How to Make the Most out of a Trip to Krakow, Poland

How to Make the Most out of a Short Trip to Krakow, Poland

Place to Stay:

I highly recommend the Greg & Tom Beer Hostel. This hostel is a very clean, cheap, friendly place that offers free Traditional Polish dishes for dinner every night as long as you sign up for it during the day at the reception desk. The staff is extremely helpful and it is so easy to meet people no matter if you show up in a big group or by yourself. I met many people there that made my stay that much better. Take the suggestions of the staff about what to do, where to eat, etc.

Click Here to Access Their Website

Address: Floriańska 43, 31-019 Kraków, Poland

Phone:+48 12 421 28 64

Places to See:

1. Auschwitz: Take a bus to Auschwitz (about $7 US dollars roundtrip and 1.5 hours each way) for a day to visit the main Nazi concentration camp. Take the tour in your language for about $10 US dollars. It is something so amazing that you will never forget. History actually comes to life. I have a very short attention span but I never once lost interest during the entire 4 hour tour. Words cannot describe this experience. Take a day to go there!!

Below: The entrance to the main camp

Below: Inside the camp, the different buildings.

Below: The camp of Burkenow (sp?) The railroad enters into this large camp with the two biggest gas chambers. Breathtaking.

Eating is always important!

1. Eat at U Babci Maliny! Getting into the restaurant is a bit strange. All you see from the road is a sign, similar to the picture below, then you walk through the huge doors into a museum looking place and walk straight until you can turn left into a courtyard and see a sign that again looks like the one below and walk through the doors on your left, go down the stares, follow the hallway to the right and enter the doors on your left to find many picnic tables. The entrance was interesting and made us a bit nervous but the food was to die for! We each ordered different items and everything was delicious and cheap once again! Leave it to Poland to have the most amazing food you will ever try in your life for the lowest price!

Click Here to Access The Website (sorry it's all in polish)

Address:

17 Ulica Slawkowska and 38 Ulica Szpitalna., Krakow, Poland (Stare Miasto)

Below is an example of the food we tried! Ruski Pierogies, Polish Potatoes, and another amazing dish! YUMMY!!!

Below: Inside of the restaurant. Great place for groups!

2. Go to the Chocolate stores! Below is a picture of the chocolaterie right across the street from our hostel. The chocolate was cheap and delicious and the people inside were super friendly! They also have different chocolate drinks and a place to sit down and enjoy your food!

They also have colorful chocolates!

Fun Things to Do!

1. Do anything & everything your hostel suggests! We went on the pub crawl which gave us drinks & entrance to all the different pubs, along with getting to meet some awesome people! We had a fabulous night & I made many new friends! The Greg & Tom Beer Hostel really knows what they're doing!

2. Visit the Beautiful Sites in Krakow! Unfortunately, I did not have as much time in Krakow as I would have liked but I believe they have a free walking tour... DO IT!!! I cannot tell you how beautiful this city is!!

Even gloomy, early mornings are absolutely beautiful and made saying goodbye to Krakow very difficult!

How to get there? FLY!

Easy Jet is a very nice airline... as long as you don't bring more than a backpack or plan to eat or drink on the plane! The seats are comfy, the service is nice, however anything additional will cost you a bunch of money! Who cares! Getting to and from Krakow on this airline was cheap and totally worth it!

Reserve Your Eurotrip Here Today!

Goodbye Poland, Until Next Time! (There WILL be a next time!)

8 Things to Do & See in Warsaw Poland

8 Necessary Things to Do & See in Warsaw, Poland

Before Naming these things, I highly suggest one stay at the "Fest Hostel." 

It is extremely cheap, clean, & the man who runs this hostel is absolutely awesome! It is located right next to old town warsaw and the newer downtown area!

Address:

Oboźna 7, 00-332 Warszawa, Poland ‎

+48 506 285 286

 Click here to go to the Fest Hostel Website in English

1. Take the Free Walking Tour of Old Warsaw from the man or women under the orange umbrella! There is a free tour everyday that meets by the huge column in the middle of old town warsaw, right by where the picture below was taken. Although this tour is free, it is an amazing experience and the guides are very passionate about what they are showing you. They work on a tip-only basis, however they typically have to pay a certain amount per person on the tour (this means each person that STARTS the tour, even if people don't stay with the guide till the end, the guide must pay the company for that person). AKA you should tip well. Obviously, it does not need to be an insane amount, unless you absolutely loved it, but the equivalence of $7-15 american dollars per person would be appropriate.

Click here to visit their Facebook page and see the daily times!

The bell displayed below is one of the places on the tour. In this spot, people are supposed to put their hand on the top, and hop on one foot around the bell a certain amount of times for goodluck.

Below: a lovely passage during the tour

At the end of the tour, our guide took us to this bar and explained to us how the polish drink their vodka. They eat very fatty foods then take it in ice cold shots with one quick push down their throat and into their bellies. The fatty food helps them to not get drunk too fast & to not have hangovers.

Of course, we had to try this. The guide gave everyone a slice of bread with lard (fat) & a pickle on top, right before our ice cold shot of vodka. I hate lard & pickles but I had to try it, & surprisingly it was delicious! This was a great end to a fabulous free tour!

2. Eat Pierogis!!! (AKA polish dumplings). Below is the place we first tried them. Ask your tour guide for the perfect place (not the touristy ones). Try as many different kinds as possible! They are all amazing and nothing is expensive in Poland, but the food is incredible! The restaurant we chose was Pierogarnia na Bednarskiej which was recommended by our tour guide and was absolutely delicious.

Click here to view their menu in English 

(remember these prices are in polish money. There is about 3 polish currency to 1 US dollar. 12 polish currency = 4 american dollars)

Hours & Address:

12:00 - 20:00
ul. Bednarska 28/30
Warszawa
tel. 022 828 03 92

There were so many types, we couldn't choose just one. We got 9 (half orders) of different types and split them between myself and my two friends... which was perfect because each half order contained 3! There were spicy ones like the red one, ones with spinach like the green one, dessert ones with the cream on top, and my absolute favorite periogi ruski (russian periogis with mashed potatoes and cream cheese inside).

As you can see, there are many different types for everyone to enjoy!

3. Venture around to the newer part of the town at night. There are many people walking the streets shopping and eating. There are beautiful buildings like the one below to admire during this time. It is a fun experience and atmosphere that you don't want to miss seeing!

4. Eat at one of those random restaurants for an adventure! We chose to eat at "The Mexican." We were looking for some good mexican food, but as poland is far away from Mexico, it was nowhere near my idea of Mexican food but was still pretty good. Below is the burrito I ordered and received cabbage and rice on the side. It was delicious but not what I expected. I also ordered a margarita, excited that someone in Europe actually knew what that was, but was surprised to taste something with vodka in it & my "salt" was actually sugar. Pretty much, I was given a daiquiri but it was great non-the-less and totally worth it for the experience. In the middle of dinner the lights went off and we heard a table scream with excitement. We saw the table stand up and a cake with candles was brought to the table and they sang a loud happy song in polish and were all screaming. It was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen but it was awesome!

5. Visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum. It is very hard to follow the order of the museum but it is interesting to see. This is probably not the place for children as there is a good amount of reading, but there are also short films, radio edits, and many things to see. Definitely hit this up if you are a history fanatic!

6. Take buses to places you can't walk. Most places are walkable, however, if you are on a time schedule as we were, the bus system is cheap and goes many different places. Talk to the person at your hostel or your tour guide to figure out which buses you need to take where. If you're staying at the Fest Hostel, the man (Martin) is extremely helpful and eager to talk to you about anything.

7. Visit the Landmarks noted on your map. There are many beautiful places to be seen in Warsaw! Don't take these for granted & make an effort to see them!

8. For late night (8-12ish) food or drinks, eat at Grawitacja Klubokawiarnia. Don't ask me how it's pronounced but this place has great food and many students go here. This is also a bar scene and is very close to the fest hostel. The people here speak English and the food & drinks are pretty cheap. Martin (the man who runs fest hostel) can give you discounts on the food as well.

Address: Browarna 6 00-311 Warsaw, Poland +48 510 501 051

All in all, Warsaw is one of the most amazing places to visit! It is extremely cheap and you are sure to have a good time! Don't be afraid to ask questions to those who speak English and explore as much as possible! Crazy Adventures sometimes make for the best stories!

From Vichy, France to Berlin, Germany

Monday Morning around 11:30 am we were on the road to Paris from Vichy (railroad that is). After a 3 hour train ride, we arrived to a typical day in Paris, rainy. Paris isn't all that far from London after all. Jacob had wanted to head to the eiffel tower, so with our suitcases we took the Metro to arrive at Bir Hakeim, the metro station next to the eiffel tower. We walked through the horrible rain, which kept getting progessively worse, and we were some of the only people at the eiffel tower. We got the typical picture and headed to find some food. 

If you've ever been to France, you know that this is no easy task, especially when trying to stay on a budget. After awhile, the rain got so bad you could barely see five feet in front of your face so we stopped at the first cafe we found, Salon de The. We all ordered sandwiches for about 7 euros, and they weren't even that good. Jacob, however, did not receive what he ordered. Instead they gave him a salmon sandwich that was about 7 euros more than his choice. Being a nice guy, he told the waiter he would eat it anyways. When the bill arrived, Jacob immediately regretted that decision because he was charged for the salmon sandwich that he didn't even want to begin with. Clearly, Jacob was no happy camper. 

Finally, we went to the Orly airport and hopped on our plane with a final destination of Warsaw, Poland. Two hours later we were in Berlin around 11:30 pm with only a backpack & no place to sleep for an 18 hour layover (yes, we thought that was a good idea). After 4-5 miserable hours of sleeping on top of heaters in the airport, we woke up, grabbed some starbucks, and headed out to explore the city. We originally planned to walk to everything to save money, but when a man approached us and showed us the distance and told us we could pay 16 euros for a group bus pass for the entire day, we each paid our 4 euros and jumped on the bus. When we arrived downtown, our first mission was to find the berlin wall. This, however, was no easy task. We got lost about every 5 minutes and had to let Jacob and Zach stare at the map to decide where we were and where we should head. I had a great time just tagging along as you can see.

After about an hour of being lost we finally arrived! It was incredible to see the wall still set up & read the stories written around it. It seemed so surreal that someone could set up a wall to keep people in a city. The distance between the two walls was much further than I had pictured, probably a little less than a football field apart. I can imagine seeing my loved one die trying to escape. It's crazy how many people died attempting. I was very glad to be able to see this landmark from history.

Next, we headed to see all the pretty buildings we had passed on our way. Women kept coming up to us asking if we spoke English so we could sign their paper or tell us about their hard life and ask for money. It's sad to see, but it's impossible to give money to everyone who asks.... so we tried to ignore them and pass on. This church was gorgeous. We tried to walk in but it was a paid tour and we didn't have time to do a tour.

One thing I learned about Germany is that everywhere you go, there are bizarre signs, stores, and objects. Below is just one example of the things we saw. Germany is such a different world.

We found another building, I believe this was the Justice building. The architecture everywhere in Europe is absolutely incredible.

Our next stop was the president's house. Naturally, we all took jumping pictures in front of the president's house. This is comparable to the white house in the United States.

Our last stop in Berlin was this beautiful tower just down the road from the president's house. It was in the middle of a roundabout and all the way around it were statures of famous military officials. It was beautiful. As it was our final stop, we paid 2 euros to climb to the top.

After what seemed like a thousand stairs, WE MADE IT! Our trip to Berlin had been complete and we were able to look and see all the beautiful places we had seen during the day from one spot. It was incredible and very refreshing. Back to the airport we headed to catch our flight to Warsaw, Poland!