Having never been to Poland, I was a little apprehensive about going to Krakow.  When I found out that one of the major attractions nearby was Auschwitz, I did not believe that this would be a "fun" city to hang out.  How wrong could I be??

 

It is hard to know where to start, but my favourite thing about the city was the architecture/history.  I am not a big fan of sight-seeing in general, prefering to wander through streets mainly to get from bar to cafe, sampling the various coffees (or cocktails, depending on time of day!) on offer and soaking up the local atmosphere with a spot of people watching.  As such, I never go inside churches, museume, etc.  This is a perfect city for this - the streets are mainly narrow and each building is wonderful to admire in its own way.  Many of the bars and cafes (even clubs) are in these historical places and because of the smaller rooms we often found ourselves in what felt like a rabbit warren - incredibly charming and with real character.

 

Three other things to say about Krakow:

 

1.    Food - I was expecting stodgy meatballs or overcooked veg in gravy.  How wrong could I be?  Whilst not a big fan of seafood, the food is really varied and excellent in quality.  I am vegetarian and it was great for me - yes, really!  In addition, the local kebab places seemed to be really popular - with locals as well as the English (see below)

 

2.    Nightlife - with the advance of Easyjet, Thomsonfly and Ryanair, there are quite a few English people here.  These are mainly in couples or small groups of 3 to 10 men who look as though they are in Krakow for a stag weekend.  Having said that, we did not see any trouble although if you are gay then you might prefer not to flaunt your sexuality on the street....Overall the nightlife was excellent - the Market Square was vibrant and even at midnight it felt as though it was the middle of the day.  This is probably partly because of the large local student population - 100,000 students in a city of less than 1 million people. 

 

3.    Wifi - a funny thing to be looking for in a weekend break but because I was there partly for business it was quite important.  Free wifi was available pretty much everywhere - in most bars, cafes, hotels, etc.  The only place that it was not free was at the airport.   

 

So, will I go back?  Most definitely!  There was not enough time in one weekend to experience this city to its full extent and with cheap flights available (and relatively well priced hotels) I will return.