Poland with Friends

A lovely week before Christmas

Published 27/12/25

Having lived with OCD for years, I'm prone to overthinking. As myself and three wonderful friends travelled to the airport for a Christmas holiday in Krakow, I was going through all the potential problems that could crop up. Thankfully, everything went shockingly smoothly in practice, and we boarded the plane with no issues. In fact, the pilot had announced we were six minutes away from landing in Krakow, then made another announcement to say that landing would be illegal due to excessive fog, and our flight would therefore be diverted to Katowice - a smaller Polish city about an hours drive away. This meant we had to stand in line at passport control for more than an hour at an airport that struggled to deal with the capacity of passengers it was receiving, made worse by teething issues with the EU's new entry/exit system. As if I couldn't resent Brexit any more already!

Despite that little blip, the rest of the trip went excellently. I think I picked a good city to use to introduce others to Central and Eastern Europe, and walking through Krakow's city centre at night with all the Christmas decorations up felt magical. I was pretty exhausted and dehydrated, but one of my travel companions picked out exactly the right drink to help. I felt better in no time. Entering the apartment we were renting for the week felt amazing; it was kept lovely and warm, and felt very homely. I think it was actually the cheapest apartment on Airbnb when we booked that had 4+ beds, so I was very pleasantly surprised - it was better than the pictures suggested. We were pretty exhausted after everything we'd been through, so the only real item on our agenda for that evening was to have dinner. We went to an excellent Polish restaurant called Morskie Oko, which was very reasonably priced and served genuinely delicious barszcz (Polish borscht).

We started our first full day at the Sukiennice, or Cloth Hall, right in the centre of Market Square. First item on the list was to visit the Rynek Underground Museum, which actually offers free tickets on Tuesdays if you turn up early enough. For a free attraction, I was quite satisfied with it. We later headed to St Mary's Basilica where we were able to see an ongoing service, and tried to visit Collegium Maius (historic university building) but were told it was closed. In the afternoon, we went round Wawel Castle (we opted for the Castle II ticket, which includes a fascinating exhibition on Ottoman tents). Our evening activity was the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art & Technology. We're a bunch of weebs, of course we had to see that!


The next day was fairly chill. We didn't leave the flat until around 1pm, when we went to see the Polish Home Army Museum, which was fairly close to us. Emotionally heavy stuff, but so necessary when in a city with such history. We were there for about three hours, so plenty to see there if you're the type to try and read all the info in museums as I am. If you're a student, I do recommend dropping €23 on the Krakow CityPASS, which includes entry to 22 museums around the city within a defined three-day period. We had dinner at a Georgian restaurant called Tbilisuri, then went to the Krakow Arcade Museum, which was awesome. Good arcade cabinets, fair entry prices, solid game selection. I tried some obscure cycling game which was honestly more physically exerting than riding a real bicycle. There were also a bunch of Japanese rhythm games which I had fun with, although not sure why the DDR music selection was entirely eurobeat Disney songs!

On Thursday, we travelled out to the Nowa Huta district, on the outskirts of the city. This is a fascinating area, essentially created by the communist regime attract working class people to Krakow, which has historically been quite a middle class city. The place is full of brutalist architecture - something I have a real soft spot for. I would have loved to visit the Nowa Huta Museum, but sadly its undergoing renovations and is temporarily closed to the public. We did, however, manage to visit a bomb shelter within a school, and have lunch at a communist-era cafeteria called 'Restauracja Stylowa' which still has a little statue of Lenin inside. I had barsczcz with croquette and a very reasonably priced boiled trout with vegetables. My diet feels so much healthier in Poland than in the UK. Milk bars are the superior form of fast food!


Since we were in the area and had the museum pass anyway, we also spent a few hours at the Polish Aviation Museum. I think there's a real charm to MiG planes and was very happy to see a bunch of them, although be sure to wrap up warm for the outdoor exhibitions if visiting in winter! I was very glad to have my thickest coat with me. Later that evening, we took a boat ride along the Vistula River which paired nicely with a glass of wine. Great experience, and stopped at both an anime shop and a general gaming shop along the way. It was particularly nice to see various LGBT+ manga on sale considering the recent history of 'democratic backsliding' in parts of Central Europe - something that Poland does seem to be leaving behind since removing PiS from power in 2023. I decided to gamble on a Bocchi the Rock figure gatcha box, and hit the jackpot by getting Kikuri Hiroi. We love a crazy alcoholic woman!

Friday was a matter of maxxing out the museum pass. The Czartoryski Museum is a must in Krakow; I certainly enjoyed seeing a Da Vinci painting in real life. Other artworks there date back to the 1400s, and towards the end you see other cool stuff like Egyptian mummies. We went to the Galicja Jewish Museum afterwards, very sombre but definitely worthwhile. Dinner that evening was the fanciest spot we hit up; a Japanese restaurant called Kinki Ramen. Kirin on draught!!!


Before leaving, we made a day trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This place was still in operation until 1996, but is now a tourist attraction. The mine reaches an impressive depth of 327 metres, although the tourist route only takes you 135 metres underground. It's a very popular attraction, but not difficult to see why. For safety reasons, you can only descend as part of a guided tour - and the lady running the tour was very informative. Some really cool statues in the mines, as well as underground chapels - Poland is, of course, a strongly Catholic country.

Great way to end this uni semester with some of the best people possible. No drama, just good vibes, great food and copious amounts of beer. Exactly what I've needed ahead of what ended up being a rather melancholic Christmas due to family complications. ❤️🫡🇵🇱