Krakow - Charming Poland

Yay, after Budapest in August it was time for an extended weekend in Krakow! Fun fact is that I booked Krakow directly when I returned from the SURP Trip in March from Warsaw as I did like Poland that much already after the first visit :-).

Flight was very easy ( no wonder when flying with EasyJet haha) and soon we arrived on Thursday evening in Krakow. By taking a taxi it took us about 30 minutes to the city where we booked a cool apartment (in Krakow you usually book apartments instead of hotels) right in between the old town and the jewish quarter - perfect location having everything in walking distance.

What we have done during our stay: 

• Free Walking Tour Old Town
• Free Walking Tour Jewish Quarter
• tasted various, delicious polish food
• tasted various, delicious and not-so delicious vodka :-)
• Thaimassage as it was directly next to the hotel and perfect relaxation after many hours of walking.

What we have NOT done during our stay:

• visiting Schindlers factory (you need to book upfront and we were not that prepared to check what you could do in Krakow)
•  a tour and visit to Birkenau - Auschwitz - takes you about 2 hours one way to get there from Krakow. I am sure it is very interesting but on the other hand I did not have the need to go there and facing another chapter of recent, dark history.

What I can recommend:

• Free Walking Tour - I found the Jewish tour more interesting than the old town
• Stradonia Serviced Apartments- probably not the cheapest in town, but the apartment was nice and clean and perfectly located to discover the town.
• Frania Cafe- too delicious and next to the apartment - we went there twice - perfect to start the day
• Miod Malina  very delicious, classy but not too sophisticated. 
• Dobra Kassa Nasza: something completely different but very tasty and less heavy than other traditional meals as they are specialized in groats - meals.
• Eat pierogis in all varieties and tastes till you drop - there is even a  24 hours pierogeria! 
• Try other local food such as Oscypek (Smoked cheese with bacon on grill) or Zapiekanka, a typical fastfood coming from the communism time - very delicious too.
• Poland is a soup country! No matter if beetroot or mushroom -  I love them all! 
• Milkbar Tomasza -if you want to get the experience of a breakfast place with cheap offerings (but anyways, everything is cheap there), very delicious too. Milkbars used to be the place where people went to eat and drink something as it was affordable for anyone. It is very delicious, but personally I found the one we went a bit overhyped (maybe because it is a recommendation of all the local tour agencies).
• Chimney Cake Bakery - sweet lovers will be on cloud9! 

Last but not least I can really recommend to use Revolut as the travel card / app - exchange rates are so much better & it makes it easy when you can just split bills with your travel buddy :).

Krakow compared with Warsaw is probably more romantic with beautiful buildings. It has an interesting story as well and I enjoyed every minute of Krakow. But I also have to say Krakow is much more touristy and a hotspot for tourists around the world, I don't want to know how the city looks when there is high-season. 
In any case, I hope to be back one day in Poland as I really like it, especially the food :)