On Friday, November 25th, I left for a weekend trip to Krakow, Poland with Dan and several of our friends. We took the night bus leaving from Budapest at 12am. This was my second night bus in Europe and I've had a good amount in other countries so I pretty much knew what to expect. I fell fast asleep and only woke up once or twice along the way. Around 7am, we arrived in Krakow.
Once we made it off the bus, we walked to the hostel that we were staying in for the weekend. A couple of our friends arrived the day before so we went to meet up with them and drop off any belongings we didn't want to carry with us for the day.
We stayed at Greg & Tom's Beer House Hostel while in Krakow and absolutely loved it! There were 8 of us in total so we had a dorm room for 10 people. The price for the night was about $15 including the stay, breakfast, dinner, and an hour of free beer! It's quite the deal and definitely a fun place to stay. I highly recommend!
After stopping by the hostel, we grabbed some breakfast to go and then walked to our pick up location for the tour we had scheduled that day. When planning this trip, I centered it around doing the tour to Auschwitz-Birkenau. I've studied the Holocaust since I was young and have visited several Holocaust museums and have even met a couple survivors. I believe it's important that all humans know and understand the horror of the Holocaust so I make it a goal of mine to do so. With all of that being said, I did my research and found a highly rated and affordable tour.
We were instructed to meet our tour group around 9am and departed shortly after. We booked our tour through Get Your Guide. The total cost was also around $15 which included the bus transportation to and from, a guided tour, and of course admission at both Auschwitz and Birkenau (they are free to visitors). The drive took about 1.5 hours and once we arrived at Auschwitz we had a short break to use the bathroom and get any refreshments before starting the tour.
The tour consists of visiting both camps- Auschwitz and Birkenau. If you ever have the chance, I highly suggest visiting. Like I said earlier, it is a chilling experience but so important to know the truth of what was happening 80 years ago. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and although you can visit alone, I recommend going with a trained tour guide. I have a few photos below this so you can get a glimpse into our visit.
After the tour, we were driven back to Krakow and although it was only around 3:30 pm, the sun was almost set. Since we were only in Krakow for the rest of day, we wanted to make the most of it. Dan and I got off the bus close to the Wawel Castle. We walked around it and were awed by its beauty.
After exploring the castle grounds, we walked towards the Old District which is where many of the sights are. We were hungry and only in Poland for a day so of course we had to get some pierogis.
On our walk back to the hostel, we ran into the Krakow Christmas Market.
After we made it back to the hostel around 5pm, we met up with our friends who had taken a different bus back from the tour. We hung out at the hostel for a bit before going out to explore Krakow more. We went back to the Christmas market and out to a couple bars for drinks.
Eventually, we went back to the hostel for dinner at 9pm and then went back out one last time to explore the castle as a group and find the famous Krakow dragon. Once we made it back to the hostel, I fell fast asleep and woke up to my alarm at 6:30 am alerting me it was time to leave for the bus back to Budapest.
We arrived back to Budapest around 2:30 pm on Sunday and had the rest of the day to prepare for the week. Overall, it was a short trip but I think we made the most. Traveling is always better with friends and I can safely say this is not the only trip this group will be going on together. Thank you for reading!
Niki, Thank you again for sharing your amazing experiences. My nieces have visited Krakow as well and we awed by Auschwitz...the pictures make me shiver and I'm not even there. It's strange to see things growing and looking "normal" in a place where such horrific things happened. I agree with you about the importance of remembering, so we can hopefully never experience such atrocities again. Thanks again...sending lots of love to you!