As the second-largest city in Poland, the beautiful and excellently preserved Old Town boasts one of the largest town squares in Europe and a number of important cultural and historical sites. There are more affordable night buses between Budapest and Krakow, where the journey time is around 7 hours. This is, however, not the most comfortable way to travel — I speak from experience.
Krakow is quite a historically significant city and there are numerous points of interest within it. There are also a few day trips that are within easy reach of Krakow, including the Wieliczka Salt Mine and, more sobering, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. The main tourist attractions are all fairly accessible on foot, but the city does also have an extensive tram and bus network making it incredibly easy to get around.
It is also quite a bicycle-friendly city and that can be a great way to sightsee, especially if the weather is nice. Polish cuisine is probably most famous for one thing, pierogi. There are a number of affordable pierogi shops that are open 24 hours per day and it is a popular late-night snack for those coming home from a night of partying. Much like Czech cuisine, Polish food does tend to be quite meat-heavy with large additions of potatoes and cabbage.
Krakow is also where the bagel was invented, and there are many bakeries and cafes where you can sample this popular breakfast item. Most notably in the Old Town, bars and clubs in Krakow seem more geared toward its foreign visitors, playing generic music and exploiting drunk tourists with outrageous cover charges and overpriced and watered-down drinks.
If you want to avoid this kind of place but still want to go out, there are more options outside of the Old Town. It is incredibly backpacker-friendly, with many hostels including breakfast and dinner in their nightly costs.
Restaurant prices, especially in the Old Town, can be on the more expensive side. Booze prices also are the most expensive of the cities covered in this article and are more akin to what one might pay in Western Europe.
If you need some help, these are our top choices:. They offer a delicious free breakfast and nightly social activities that are a great way to meet other travellers and really encourage you to make the most of your time in the city.
They also have a friendly, local staff who can give great recommendations of things to do in the city. Click here to see the latest reviews and rates on Hostelworld!
They have a range of comfortable and clean rooms, hour staff and check-in, and breakfast is included in the room rate. Click here to read the latest reviews and prices on Booking. Click here to browse the best deals on hotels in Krakow!
Divided in two by the Danube river, the tranquil and residential Buda side on the west bank can offer a nice escape from the vibrant and metropolitan Pest side to the east. Budapest is located in north-central Hungary and is easily accessible by train or bus from most major cities in the region and other smaller cities in Hungary. There are direct connections to and from Budapest to cities like Belgrade, Cluj-Napoca, Bratislava, and Vienna and also a number of overnight train and bus services make sure to book these in advance on Omio to save money!
Budapest also has a large international airport that services a number of major airlines. It is also the hub for budget airline Wizz Air, meaning that there are frequently great flight deals to the city from elsewhere in Europe. Due to its location and connections to other cities, Budapest is also a fantastic place to commence or end a Central or Eastern European trip.
There are numerous options available as to where to go after Budapest and it is the perfect jumping-off place to explore everything that this incredible region has to offer.
Those who travel to Budapest are spoilt for choice when it comes to things to do, as there are myriad points of interest for any tourist. Hungarian food is unique to that of other countries in the region, much like the Hungarian language itself. While many might associate Eastern and Central Europe with bland boiled potatoes and cabbage or cold purple soup, I can assure that this is not the case in Hungary. Most people are familiar with goulash and chicken paprikash and notice that Hungarian food has significantly more spice and flavour than other cuisines from the region.
Nightlife in Budapest is internationally famous, most notably for its unique ruin bars. These quirky establishments generally inhabit previously abandoned buildings and can be filled with alternative art and decor.
I have been recently considering a trip to Prague next year, but your post has been very enlightening. I definitely need to look into Poland — never though about visiting there before! I visited Prague nearly two years ago and loved it, but I was surprised at just how very touristy it was and that the price of beer was more than in Spain everyone keeps saying beer is delicious and cheap in the east right.
I should start checking out flights! I went to Prague near Christmas time last year and I loved its winter festivities the christmas markets, the roasted chestnuts! I was thinking about Poland lately, some of my friends went to Warsaw and loved it, but Krakow looks like a good alternative :.
Warsaw is also great. Actually — Poland in general is great. You should definitely head there for a visit! Loved your pictures and thanks for the great advice! Thanks Autumn! The difference is tourist numbers is unbelievable. Prague is super pretty and of course this is why people want to experience it, but Krakow is so worth visiting as well! You definitely convinced me!! What a great post! But the city was full. Especially the old town.
I think I need to go there too :. Thanks Jana, Warsaw is lovely too! I love how you made your case! Of course, Prague is on the list too…how can it not be? Hi, I am native Krakauer and I love this city. And that is not true the town is empty. It is full of tourists. I dont know how it is possible that you didnt notice it.
But maybe it depends on a time or a day weather. And we have lots of events, music is everywhere, restaurants are full and locals are also there, of course. However it is sad when foreigners dont know how amazing history is there.
It is not enough to come for one day. So we have Polish kings tombs in the Castle cathedral, too. And not only Jewish cementery but Polish historic hudge cementery found in with amazing architecture of graves. And for us, locals it is sorry to hear often when a foreigner is coming here only to see Auschwitz or Jewish ghetto.
The Old Town and its architecture is lovely, the Castle and surroundings offer lots of small streets to explore and fun places to poke around, and you can take a day trip to smaller towns like Cesky Krumlov, Pilsen, or Olomouc. Now, seeing as I've spent the last two years living in Poland, I'm partial to Krakow The city itself can be seen in a day or two, but there are also excursions to Auschwitz, the Wieliczka Salt Mines, or Zakopane.
While there are definitely tourists in Krakow, it feels much less crowded. The town square is the largest medieval town square in Europe, and it's constantly alive with people! Wawel Hill, with Wawel Cathedral, gives you a great perspective on historic and modern Catholicism in the country, and the Oskar Schindler.
I am going for 3 weeks! I picked cinque terre because it is a little different, yet not too far south where I hear Itallian men are more aggressive and travel time will be much longer plus, so much to see I may need to save for a separate trip. Just my thoughts. My main goal my first trip is to just take lots of photos and take in everything I can!
I personally liked Krakow better. Both cities are pretty touristy, but parts of Prague can be almost overwhelmingly so. If you've visited a Disney park in the last decade, do you recall how it seems like there's a gift shop after you exit almost every ride?
That's the impression I had in parts of Prague. However, Krakow is also an outlier on a trip that is already somewhat tight- 3 weeks may seem like a lot of time, but your wishlist is spread out over a very wide area. You will experience several very long travel days as it stands. Overall, much cheaper than cities like Dublin, London and Paris and probably on par with Malaga. A bit less than Lisbon and a bit more than Budapest. You can also pay a bit more or less depending on your budget and requirements.
Overall, we have to say that the accommodation in Krakow is more plentiful and slightly more cheap. I was very impressed with the food an options in Prague. As a solo traveller, I like places that I can sit down on my own and have a meal without worrying about sitting at a 4 person table in a packed establishment standing out like a sore thumb for being on your own and there was places in abundance just like this in Prague.
Prague also has a lot more high end restaurants to go and sit down with the family for a more expensive, high end meal like the 2 story floating boat restaurant on the river. Also keep in mind that the booze is cheap and plentiful in the Czech Republic. On food, Prague is going to be very hard to beat. One of the first things I noticed in Krakow was the lack of variety in restaurants I had seen in Prague.
There was a lot of places around the square all geared for big numbers and not really for the solo traveller but I did find a few places and the people working there were friendly and chatty which was a bonus.
The food in Krakow was cheap but not that cheap. One of the things I like most about Prague is the relaxed atmosphere on the streets. There is none of the aggro and micro-aggressions that I have seen so much in Dublin and it really adds to the attraction of the city as a whole.
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