Charming Krakow

In March 2016 I enjoyed a wonderful short break in the charming city of Krakow with my Mam, Dad and sister. Our hotel was the Radisson Blu. We checked in and were so pleased with our rooms; nice, spacious, modern rooms with very comfortable beds and a lovely view overlooking the park across from the hotel. We had a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant and throughout our stay we enjoyed the hotel bar for relaxing drinks after our days sightseeing. In terms of location the hotel could not have been better, we were located between Wawel Castle and Market Square with no more than a two minute walk from each.

I recommend that when you check in, to get a map of the tourist attractions from the reception or concierge. All the attraction descriptions are in Russian or polish and the tourist map our hotel provided us with had translated information on each attraction. We had our tours booked before we arrived and I recommend doing this and getting the hotel concierge call the day before your tour to confirm your pick up time.

Market Square is located in the centre of Krakow; the biggest market square in Europe. Krakow has a medieval feel throughout and the Cloth Hall in the centre of Market Square has been there since the Renaissance and is one of the city's most recognisable icons. It is the central feature of the main market square in the Krakow Old Town and has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978. The Cloth Hall has stalls inside for vendors to sell handmade items such as chess sets and wooden lock boxes, this adds to the charm of Krakow. All around Market Square there are excellent restaurants with some offering outside seating for you to enjoy all that is going on around the Square. There are many horse carriages ready to take you on a tour of Krakow should you wish too.

We enjoyed some lovely meals in Market Square restaurants including a nice lunch at the Hard Rock Café located next to St Mary’s Basilica. Later that evening, we entered the church just as mass was about to start, they hold mass every day and the timing was perfect because the choir were singing and it was old style haunting music that I haven’t heard anywhere, I was delighted to sit and listen to it.

I enjoyed taking the private tours from one of the many eco-friendly golf buggy tours available and I would highly recommend these. You can choose which areas of the city you would like to see and they have commentary on the attractions for you to enjoy.

I really enjoyed the Schindlers Factory. We took our time here and spent 2 hours in the museum, some of which still has original features for when Schindler used the building as his factory. The museum has so many artefacts to see and tells you the history of how the Nazi’s came to overpower the city of Krakow and treated the Jewish people in Krakow.

We arrived at Auschwitz/Birkenau Concentration Camp just as it was opening and met with our tour guide and each of us were given our own headset which our guide had a microphone to talk to us through. I highly recommend booking your tour before you leave. Our guide was fantastic, we were given so much information that we would not have gotten if we did the tour by ourselves. As a history lover, this tour was an incredible experience and I think a trip that everyone should make.

We also visited the Salt Mines in a tour group of 30 people and again, we had a great tour guide. This was the highlight for me; I was amazed by the Salt Mines. We travelled down to 400 feet which brought us down to level 3 of a total of 9, it is just amazing to see in person. The temperature was comfortable and the air is very healthy to breadth in fact they have a resort spa in the salt mines which many visitors attend to help with any respiratory problems as the air is full of natural minerals. It was such an authentic experience on our trip to Krakow, you are amazed by the beautiful sculptures including an amazing cathedral 300 feet down! The sheer depth of some chambers is just so impressive.

I had a wonderful time in this charming city. Everyone was very welcoming and the more I saw of Krakow the more I liked it. Krakow is the perfect city for a short getaway and I would highly recommend visiting all year round and in particular for the Christmas Markets in December and early January.