A couple of days in Krakov

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
0
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
4
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
4
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
4
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
5
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
50 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
369th/453
Bottom 20%
continent
Europe
country
Poland
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$80 ($100-$150 in 2020 prices)
Time of year visited
December
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Castles / Fortresses Old town Partying / Lash
All Tags
Big city Christian site UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐
Summary

Krakov is effortless old medieval beauty with its Wawel Royal Castle, Wawel Cathedral and fabulous Old Town stretching out from Europe’s largest medieval town square, and a must for a visit to Poland.  I won’t write a detailed review as I was there for lash / partying, but some high level tips:

#1 Must visits are the Castle and Cathedral, but the highlight is wandering around the Old Town, which is one of the largest and prettiest in Europe

#2 Visiting in December was nice but obviously very cold and you tend to have the greyer weather.  Summer, with the outdoor vibe and blue skies would be better

#3 Partying / lash is very strong in Krakov because of the huge number of students and the general rise in affluence of Poland.  Be sure to hit some of the Old Town bars on your visit

#4 Try the Hot beer or “grzane piwo” which is popular in Krakov.  Bit of an acquired taste, but . . . when in Rome

#5 I wish I’d taken the time for the sombre visit to Aushwitz (one hour drive from Krakov) and the supposed to be magnificent salt mines of Wieliczka (20mins drive from Krakov)

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Other Old Town Experiences around the World

A couple of days in Arequipa
Overall Score: 63

Wandering Dubrovnik’s Old Town City Walls
Overall Score: 55

Zanzibar’s 5 highlights
Overall Score: 68

A long weekend for Lisbon and the surrounding gems of Sintra and Cascais
Overall Score: 58

Wandering the Old Town of Tallinn in winter and taking the ferry over to Helsinki
Overall Score: 58

Soaking up the Cartagena Old Town
Overall Score: 53

Nights out and soaking up Havana
Overall Score: 83

Soaking up Antigua
Overall Score: 53

A few days in Penang for George Town and beaches
Overall Score: 50

Venice in January
Overall Score: 85

Salamanca’s Old Town
Overall Score: 63

Historic Seville
Overall Score: 65

Score Detail

The scores you see above are really the point of this whole site, rather than just the individual travel review you're seeing above.  They fit into a much bigger summary of 20 years of travel, across 100+ countries, from dirt-poor backpacking to the luxury end, rushed weekends to months on the road.  Every one of the 500+ experiences have a "wow factor" score and a few other scores that add up to a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score.  For more info, have a look at the About page for the travel philosophy that drives them.

But, more importantly, have a play with the map above and on the Home page to see which of these experiences rank as really Maximum Wow-factor all the way down to the proper "Gash".

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