Krakow Travel Forum

Hi! We are in the early stages of planning vacation this year. Last year we visited Prague, Budapest & Vienna and had a wonderful time. This year, we tossed out the idea of Krakow. Do you have any suggestions on how to spend a 7 days in the area? If we stayed in Krakow for 3 days, what other cities are worth visiting for 3 or 4 days? While it would be lovely to spend more time in Prague and Budapest, the general preference is to explore a place we have never been. Is Bucharest too far away by train? Thanks for your help!

Hi I had a 4 day visit to Krakow a couple of years ago - nearby are the very worthwhile visits to the infamous concentration camps of Auschwitz and a lovely trip to Zakopane and the surrounding mountains with its cable car. I also should have visited the nearby saltmines.

Krakow is a lovely city, with more than enough to occupy 3 days of your time. As well taking as the bus to Zakopane, you could also visit the village of Tyniec with its monastery by bus.

As Bucharest is in Romania, and a substantial distance from Poland, I suspect it is not a feasible visit to attempt in 7 days.

http://www.bahn.de/p/view/international/englisch/international_guests.shtml will give you train times of potential journeys.

Ljubljana in Slovenia is a nearer (lovely) city, but still takes nearly 24 hours by train from Krakow.

More feasible options might include Berlin, Czestochowa, Lviv (in Ukraine), Brno, Bratislava.........explore the VT pages on these places and see if any appeal.

There are European train route maps here:

http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/maps.php

thats good idea to visit new places!
If you will be in Cracow you have to see also:
Zakopane (in Tatry mountains)
Wieliczka (salt mine)
Auschwitz

Lovely city is also Wroclaw!

My fav in Poland is Gdans- it is near the Baltic Sea!

Have a nice trip!!!

If you mean Krakow as 'a base':
1.Auschwitz Birkenau and Oswiecim (if you are able after visiting such place you can combain it with Pszczyna and/or Kalwaria).
2.You can make also seperate trip to Kalwaria/Lanckorona/Wadowice/Zator/Sucha Beskidzka (also Stryszow's castle and Wygiezlow/Babice's open air folk museum and castel ruins)
3.Wieliczka (also Niepolomice possible), Bochnia (and Wisnicz,Lipnica Murowana,also Debno's castel),Tarnow (can be split in two, or three)
4.Czestochowa 5.Perhaps Dobczyce and Myslenice 6.Sandomierz 7.Cieszyn (PL/CR), Bielsko Biala, Zywiec,Skoczow 8.Kielce (Jedrzejow,Tokarnia, Checiny)
9.Nowy Sacz/Stary Sacz, Krynica as a pretty old spa (Zakopane only if you want to hike, or visit Tatry mountanis)
Further: Warszawa (2.45 hours by train one way), Wroclaw (~~2.30 hours by car)
Search web pages if some of above places make sense for you.
If you want to do some hikings or see natural beauty places (and/or also combine it with visiting old/interesting stuff), or smaller interesting places than cities there are even more possibilities.
Krakow is also a good starting point for see something in Northern Slovakia or Czechia (Moravia), or to see some further places like Lodz,Zamosc,Lublin,Jaroslaw Lancut,Przemysl,Sanok and even Lviv in Ukraine.

Wow, thanks to everyone for the great tips! I have some serious researching to do! I can always count on my VT friends! :)

Definitely go to Wieliczka (salt mines) or Bochnia (salt mines) and to Zakopane.
Zakopane is good for 2 or 3 days (see my tips for great accomodation). Wieliczka and Bochnia are just a shuttle bus away from Krakow (also had great experience with 2 hotels/rooms in Krakow), great for a day trip.
My american hubby (NY) loved all those places.
We travel quite often to many different countries, but he is always happy to go to Poland "when I feel the call" ;-)

after krakow head to zakopane in the mountains....then head east to visit very old poland towns and cities like tarnow,lublin,sandomierz,zamosc and kazimierz dolnay....you wont be dissapointed...all have ancient old towns not frequently seen by western tourista

forget zakobarmy go to krynica stay at the damis i love krynica[back this year]its a spa town you,ll love it and next slowak border walk there or get the bus

do not miss zakopane...one of the best places in poland....the music,the culture,the high tatras are UNFORGETTABLE!

I agree!
I have traveled a lot and I don't know too many countries that have a 'jewel' like Zakopane.
There is just something very unique about this place.
My husband was mesmerized when I took him to Zakopane.
He always wanted to retire somewhere in Spain, now all he talks about is Zakopane :-)

I passed Zakopane (and I'm glad about it) yesterday by car on the way on my ski tour.Zakopane itself is a waist of time.It's getting more awfull with a new architecture.Go to the mountains directly if you like it. I usually (means very seldom in fact) only stay there for eating out or drinking (but Krakow is bettet for both things-hahahah).One thing can be missed there- folk music live in some restaurants (but still it's made for tourist not original stuff).
However I know that people are different (I don't judge it).

So please -I'm curious- explain me what makes Zakopane so special then?

well i said krynica nice there

Maciek,
you have to understand that Zakopane is totally different experience for person who lives few hours drive from there and have been there many times, than for person who lives in Megacity like New York.
I live 40 min from Manhattan, I work every day on Manhattan and to be honest I am fed up with Manhattan being so crowded not to mention thousends of tourists coming to visit every day.
When I have a free weekend or more, I go somewhere else (as far as I can for a matter of fact).
That still does not mean I would advice someone "Hey, skip the Manhattan, go to Boston, it is so much peaceful, and the architecture so much nicer". No, I would not.
And if you ever travel through American mountains you would start mising Zakopane, because (here) all it is, is mountains, nothing to it. Towns in the mountains look exactly like the one on the ocean shore, all the same.
And to explain it better.... I lived in Poland for 25 years (born in Wetlina-Bieszczady and later lived in Szczecin) and never went to Zakopane (visited babcia in Krakow every summer :-). However after living in US for almost 10 years Krakow, Zakopane, Sopot are my favorite large cities. Iwonicz Zdroj, Wieliczka, Sandomierz, Lodz, TOrun, Gdansk are my next on the list. Places like Bialowieza, Wysowa, small towns in Pieniny and those between Krakow and the eastern borther, Wetlina, Cisna.....and so many more I love too, but I can't really recomand them for "NewYorker" who does not speak polish, at least not on the first trip to Poland. My husband now LOVE all those tiny polish villages, but that's because he not only learned little bit of Polish, but also got acostumed to Polish culture.
So, say "hi" to Krakow for us and next time we meet for a cold beer in Cafe Camelot :-)
czesc

What makes Zakopane so special? well there are lots of special places I suppose and maybe Zakopane no more than others but i went down for a day trip and didnt regret it other than Polish bus drivers again who dont seem to believe in heating in winter - both times when i went by bus out of town the bus drivers turned the heaters off and it was freezing in winter so i had to wonder whether its an acclimitisation that me not being Polish missed out on. I hate the idea of going by bus in winter in Poland again in case that happens - the other time was when got really wet and cold spending 2 hours seeing Auschwitz in the rain. and then the bus driver turned the heater on the way home.

otherwise as for Zakopane - even if new architecture is not to your liking the old architecture is still there - up near the wooden church which is lovely to see and the old cemetary with it is interesting too are the old original wooden houses of Zapokane - i loved roaming around and looking at them. then theres the landscape and countryside around the town - take the cable car, go see other areas. I work with a girl who comes from there - she still loves the place and one of my flatmates has been telling me more about all the lovely areas out in the mountains around Zakopane.

Jawnuta nad Angiebaby- I know what you mean, and you are right in a sense.Zakopane is fine for tourists but not as a typical example of Polish mountain place, and not as the most beautiful one).I also (so something common with Angiebaby) like Peksowy Brzyzek cemetary (but not much more there, except some bars hahaha, and few houses).
I agree (but it's not necessary right) with Paulinku that Krynica is more charming in sense of style (Krupowki vs. Pilsudski boulvard).
In my sense of travelling nothing above compare with the (also) non-typical church in Lopienka (you know this place for sure Jawnuta).
My another example is from Czechia - most of tourists go to Praha (the place not bad at all, just a bit too crowdy).There is Kutna Hora- old town- pretty comparable for me (but I have a strange taste- as you can see) only about 100km with only few tourists (which is great).
Majority of forigners (and Poles) visit Zakopane or Praha.The majority has to be right.
But this is off topic thing.Never mind it.
P.S Jawnuta- I was drinking something in Loch Camelot two weeks ago so we have at least something common here as well;-).

krynica is ok lots of places nearby to like nowy sancz see church with the biggest bronze doors in europe (my friend is one of the priests)interesting builing its near the swimming pool

This is another vote in favour of Zakopane, there's no better place to go to appreciate the Tatra mountains in a close up, it's the best place to set off on a little hike in Tatrzanski Pask Narodowy. Of course it's a tourist's place, but so is Kraków, Wieliczka and so many others. And much as I hate Krupówki for the crowds, I admit I adore the XXL size cakes they serve in a few places there and it's one of the best places in Poland to go if you're on a lookout for sports equipment. I've spent quite a lor of money in sport shops there.