Of all the cities in Poland that I visited during my one-week travels, Kraków was the one I…
Times visited: 2 (1 week in 2015 and 5 days in 2022)
Cities visited: Gdańsk, Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań, Wrocław and Jelenia Gora
Villages visited: Zakopane, Oświęcim and Sobieszów
UNESCO sites visited: 4
I had recently returned from my first ever solo journey around the Nordics, and I had caught the travel bug big time. I was dying to get on the road again – solo – so I didn’t hesitate to book a trip when I had a week off work in September 2015.
I chose Poland, a country I’d always been curious about. I don’t think I could’ve made a better choice, because on this journey, I met Bethann, one of the most inspirational humans in my life, and I discovered a magnificent country that soon rose to my top 10 in Europe.
I spent seven days in Poland with no downtime whatsoever. I often explored by day and travelled by night, sleeping in overnight trains plus a few nights in hostels. I hardly spent any money; Poland is so cheap to travel!
I managed to visit four beautiful cities; Gdańsk on the Baltic Sea, where I also spent some time by the sea in Sopot; Warsaw, one of the prettiest capitals in Europe; Kraków, where I connected with a fellow cat-feeder in the Jewish quarter, went hiking to a beautiful lake with Bethann and visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, an experience I still to this day haven’t been able to write about. The last city I visited was Poznań, a city that typically doesn’t make it onto people’s itineraries. I’d randomly chosen to write about the city for an assignment as a child and I’d never forgotten its name. Funny enough, Poznań turned out to be my favourite of the four cities I visited (yes, it even beat Kraków – by miles!). My trip to Poland is one of the best solo experiences I’ve ever had. I LOVED Poland and I felt constantly inspired!
I can’t believe it took me seven years to return, but it wasn’t until August 2022 that I finally did. My boyfriend and I spent two weeks travelling through Central Europe, and spent the first five days in Poland. We started with a few days in the city of Wrocław which we didn’t love quite as much as expected. Wanting to get closer to the mountains, we randomly chose Jelenia Gora as our next destination after finding it on the map. Oh, how I LOVED Jelenia Gora. The city is small, incredibly cute and close to the mountains – the Chojnik Castle in the Karkonosze National Park was just ten kilometres away! Jelenia Gora is also off the beaten track, and a great place to experience the “real” Poland.
