"Lovely, Cosmopolitan, former Polish Royal Capital" Krakow by Durfun

Krakow Travel Guide: 4,416 reviews and 10,238 photos

Krakow before touchdown...

We went to Krakow for my brother's stag-do, between 7th & 11th April.

The holiday was booked before any news of the Pope, who, close to our departure date passed away!

Some of us were worried if the possibly sombre mood all around would dampen our spirits of celebration. After all we intended to celebrate my Bro's last few weeks of bachelorhood!

Luckily, things turned out quite all right.

The day we arrived, there was a large march to a huge meadow called Blonia. To reach our accommodation, we had to cut right through the crowds, often against the crowd flow!! To safely get through that was quite a feat !!!

March to Blonia

End of an era..

The crowds were heading for a large park, for which they had to pass through the City Centre.

This was the day before the funeral.

There were large screens, etc put up in Blonia, where, the following day, all the scenes in Rome were relayed live, for people of the Pope's home-town to see.

Huge crowds out to pay their respect

All age groups out for the Pope

The sheer number of people out there was emotion-stirring. It made you realise the locals held the deceased Pope in high regard and esteem.

Pros and Cons

Pros:Lovely, compact city, full of nice architecture
Cons:Not everyone speaks English !
In a nutshell:Lovely; excellent local transport network (buses & trams)

Last visit to Krakow: Apr 2005
Intro Updated Mar 2, 2010
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Reviews (17)

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Irish Arms, now Irish Mbassy Sports Bar Nightlife (5)

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Transportation (1)
Airport to City Centre

Restaurants (1)
Best for Pizza ....

Comments (17)

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GentleSpirit Nov 20, 2012 at 5:06 AM

You saw much more of the nightlife than I did, but you described some of the other things quite well. must have been very interesting to be in Poland around the time of the pope's death. He was still everywhere when i visited.
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greekcypriot May 27, 2011 at 9:44 PM

A very nice destination. Good work too.
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balhannah Apr 13, 2010 at 3:59 AM

Looks like you really had a good time!
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Maurizioago Mar 12, 2010 at 1:30 AM

Good start! Ciao!
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davesut Mar 9, 2010 at 1:15 PM

v good tips here Darfun. guess you saw a lot more than the bars on that stag do, see you at Euromeet?
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nicolaitan Mar 9, 2010 at 10:42 AM

wonderful tips, especially the new ones filled with informative history and great pictures. would love to visit here.
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matcrazy1 Jul 15, 2009 at 8:59 AM

It's a pity I didn't know you were in Krakow the same time I was. Nice tips, especially nightlife ones.
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corymatthew Oct 7, 2008 at 5:06 AM

"Notorious at short changing you." Are you sure you were in Krakow even. That almost never happens in Krakow except at the Kebab shops.
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Jerelis Nov 2, 2007 at 11:30 AM

Nice tips of a wanna visit place. Thanx for sharing!
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jo104 Jun 30, 2006 at 8:52 AM

Head tilted have read, nice tips esp the night tips. Boy you do get around with all your trips planned this year - I'm off to CPT in Dec for xmas