A Travel Guide to Krakow
A Travel Guide to Krakow
Accommodation
Krakow is a major European city with the usual mix of accommodation ranging from student hostels to high-end apartments and hotels. A mixture of old and new, this exciting city offers something for every budget.
Tours
Krakow is a cultural city and many tours are offered. Choices vary in the extreme from a tour of the city, to a saltmine and even to Auschwitz!
Restaurants
Restaurants abound in Krakow. If you want to try traditional Polish cuisine, then don`t bother counting calories. Typical meals are hearty and often contain a lot of meat. Sampling them makes you realise that they are really delicious and it can be worth putting on a few pounds for the experience. Some recommended dishes are: bigos, pierogo kotlet schabowy and gołąbki. Poles boast that their two basic products are bread and sausages.
The most typical ingredients used in Polish cuisine are beetroot, sauerkraut, cucumbers (gherkins), kohlrabi, mushrooms, sour cream and sausages. Herbs and spices used are typically marjoram, caraway seeds, dill, parsley, or pepper. The most popular desserts are pastries and cakes. A shot of vodka often follows a meal.
Nowadays the Polish menus are changing, being influenced by various, and sometimes exotic, tastes. Krakow now has restaurants serving Italian, French and Asian foods as well as vegetarian food.
Shopping
Shop opening hours are diverse and there are few rules. Most grocery shops open from 7am until 7pm from Monday to Friday, but there are exceptions. Smaller shops close earlier on Saturday and on Sunday they remain closed. There are also numerous supermarkets often open seven days a week until late. Modern shopping malls are burgeoning in all large cities in Poland. Very special are “bazary” (market places), more often than not located close to city centres. The historical centres of Krakow has galleries selling amber jewellery and Polish crafts.
Weather
Most of Poland has a very similar climate and the same sequence of weather throughout the year. Winter cold increases towards the east and in the southern mountains, while the coastlands of the Baltic Sea have slightly milder winters and cooler summers.
Telecommunications industry
The Internet in Poland is well developed in the business sector and has penetrated the consumer and household sector. At present there is an estimated 6 million computers in Polish homes. Major mobile phone operators provide coverage in Poland and communications are good.You can call Poland for a good rate from the UK.
