Summer Holiday in Poland

Rockman

Hi
We am thinking ahead to next years summer holiday and my wife and I are considering a holiday in Poland. We will fly with Easyjet when their summer schedule comes out. Can anyone advise of a decent, reasonably priced, hotel in Krakov city centre in which we could make our base. We will want to tour the salt mines and Auschwitz concentration camp. Is it better to book the tours before we go or wait until we are there? Can anyone recommend a good tour company for these tours?


We were thinking of perhaps spending 4 days in Krakov and then maybe taking the train to Prague or Hungary or somewhere else not too far away in the region for a few days. Can anyone suggest a suitable holiday destination close by for a few days.


Thanks

Doshwaster

Krakow is a lovely place but 3-4 days is probably enough so it is a good idea to combine the trip with another city. Maybe you could fly into one and out of the other to avoid backtracking.

Lots of advice on trains from Krakow: https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Krakow.htm

Prague is about 6 hours away but if you want somewhere closer look at Katowice

Loads of hotels around the market place and central station so it really depends on your budget. I wouldn't book tours until you get there. There are lots of operators so you will get a better deal by talking to them directly. If they won't give you a discount then go to the next stall.

andrewf75

I imagine you will pay a hefty premium to book tours ahead. Best to shop around when you get there.

phatbear

Why not just pre-book the tours yourself and save yourself a load of cash?

The official website for auschwitz is here:

http://visit.auschwitz.org/

You can visit free of charge or take a guided tour, which is approx £10, and all the money goes to the organisation.

A bus to get to auschwitz is easy, and cheap, too, so why pay someone to organise this for you?

I personally would book tours as soon as possible as they only allow a limited amount of people in the camp on any day and it would be a tad frustrating if you didnt get to visit.

I found the camp a very surreal experience but i think you cant really go to krakow and not visit it.

You mention a place to stay well i can highly recommend aparthotel stare miasto which is a couple of mins walk to the old town square and 15min walk from the train station, which is how you will probably arrive in the city from the airport and the bus station, which you will need to make your way to auschwitz if you diy

Teapot55

Zakopane is very good.

AubreyMac

I went to Krakow this May and loved it.


I pre-booked all my tours and am glad I did as once that was booked I could relax and look forward to my holiday.


For the salt mine I highly recommend the miners route (I did both miners and tourist route). If you plan to do both I would def pre-book this as they are done in time slots so you don't want a big gap between them.


With Auschwitz I did a guided tour too. A month before I went several tour groups I enquired with were fully booked on the day I wanted to go. I wanted a small group (as opposed to a coach load) and was willing to pay a bit more for it.