Krakow

[malteser]

Off to Krakow for 4 days on Thursday. Started to make some planning tonight but it appears tickets are sold out for Schindler’s factory.
Anyone knows if they have tickets at the door?

Wawel Castle – looking at the ticket option, not sure if i am missing something, but couldn’t see where to select the day for the visit.

Also planning on visiting the salt mines.

Any suggestions for restaurants, coffee places, anything we shouldn’t miss.

Thanks

[freckles]

Yes, Schindlers tickets can usually be bought on the day, but involves turning up and queueing for a lengthy time. The alternative is to look on say Trip Advisor for a tour.

[jj]

@malteser, you haven’t mentioned Auschwitz/Birkenau. If you haven’t been, you should go. Schindler’s factory is fascinating but the two camps are the things that cannot be missed. Btw, the factory barely mentions Schindler, so you will be disappointed if you’re looking for a museum dedicated to him. Instead, it’s a museum that tracks WW2 from Poland’s perspective, a much broader perspective and equally fascinating.

I don’t recall the specific places where we ate and drank other than our hotel (Indigo) which was very good. Rather than pre-booking, we dropped into the most promising place we saw when we felt hungry, and the quality was universally excellent. Unless you have a specific destination restaurant in mind, I wouldn’t overthink it.

[The Savage Squirrel]

As you’re interested in the history then the other remaining fragments and locations of the jewish ghetto are well worth visiting. Many are quite subtle, even the two wall fragments, so a really good guidemap or a walking tour are the way to go.
The old gestapo prison and the ghetto Eagle pharmacy are both very small but fascinating and (like many things) cost next to nothing to visit.
Everyone is aware of Auschwitz but that’s a way away. There’s a large park and nature reserve on the site of the (largely destroyed to hide evidence) Plaszow camp right within Krakow, round the back of the train station with various memorials and bits of info’.

Nowa Huta is a communist planned Socialist Realist suburb that will be interesting if you also want to explore the Soviet era history.

The central square is of course the highlight of Krakow. Sit back and have a beer or two and enjoy. Try the Zurek while you are there; available basically everywhere – the rye soup served inside bread; it’s generally one of the best items on the menu at most places despite being a bit of a cliche, and one of the cheapest too. I love it.

[Supergers49]

I’d recommend visiting…

Zapiekanki Królewskie – for a delicious Zapiekanki
Czarna Kaczka – for a tasty duck
Pijalnia wódki i piwa – for vodka

[kiley]

Krackow is a great place, apart from already mentioned,(saltmine,Aushwitz) have u considered visiting a sinogoque?

It was never on my list but I’m so glad I visited Temple Sinogoque. It was used as stables during WWII so have some interesting back stories and for me was very sobering.

I never planned a trip a sinogoque, but it was part of a private city tour in a golf buggy. There we travelled with 4 children back then do 6 passengers wanst bad value.

Also, the Square in the center is I think Europe’s largest city center square and apart from NOT being prohibitively expensive, it was a great place to explore and soak up the atmosphere!

Have a great trip

[Annie]

If walking along the river there’s a spectacularly ugly building under a block of flats that serves great coffee/cake/ beer. The name was Forum I think. Lots of deck chairs outside. It’s on the other side of the river from the old town.
Definitely don’t miss the salt mines but perhaps book your own tickets and go by taxi or bus rather than a tour. It’s 15 minutes from town.
We had a nice Polish meal at Bar Smak on Karmelicka. Tiny restaurant which doesn’t take bookings. Homely local feel rather, not fine dining.