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Where to go from Krakow in June?

My husband and I have 12 days left in Central/Eastern Europe this June. We will arrive in Krakow for the first of 12 days. My plan was to spend up to four days there including a day trip to Zakopane and another to Auschwitz-Birkenau combined with the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Then, I am uncertain of our next destination. Originally, I planned to do Vilnius and Riga with a possible city on the way, maybe Warsaw, although it is not a must-see. However, the travel time is long, and there isn’t a sleeper train to Vilnius.

Should I stick with this plan? Does anyone have any other ideas for this area of the world?

Because I read this forum and know the questions coming…We are mid-fifties and active. We have done most of the Western capitals in previous trips. We will have been to London, Budapest, Vienna, and Munich on this trip before heading to Krakow. We are not big into museums because of the time factor. Some of our favorite cities include Tallinn, Bergen, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Venice, London, Rome, and Luscern. We are comfortable taking public transportation of any kind. We love to see architecture, eat good food, visit markets, and spend all day out exploring. We are fine with spending one or two days in a place.

Posted by
21213 posts

How about Lviv? The bus from the Polish town of Przemysl on the border its less than a 3 hour trip to Lviv (Lvov). From Krakow Lviiv is direct in under 7 hours by bus. Last time I checked Lviv is a Level 3 with the US State Department and that puts it with places like Egypt and a lot of Central America, Jamica (I think) and parts of Mexico.

Lviv: https://youtu.be/-wS8dMgyYio?si=ECe-VgqkBP7I1r_w
No visa or anything special to visit ... except a local medical insurance polic (about $10) that you can buy here: https://visitukraine.today/?srsltid=AfmBOopv0rrkkCBNjbUkpd0rYMVp0zQJAUasN-1GBo_stWw--OZnUYB4

Stans idea, there is a sleeper from Krakow

Posted by
259 posts

Wrocław- one of the most interesting cities in Poland

Posted by
612 posts

With two day trips, I'd stay longer in Krakow. And Gdansk is worth a couple of days.

Posted by
8134 posts

While I would normally concentrate on Poland while already there, Prague is a major omission from your list of Major Cities of Europe. (Not criticizing you; I am very sorry I did not visit Prague much sooner than I did.)

I liked Wroclaw fine, but it is not the historic or attraction equal of Prague. We skipped the salt mine, and really enjoyed a private excursion to the two major Churches of Peace, from Wroclaw.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/four-cities-in-poland-2019

Posted by
873 posts

We're going in July) so I'm not speaking from personal experience, but I just wanted to mention what many people here have already noted. It's very difficult, emotionally, to combine the salt mine with Auschwitz-Birkenau. Many people recommend against it. Since you have a few days to play with, you might want to consider adding a day in Krakow so you could do both, but on separate days. There's a continuing thread on the Poland called "Why am I going to Auschwitz?) that's pretty interesting.

Posted by
4206 posts

Again Mr E fails to mention Lviv is in Ukraine.

I agree with qq, would suggest heading west to Wrocław, my favorite city in Poland!

Posted by
21213 posts

And Stan didn't mention Prague was in the Czech Republic. Like Stan I spoke to the audience. Your point? If you had to Google it, my apologies, not my intent to slight you.

Posted by
15 posts

Good thoughts already. Thank you. We have already done Prague on a previous trip. It was amazing, but we are trying to see some new places. I don't feel comfortable with Ukraine, which is a shame. I had Wroclaw on a maybe list, but someone from this forum said he didn't like it as well. I also looked at maybe Dresden and Berlin. I really had my heart set on Riga, but after adding Munich to the earlier part of the trip, it may be too far to get to.

Posted by
1313 posts

If you have 12 days and are already in Poland, I would suggest Warsaw and Gdansk. Warsaw has a modern, big city feel, and a vibrant food scene. Gdansk offers a number of day trip possibilities, including Malbork Castle and Torun - which could also be an overnight on the way to or from. The beach resort of Sopot is a suburb of Gdansk, if you wanted to relax for a few days.

Easy train trips of approx. 2.5 hours to/from Warsaw and Gdansk.

I would plan on allowing a full day for Auschwitz.

Posted by
21213 posts

There are so many good people here with good recommendations that I try and think out of the box, just to throw a new idea into the mix.

When getting over to Europe was not nearly as often as I wanted the idea was to get to places that interested me. If the options were to get to where I was really interested on a plane or “sort of interested” on a train I was on the plane. Life is too short. So it wasnt unusual for me to go to GoogleFlights and type in my last stop to "Europe" non-stop, under $100 and under 2 hours and see what pops up.

With that in mind. Here are some Discount air flights from Krakow. Start under $100 and less than 2 hours, so the equivalent to 5 hours on a train (so no further away than Prague, for instance). Best if you would work into the route you are taking on the way home.

My first choice would be fly to Burgas, spend a night or two, then up the coast to Nessebar for a few nights. But the flights don’t go to Burgas every day, so just as good is Varna for a night or two before going down the coast to Nessebar.

The flight from Burgas or Varna to where you change to return home will probably not add much if any to the cost of the holiday. I know a good guide company that can set up the land between the towns.

Nessebar one of the most beautiful and historically interesting villages in the Balkans https://youtu.be/MJFx7R4IgLY?si=LlNjY9PbJK9wuyFf
Burgas, very similar to Varna https://youtu.be/O8xnwAA-tuQ?si=jNe9bUtI7TXvq-UA
Varna, sort of a Balkan lifestyle destination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFq9AJL2xTwBurgas

Other options were:
Zadar and Dubrovnik also come up, maybe Dubrovnik?
Thessaloniki, Athens and Istanbul also come up.
Podgorica (Budva, Kotor, Tara Canyon, Ulcinj)

Posted by
15 posts

Thank you for all of your great ideas. We decided to hop on a plane again and go to Croatia. We are doing Split, maybe Hvar, and Dubrovnik. I couldn't book a direct flight (the airline for the direct flight was being temperamental). We will also have a 12-hour daytime layover in Amsterdam. I have always wanted to get back to Amsterdam. Thanks again for your helpful comments.