartment came with a kitchenette, sofa, tv and a small balcony too. We remarked how quiet it was for a central city apartment, but we actually found the city to be generally quiet anyway as they don’t allow lots of cars etc into the centre.
👉 Looking to stay in Krakow? – don’t miss out on these highly-rated accommodation options.
Things to do
There is a FREE Krakow Walking Tour Daily at 10:00 AM Meeting point: Jan Matejko Square. This is run by Discover Krakow who you can also book day trips and tours with.
Old town and main square
Riverside stroll
📍Wawel castle, an iconic symbol of Poland. You can look around castle grounds for free and it has lots of buildings inside you can buy a ticket. We enjoyed the views over the river and city an the beautiful architecture . They also have a fire breathing dragon with a tale of folklore to go with it, quite a funny moment where you wait around for the fire breathing and unannounced it does it’s short 5 second burst, so be quick with those cameras!
The food spots
Okraglak – This market is famed for a local fast food ‘Zappienka’. It’s a circular market with small takeaway style pods serving up this pizza bread style dish which you can get either as a half portion or full one if you have the epitite. All sorts of toppings available to go on top and tasty!
Restauracja Polska – Miodowa 12, 31-055 Kraków, Poland
We loved this tucked away restaurant serving up traditional polish food, don’t expect a fancy joint, it’s just a strong spot for hearty dishes at a good price. The beef and potato dumplings dish was spot on.
Bani luka – cheap drinks and dumplings – decor pretty basic but at 5 quid a plate for food can’t complain!
Other places which were recomendded to us from our followers:
Smily tavern – try the zapiekanki – cool riverside foodie spot by the river and right near the apartments
Bar Smak – local fare restaurant
Chlopski jadlo
Ck browar – for food
Drinking spots
Krakow is a popular spot for day and night time drinking, as evidenced by the many stag and hen groups we spotted. Pretty chill in the daytime though so didn’t feel like a destination just for those sort of groups. We were lucky with a sunny saturday and got to enjoy
Mleczarnia – Klubokawiarnia. Ogród – We loved this traditional little cafe and bar within the jewish district of the city. historic photos on the walls, assorted decor and best of all we got the single window seat to soak in the sunshine and was great for people watching.
A skybar spot for locals – Royal Cigar Lounge
Opposite the city centre, on the other side of the river, we went along to this spot with some friends who live in Krakow. Quite the hidden gem for tourists as it seemed mainly frequented by locals. It is a large building of a former hotel which used to be one of the main hotspots back in the day, but has long been closed down. They now have large areas dedicated to food and drink scenes as well as a bowling alley and arcade, it’s open late and our highlight was the sky bar area, which had brilliant views across to the castle and landmarks of the city. The prices of drinks were a little more than an average spot, but being in Poland still cheap as for a pint of beer it was still only £5 in a high end bar with a brilliant view.
Day trip to Zakopane
click here for more info and to book!
We booked this trip on ‘getyourguide’ and the cost was around £75.
We were keen to get out of the City and explore some of the countryside of Poland, and do some fun cultuural activities whilst doing it. We spotted this trip on getyourguide and it looked perfect, taking in a road trip, mountains, trying some local food and drink, a fenicular ride and a thermal spa visit too. Here’s how our day went…
We left on a small coach from a meeting point in the central city area at around 8am. They had two pick up points and it was nice ane efficient. There was a driver and a host guide for the day who talked us through the places we were passing and the general logistics for the day, he was passionate and great at explaning all the local places and culture. We had one quick loo break at a service station on route on the two hour journey and it was a smooth ride along mainly a highway.
We passed thgrough a village famed for its traditional wooden house designs and they have also kept many of the local traditions in the village, it is a unesco spot too. We stopped just after the village at a wooden style chalet where we enjoyed trying some locally made cheese which was grilled on a firepit as well as some flavoured vodka, all the group had a cheers together, a group photo and off we went on our merry way.
We drove to Zakopane which wasn’t too much further and then we had a few hours of free time to enjoy looking around as well as our guide whatsapping our tickets included in the day trip up the mountain on the fenicular. There was two running and the queues went quickly, stunning scenes on the way up and at the top of course. We went to a restaurant at the top and enjoyed some beetroot soup and a grilled fish for lunch too. The restaurant was in the traditional wooden style and also featured a cameo from some creepy wooden dolls!
Zakopane had lots of market stalls selling their famous cheese for grilling and the sloped high street had restaurants and shops, both brand chains but also some local ones too, also a few independent coffee spots.
Last stop of the day was at the brilliant thermal spa, we were given our wristbands at the entrance and you can use these to access your lockers included in the ticket as well as keeping a bar tab if you buy any food or drinks whilst in the spa. Its a busy place but a large place too so there were enough areas to explore and find space. Multiple pools and hot tubs across different floors both outdoors and indoors areas, there was some fun slides too and the highlights for more adults cocktails and drinks whilst sitting in the spa and enjoying the mountainside views outside.
