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Old 1 Jan 20, 11:47 AM  
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smithlane
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Birthday Break to Krakow - 22nd Nov 2019 - LGW-KRK, Imperial Hotel & Main Square

A bit of background first as I didn't do a Pre Trip. This is a kid free (yay!) weekend break away that happened to fall near my birthday. I've always wanted to visit Auschwitz so after I found some decent priced flights with EasyJet I got them booked. These we £65 each including one bag. Our dates were Friday 22nd Nov at 3.50pm to Monday 25th at 7.25pm so we had 2 full days plus a lot of the day on our last day before we go to the airport.
I looked on Booking.com for hotels and after a lot of searching I reserved a room at Imperial Hotel, right on the corner of the Main Square. About 5 minutes after booking they emailed me asking if we needed to pre book an airport transfer which we did, I also pre booked our tickets for Auschwitz on the Sunday. Great service!

So who are we?
I am Alicia, now 37 and my partner is the long suffering Jim.
This is us at a very snowy Grand Canyon last February



Travel Day

I unfortunately had work first thing this morning but thankfully was back home by 10 where I quickly finished off cleaning the house before my parents arrived at 11. They were very kindly house, kid and dog sitting for us. Not necessarily in that order
Jim got back at about 11.30 after being in Essex conducting a few interviews. He normally works in London and the original plan had him meeting me at the airport getting the train straight there. I was having kittens he would get caught up in all sorts of traffic on the M25 so breathed a huge sigh of relief when he was on time!
After explaining to mum how the various electrical items around the house work we set off at 12.

Apart from 50mph down the M23 we arrived at North Terminal Sofitel hotel car park by 12.45. We had booked valet parking with Purple Parking which was all very straightforward. Jim decided to add a car wash for £25, once done we walked across the road straight into the terminal.

I had checked in online so we just had to bag drop. There were loads of EasyJet kiosks open. All very easy although we were over so had to pay £24. Turns out we only had 15kg whereas I thought we had 20... I wasn’t very popular with Jim. I miss flying BA with their 23kg limit
Went upstairs and through security which was very quiet. In fact the whole airport was eerily quiet!
Jim and I both set off the detector which never happens with me but after a bit of a frisk we were given the all clear. Jim said his officer got a little too friendly with him making sure he got down deep into each of his pockets
First thought was food and as soon as I discovered there was a Shake Shack it could only be there. We went to the original in Madison Square Park in 2018 whilst in New York, they are so good!
It’s been over 10 years since I’ve flown from the North Terminal, it’s almost unrecognisable from back then.





I went with the single Smokeshack burger with crinkle cut fries, a Coke Zero and a chocolate milkshake. Jim the double Smokeshack with cheesy fries and a Fanta. £38 altogether. Expensive burgers!
Took a pager and found a seat to wait.
Didn’t take long. My god these are as good as I remember!
The milkshake was a dessert in a cup! I finished every last drop



Had a look in Duty Free for some Jo Malone but turns out they have a separate shop so headed there. Jim bought me 2 of their colognes for my birthday present. Velvet Rose & Oud and Oud & Bergamot. No idea what Oud is but my nose likes it! £194.10 altogether . Lucky girly. Because we had spent an obscene amount they gave me a free mini candle which was nice.

From here we went into JD Sports. They had the Nike 270 trainers Sam wants for Christmas for £20 cheaper than normal so got them for him. £95 instead of £115. That’s his Xmas present sorted! Hope wants the same ones but as she is a diddy size 4 she can get into junior ones but they didn’t have them here.
Also picked up 2 Nike t-shirts for £25 for Sam too for Xmas.
Didn’t need anymore shopping so popped into WHSmith to buy the obligatory Toblerone, some drinks and Jim got a sandwich as he was still hungry

After a quick loo visit we headed to the gate which happened to be near Heathrow it was that far away! By the time we got there, boarding had begun but then Jim decided he needed to go AGAIN to the loo. The queue was getting bigger and bigger and I was getting worried they would take my cabin case off me as there’s only room for 70 onboard and I really didn’t want to faff taking bits out for them to put it in the hold.
Turns out I didn’t need to worry as they let us through fine.
We went old school and boarded from the tarmac and up the stairs through the rear door. We were row 21, there was still plenty of overhead locker space.
It’s been years since I’ve flown EasyJet, the planes are a lot more basic than BA but as long as they get me there in one piece I don’t mind.
I settled in and put an episode of the Crown on to watch from my iPad. I had downloaded 4 episodes to watch yesterday. I’m late to the party with watching this so I’m still on series 1.
The flight was fine, just under 2 hours overall which is shorter than the advertised time.

We needed to be bussed to the terminal, bit of a squeeze to get on but managed in the end. Only a 2 minute journey.
Queue was quite long for passport control but were through in 15 mins. Our suitcase was just coming round which was good timing!
After another toilet break we were now ready to leave. We found our driver easily who was holding up a sign with my name on. I had pre booked a transfer with the hotel which I’m glad I did. Our driver was lovely, very friendly and took both the suitcase and cabin case from us. He took us outside and asked us to wait 5 minutes until he got the car. Jeez it was freezing outside, I was glad when he pulled up. A very nice Mercedes E class.

It was only a 25 minute drive to the hotel, as it was now dark we couldn’t see much. We pulled up outside just after 8pm.
The cost was 100zl which we thought was reasonable for a fuss free journey. Jim tipped him 20zl on top, not sure if this was too much or too little but he seemed happy. We also pre booked our return transfer on Monday with him too.
We could see the hotel was in the best location, right on the corner of the Main Square.
The reception is on the first floor so got the lift up. Checked in fine and paid the balance of 1250zl which is about £250 and a complete bargain for 3 nights in a 4 star hotel in such a great location. We recently paid that for 1 night in a hotel down in Southampton!
Our room 106, was on the same floor so not far to go.







Dumped our bags, had a quick freshen up then headed out for something to eat as our lunch seemed like a distant memory.
I had noted down The Spaghetti restaurant which was just a few doors down from the hotel in the square but they were full when we got there. It was now 8.45 and a lot of restaurants were fully booked. We tried 3 or 4 others but were turned away. We could have tried one of the roads off the square but didn’t want to venture too far as it was getting late.
The Square looks stunning all lit up



















Thankfully ended up getting a table at a place called Versuvio before hanger set in!
Managed to get the last table of 2. This was an Italian pizza restaurant that did Polish meals too. I wasn’t very adventurous so just ordered a Hawaiian pizza with a Cosmopolitan and Jim a Versuvio which is basically a meat feast pizza with a local beer.
My Cosmo went down a bit too fast so ordered another...
Pizzas didn’t take long to come out and they were very good. Traditional wood fired pizzas which are the best type.
I still had a bit of room for dessert and as I had seen on the table next to us I went with the chocolate fondant, Jim just had a coffee.
Sorry no photos of this meal but that dessert was to die for!
The meal came to about 200zl which was very reasonable for a restaurant in this location plus we had 3 alcoholic drinks.
We waddled out and stumbled across the square back to the hotel. I was now very full and slightly tipsy as the drinks were ridiculously strong!









Our hotel




Got back at about 10.45pm after a lovely first evening in Krakow.
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Edited at 05:34 PM.
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Old 1 Jan 20, 11:53 AM  
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BevS97
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It looks good. Krakow is somewhere I would like to visit although I am not sure if I want to visit Auschwitz.
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Old 1 Jan 20, 11:58 AM  
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Smilesonfaces
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Isn’t Krakow wonderful. We loved it and will certainly return sometime.
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Old 1 Jan 20, 12:15 PM  
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smithlane
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Originally Posted by BevS97 View Post
It looks good. Krakow is somewhere I would like to visit although I am not sure if I want to visit Auschwitz.
Thanks Bev, I would highly recommend going. You could easily visit without needing to go to Auschwitz as it's over an hour away. I understand when people say they don't want to go as it can be a harrowing experience but it is a very informative place
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Old 1 Jan 20, 12:16 PM  
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Originally Posted by Smilesonfaces View Post
Isn’t Krakow wonderful. We loved it and will certainly return sometime.
Thank you for reading. We will definitely go back but probably in the summer when it's a bit warmer!
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Old 1 Jan 20, 12:38 PM  
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Originally Posted by smithlane View Post
Thank you for reading. We will definitely go back but probably in the summer when it's a bit warmer!
We went last October half term. The weather was gorgeous and we had taken the wrong clothing really. We didn’t need a jacket the whole time and the temperatures were around 20c for the 4 days. I would like to go next when the Christmas decorations are up and the Christmas market is on.
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Old 1 Jan 20, 03:51 PM  
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I’m reading along with interest,as we have our first visit booked for April.
The square certainly looks lovely all lit up!
Look forward to reading more.
Tracy x
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Old 1 Jan 20, 04:04 PM  
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following as we are of to Krakow at the end of January
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Old 1 Jan 20, 04:40 PM  
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smithlane
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Originally Posted by Smilesonfaces View Post
We went last October half term. The weather was gorgeous and we had taken the wrong clothing really. We didn’t need a jacket the whole time and the temperatures were around 20c for the 4 days. I would like to go next when the Christmas decorations are up and the Christmas market is on.
That sounds like a perfect time to go.
I was gutted we missed the Christmas markets by 5 days! We saw all the huts up in the square but all locked up. I suppose that’s why our flights and hotel were cheaper though
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Old 1 Jan 20, 04:41 PM  
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Originally Posted by tracy99 View Post
I’m reading along with interest,as we have our first visit booked for April.
The square certainly looks lovely all lit up!
Look forward to reading more.
Tracy x
Thank you Tracy, I’m sure you will love it as much as we did!
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