Since Poland is slightly cheaper than Sweden, there can be a lot of shopping, spa treatments and evenings when we vacation there. But Poland is so much more than that! You just don’t want to miss the scenery in both the Northeast and the South. In the northeast, there are over 3000 lakes where both the Poles themselves and some tourists fish, sail, canoe and hike. One tip is to rent a small boat in Masuria and take you on the water at your own pace. You are allowed to stop in most places, so you can spontaneously stop when you find a really nice place. Bring a small lunch bag and have a picnic on a deserted beach or overnight on a small deserted island. If you go to southern Poland you will experience a very varied landscape with wide river valleys and high mountains.
Krakow has long been a cultural and scientific centre, and for 400 years it was also the capital of Poland. Here you will find one of Europe’s oldest colleges and even today there are many students in the city. Krakow is a beautiful city with Renaissance architecture and with a gothic style among other things and in the Royal Castle Wawel you will find lots of art from different centuries. If you love soup, we can tell you that there is a whole festival dedicated to soups. Chefs compete to make the best soup and the audience will of course taste the soups, but it must be quick because it runs out quickly! There are many other festivals in Krakow, such as the Krakow Film Festival, where you can of course see a lot of different films. The film festival also awards best films in a few different categories. Finally, we would recommend a small visit to the chocolate factory where you can have coffee, watch chocolate production and of course buy lots of chocolate.
Warsaw, which is the capital of Poland, is also a student city with over 60 different research institutes and 200,000 students. If you leave from Krakow you can catch the train that will take you to Warsaw in just over 2.5 hours. You probably know Marie Curie, a science woman from Warsaw, and she is the only woman to have been awarded the Nobel Prize twice so far. In addition to being a city of science, it is very much a city of music! Fryderyk Chopin had its roots in Warsaw and there is a large museum on the four floors dedicated to the composer. If you are a big fan of Mozart there is a festival dedicated to him, it is about a month long and takes place in the middle of summer and you can expect at least one concert a day! If you are in Warsaw towards autumn, around October-November a big jazz festival is organized that you do not want to miss. It started as a small student club in 1958, and then grew into one of Europe’s biggest jazz festivals. Here artists like Miles Davis, Bobby McFerrin and Ray Charles gave a concert.
