Krakow Holidays and Guided Tours from the UK
Krakow survived the war with its medieval street plan intact, which is why the Old Town still works the way it was drawn in 1257 — a huge square at the centre, streets running off it at right angles, and the royal castle on its limestone hill a ten-minute walk away. It is a city best seen slowly and on foot.
Our holiday here pairs the city with the places people travel to Poland to see: Auschwitz-Birkenau, the salt workings at Wieliczka, and the Tatra Mountains on the Slovak border. Flights, transfers, a private coach and a tour manager are included, so nobody has to work out timetables.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Krakow Tours
A fair amount, spread over four days. Krakow's Old Town is walked rather than driven, on cobbles and uneven setts. Auschwitz-Birkenau involves a long spell on your feet outdoors, and the salt mine begins with several hundred timber steps down. None of it is fast, and the coach is never far away — but if you have concerns about stairs, standing or distance, ask us before you book and we will talk you through each day honestly.
Return flights, transfers in the UK and at the destination, four nights at Hotel Galaxy in Krakow, four breakfasts and four evening meals, all excursions as listed, private coach travel throughout and a private tour manager for the whole tour. Lunches, drinks and anything personal sit outside that. If you want the current position on single rooms or any specific charge, ask us and we will confirm it for the departure you are looking at.
Poland uses the złoty, not the euro, despite being in the EU. Cards are accepted almost everywhere in Krakow, including small cafés and museum shops, so many travellers manage on plastic alone. It is still sensible to carry some cash for market stalls, church donation boxes, tips and the highland stalls in the Tatras. Airport exchange rates are usually the poorest you will find.
It is included in the tour, but nobody is obliged to go in. Some travellers choose to visit only the first site, or to sit quietly with the coach while the rest of the group continues to Birkenau. Say so at the time and the tour manager will make arrangements without fuss. It is a demanding few hours, and people react to it differently — there is no right way to handle the day.
The Old Town, Wawel and Kazimierz
Rynek Główny is one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, and the Cloth Hall standing in the middle of it has been a covered market since the fourteenth century. On the hour, a trumpeter leans out of the taller tower of St Mary's Basilica and plays the hejnał to each of the four points of the compass — a habit unbroken for centuries, and worth timing your coffee around.
Wawel Hill holds the royal castle and the cathedral where Polish kings were crowned and buried. South of it, the old Jewish quarter of Kazimierz is a quieter proposition: low buildings, small synagogues, courtyards, and a good number of cafés that were once workshops.
The distances in central Krakow are short, but the surfaces are old. Cobbles and setts are the rule rather than the exception, and comfortable shoes matter more here than smart ones.
Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau
The memorial and museum sits at Oświęcim, roughly seventy kilometres west of Krakow — around an hour and a half by coach. It is not a sightseeing stop and it does not feel like one. Visits are made in small groups with a museum educator, moving through the brick blocks of Auschwitz I and then across to the far larger site at Birkenau, where the wooden barracks and the railway spur remain.
Most people find the second half harder than the first. There is a great deal of standing and walking, much of it outdoors and exposed, and the site is deliberately left plain.
Photography is restricted in certain rooms and silence is expected in others. Our tour manager stays with the group throughout, and there is no obligation to see every part of the site if you would rather sit and wait.
Wieliczka Salt Mine and the Tatra Mountains
Salt was mined at Wieliczka, fifteen kilometres from the city, from the thirteenth century until the 1990s. The visitor route runs about a hundred and thirty metres below ground, reached by a long timber staircase, and takes in chambers propped with pine beams, underground lakes and the Chapel of St Kinga — altar, chandeliers and reliefs all carved from rock salt by miners in their own time. It is a steady eleven degrees or so down there whatever the weather above.
The Tatras are a different day entirely. Poland's only alpine range rises sharply south of Zakopane, with granite peaks over two thousand metres and dark spruce forest below. The cable car at Gubałówka lifts you to a long grassy ridge with the whole Tatra wall laid out opposite:
- Zakopane's timber architecture and its highland market
- Views across to Giewont and the main ridge
- Sheep's cheese, oscypek, smoked and sold from stalls along the ridge path
