Long Weekend in Krakow

From Billund, you can fly directly with Wizz Air to southern Poland and the city of Katowice. The flight takes less than an hour and a half, so it’s a really easy and quick getaway. We took a long weekend around Constitution Day and left Friday morning for three days. A perfect little trip without having to use vacation days. We paid around 900 DKK per flight ticket including priority boarding, 10 kg carry-on luggage, and a small personal bag each. Completely fine for a weekend trip. Katowice is known as a former heavy industrial city in Poland with coal and steel, but it has changed quite a bit in recent years. The city itself was not our destination, so we drove about 1 hour and 15 minutes south in our rental car to Krakow. Kraków is definitely one of the most visited cities in Poland and actually one of the most popular city destinations in Europe. A very well-preserved old town with a huge medieval square that really impresses, as it is one of the largest in Europe. Although Poland has become significantly more expensive in recent years, the price level is still well below Denmark’s, and you can feel that in everyday spending during the trip. We had two days in Krakow, a city of just under 1 million inhabitants, which we can really recommend. We also went to Zakrzówek Park, where we swam in 24-degree water together with many local Poles. A truly lovely place and a slightly different side of Krakow compared to the historic city center. One morning we had breakfast at Krakus Mound with a view over the entire city. A calm and very nice start to the day. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Kraków about 3 km from the old town. A very modern and new hotel, clearly luxury. Fortunately, an Uber only costs around 35 DKK into the city, so it’s both easy and very convenient. We mostly used the car for excursions but took Uber into the old town, as parking there is a bit of a challenge. On Sunday we visited Auschwitz, which is located relatively on the way back toward Katowice airport. Auschwitz was a large Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex during World War II in German-occupied Poland. It is the most well-known of them, where around 1.1 million people were killed. We split up, so Alberte and I joined a 3.5-hour guided tour. Alberte, who is 14, had learned about Auschwitz in school and even written an assignment about the site, so it made sense for her to experience it in real life. It was a powerful experience, and also somewhat difficult to be in, not least because there were many tour groups, which made it hard to fully immerse oneself in the place. We booked the tour via Booking.com. Most people take a return bus from Krakow, but since we had a car, that didn’t make much sense for us. Fortunately, we found a solution where we met the guide and group at the entrance. Our youngest son Villads, aged 9, is still too young for this type of experience (the recommendation is a minimum of 13 years), so he and his mother enjoyed themselves in the city a couple of kilometers away during the 3.5 hours the tour lasted. The last night was spent in a guesthouse just a 4-minute walk from the terminal at Katowice airport, as we had a very early morning departure so everyone could get to either school or work.