Poland

Poland, in a few days

From Kraków and its medieval market square to rebuilt Warsaw and Hanseatic Gdańsk, by train: the map, what is worth booking, everything that costs nothing, and where to sleep at three budgets.

Day by day

1

Kraków

Days 1-3

The royal capital until the court moved to Warsaw at the end of the sixteenth century, and largely spared by the war. The Main Square is one of the largest in medieval Europe, with Wawel castle above the Vistula.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Old town and Wawel Castle, guided2h · from €18
  Two hours from the Main Square along the Royal Way to the hill where Polish kings were crowned and buried.
• Wieliczka Salt MineHalf day · from €25
  Half a day out of Kraków, about fifteen kilometres away, with a guided descent into the chapels and chambers of the salt mine.

✦ Free to visit

• The Main Market Square (Rynek)
• Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter
• The Cloth Hall (Sukiennice)

📲 Book things to do in Kraków on GetYourGuide

2

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Day 4 · 🚆 Train 25 min

Salt was mined here from the thirteenth century until 1996. The visitor route goes down to 135 metres, past chapels, lakes and statues cut from rock salt, and the mine has been UNESCO-listed since 1978.

🎟️ Worth booking

• The salt mine Tourist Route (UNESCO)3h · from €25
  About three hours underground on the Tourist Route, which reaches 135 metres below the surface.
• The Chapel of St KingaIncluded · from €9
  An underground church carved entirely from salt, chandeliers included, 101 metres down.

✦ Free to visit

• The salt cathedral
• The underground lakes
• Carvings left by the miners

📲 Book things to do in Wieliczka Salt Mine on GetYourGuide

3

Warsaw

Days 5-6 · 🚆 Train 2h30

Capital since the end of the sixteenth century, and around 85% destroyed by 1945. The old town was rebuilt after the war from paintings and drawings, and is UNESCO-listed.

🎟️ Worth booking

• The rebuilt old town, guided2h · from €15
  How a district flattened in 1944 was put back together after the war, down to the colours of the facades.
• Warsaw Rising Museum2h · from €8
  The 63 days of the 1944 uprising against the German occupation, told through film, sound and a full-size replica of a Liberator bomber.

✦ Free to visit

• Łazienki Park
• The Royal Route
• The Palace of Culture and Science
• The banks of the Vistula

📲 Book things to do in Warsaw on GetYourGuide

4

Gdańsk

Day 7 · 🚆 Train 3h

A Hanseatic port on the Baltic, where the Solidarity movement was born in the shipyard in 1980. The Main Town was rebuilt facade by facade after the war.

🎟️ Worth booking

• The Hanseatic old town, guided2h · from €15
  The merchant houses, the gates and the churches of the Main Town, and the trade that paid for them.
• Museum of the Second World War2h · from €7
  Opened in 2017, not far from Westerplatte where the first shots of the war were fired, and one of the most complete museums on the subject in Europe.

✦ Free to visit

• Long Street and Artus Court
• The medieval crane on the Motława
• Sopot beach and pier
• Baltic amber in the shops

📲 Book things to do in Gdańsk on GetYourGuide

Worth sorting before you go

PKP Intercity trains · Fast, comfortable and cheap between the big cities: Kraków to Warsaw takes about two and a half hours, Warsaw to Gdańsk under three. Seats are reserved, so book a few days ahead in summer.

📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly

🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta

🚗 Car hire
Compare the agencies before you land.
Compare · Booking

💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut

🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer

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Flavours & local habits

🍽️ Worth tasting

• Pierogi: dumplings filled with potato and cheese, meat, cabbage or fruit.
• Bigos: hunter's stew of sauerkraut, cabbage and several meats, better on the second day.
• Żurek: a sour soup made with fermented rye, often served with sausage and egg.
• Placki ziemniaczane: potato pancakes fried crisp, with sour cream or goulash.
• Vodka and kompot: the first drunk cold and neat, the second a homemade drink of stewed fruit.

⚠️ Best avoided

• Refuse dynamic currency conversion (DCC) at cash machines and card terminals, and use bank ATMs rather than the independent ones.
• Book Auschwitz-Birkenau well ahead: entry is by timed ticket and summer slots go weeks in advance.
• Keep some złoty in cash: cards are widely taken, but not by every small shop or stall.
• Memorial sites ask for silence and respect: keep your voice down and think before taking photos.

Words that help

English ↔ Polish

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The practical page

Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/poland

Packing checklist

Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.