Hi blog! It has been a while, but I’m back! Sitting in the Wroclaw airport for the 5th hour due to bad fog in Amsterdam and a delayed flight. 🤷🏽♀️
For my final trip on 2025 I traveled to Krakow and Wroclaw. I wanted to adventure outside of Amsterdam, catch up with a friend, tick a new country off my list, and enjoy some Christmas markets.
I started off in Krakow to meet up with a friend!
The first day we pretty much just yapped and wandered around town. Me talking…. crazy, right?!? We had the most incredible polish dinner I will be thinking about for a long time to come! Classic polish soup and periogis which are stuffed dumplings. I wish I could share the taste through a photo 😋 Below are some pictures of us enjoying the markets, polish pottery, and the Christmas vibes 🎄✨❤️
The following day, I slept in and went to the Schindler’s factory museum. It had great reviews so I booked a guided tour even though I have never seen the Schindler’s list movie. Overall….. it was pretty meh. I will save my ramblings, but despite the 4.5 review I wouldn’t recommend. Sometimes I forget how spoiled I am with some of the best museums in the world in my Amsterdam home.
I skipped the Auschwitz tour which is the most popular thing in Krakow to do. It is about 2 hours from Krakow and it a full 10 hour experience with a lot of tours leaving before 7am… plus, having already been to 2 concentration camp tours I opted for the in-town museum visit instead. Pro tip, I wish I would have done the WWII biking tour through town instead, but you live and you learn. Some more photos below of the markets day #2.
Next up, I said goodbye to my friend and took the 3 hour train to Wroclaw. Reviews online (aka TikTok videos) claimed Wroclaw to be the best Christmas market in Poland and the market didn’t disappoint! It was quite large and spread out so not crowded at all. Lots of festive lights, music, and food to enjoy. They had like 6 types of gluwijn and obviously I taste tested 4 of them. I loved the little pink mugs too. Otherwise, I had these potato deep fat fried on a stick with salt, my favorite Austrian sausage a kasekrainer, and of course more pirogi. Oh and mini donuts haha
I mainly decided to go to Poland after hearing raving reviews about the Wroclaw Christmas Markets and wanting to go to Poland as it is a county I haven’t been to. The food and Christmas markets overdelivered and 10/10! But outside of the markets, there is not a ton to do…. So if you go, set your expectations accordingly!
I did enjoy a walking tour of the city, seeing all of these 1200+ gnomes all over the city and the latern lighting. In the oldest part of the city the street lights are lit every day manually from a person going around town. Of course, me and many other tourists following and watched the process. Met a really nice couple on my tour from Atlanta and Finland and was super chatty with them. Also, keep in mind the sun sets now around 3:30 so lots of time to enjoy all of the Christmas markets at night!
Also, pricing and costs was a bit of a surprise factor for me. Everyone says that Poland is super cheap, but I am not too convinced. Maybe they increase prices for Christmas or maybe things have gone up a lot in the past years, but I wouldn’t call it cheap. For example, a latte and scrambled eggs at a cute bakery was €16. Pireogis and potato’s was a little over €20 🤨
All in all it was an easy going trip with a great Christmas market in Wroclaw. I feel a little underwhelmed from the TikTokers claiming krakow to be Europe’s most underrated city haha but you live and you learn.
Although, 10/10 Christmas markets and here are a few more photos.
Still waiting to get back home to Amsterdam, but can’t wait to get home and continue the holidays with my kitty Oreo ❤
Happy Holidays!
Melanie
Smiles from Miles Away 