This year we took a holiday in Krakow, Poland. Instead of booking it through one of the usual booking agents, we decided to book separately, of course we did our research first! Which is what I would advise anyone to do when looking to book this way. At time of booking, which was July, for a five-day holiday in October. We managed to get a great deal for our hotel through Booking.com, we got a self-catering apartment for £350, we found flights through Ryanair which included transfers and one add on 20kg luggage for two of us, at the bargain price of £300 return, bring it all to £650 less than half the price booking agents where offering at the time for just hotel and flights. I would advise that if you book this way make sure you have money kept back for emergencies!  

The night before we were due to leave for the airport our hotel called to cancel on us due to a leaky roof, thankfully we had money to pay for a last-minute hotel in the area but had we not this would have ended our holiday before we started. We did get a full refund from them, but it took four days by which time we were halfway through our holiday, if this did happen to you report right away to whoever you booked through, (in our case it was booking.com) your more than likely to get your money with the company also requesting confirmation of events, also whatever you do DON’T cancel the booking! Our hotel tried to get us to do this but the minute you do they no longer have to pay you a refund, so refuse to do this.  

Another thing we did different this year was book all excursions before we left the country, this way we wouldn’t be going into any of our spending money while away and everything would already be paid for. We discovered a company called Get Your Guide, they provide loads of different excursions for Krakow and surround areas. From all day activities right down to hour long activities. We choose three different excursions all with pick-up from our hotel, these where Auschwitz followed by Wieliczka Salt Mine, Krakow Shooting Range and Zapopane and Hot springs. We did two long excursions with a short one in-between to break it all up. We found that breaking up the long days had been a good idea, as pick up was generally around 7.35am and drop-off around 7.35pm. I’d advise taking snacks or a light lunch with you on long excursions because unless stated in the booking they don’t stop for lunch. Our Short excursion was a much later pick-up of 10.30am giving us a much needed lay-in and a lazy afternoon walking around Krakow old town as it was only a couple of hours long. Expect to tip all drivers and guides, we gave them between 10-15 zloty each, as they make most of their money from tips its fair to give them this amount.  

Poland is a cheap place to go and has some lovely places to visit. The pub scene is great for stag and hen dues but also if you just fancy a weekend away with your partner, they also have great food there and I would highly recommend trying the local cuisine, but don’t worry if that’s not your thing as every restaurant has plenty to offer and all menus are written in English and polish. You will also be greeted by the friendliest people I have ever meet whether you go into the local shop, on an excursion, in a restaurant the hospitality of the polish people is amazing and if your ever stuck they will try their best to help you.  

When it comes to getting a hotel in Krakow, there is plenty to choose from, I would advise getting one in either Old Town or the Jewish Quarter. Our hotel was right on the border of both. We where the centre to all trams coming through but since we only heard these mainly at night this didn’t bother us. Due to where we were we could walk to the centre of old town in 10-15 minutes and it was the same in the opposite direction for the Jewish Quarter, both very highly recommended places to visit. We were surround by local shops, restaurants and cafes, as well as the tram system which stopped at multiple stops near us all of which made it a cheap way to live for the five days and to get around if you wanted to explore it yourself.  

As I’ve said before Poland is a cheap place to visit, but I would still advise taking plenty of money with you, we had gone self-catering so had to make sure we had plenty of money for food as well as luxuries like drinks and anything else we wanted to buy. We never stopped on this holiday and would highly recommend that you place Poland on your bucket list.  

This was written by our contributing writer, Leah Palmer.