Krakow or Budapest?

[NotExactlyHappyToHelp]

Looking to do a 2-3 night getaway in January with DP.

My birthdays just before Christmas and his is just after so we’ve decided to go away instead of the dreaded ‘oh my god I have to come up with two good presents’ drama.

Both of these destinations have piqued our interest but we can’t decide. I’m leaning a little more towards Krakow, himself to Budapest.

Have you been? Would you recommend?

Or is there somewhere else we haven’t thought of?

We like museums and history, food and general wandering.

Not party animals at all so not so interested in the nightlife.

I havent been to Buda pest but have been to Krakov a beautiful city lots to see, the main square and the castle are both amazing

Personally, I prefer Budapest, simply because the geological location is so stunning - big river with lots of stunning bridges and all the steep hills rising up on the Buda side. I also love chilling out at the thermal baths (there are loads of them) and the communist statue park.

However, Budapest is really big and sprawling and the best way to get around is to use the public transport system (which is really simple - 3 metro lines plus trams going in a horseshoe) because the distances can be long for walking everywhere and it's one of those places where taxis are often keen to rip you off.

...So from that point of view, for a 2-3 night visit, Krakow is more contained. As PP said, the main square is lovely. The Jewish quarter/Schindler's factory are also pretty interesting (and lots of great walking or cycling tours to help you make the most of it).

And both Budapest & Krakow have lots of awesome, quirky and very reasonably priced backstreet bars and restaurants if you're up for hunting about a little bit...

Budapest, for the amazing spas.

They're both lovely cities for a wander, so you'll enjoy either of them.

They'll be cold, though, in Jan.

Thanks for the replies.

I’m definitely thinking Krakow is a better fit as it’s smaller. We’d want to do the castle, Schindlers museum and we would want to visit Aushwitz as harrowing as it may be.

Budapest looks amazing but I think we’d have to go in summer to make the best of the thermals. I think given the size Budapest would warrant a longer trip as well.

I’ve been to both and both were fascinating. As pp said, will be v cold! If I was going to Krakow in the winter I’d actually go in Dec as think there is a Christmas market. Great hot chocolate tho! Auschwitz was harrowing but absolutely worth a visit. You have to go as part of a group but you can easily book it in town. You can also go in an old Trabant car to the workers’ townwith its brutalist architecture, built during the communist era, that was fascinating too. ‘Ronald Reagan Square’!

Nowa Huta

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowa_Huta

@Destinysdaughter Thanks that looks really interesting. Right up our street.

We’d love to go in December but we’re both in jobs that allows no holidays. Maybe one day.

Did you do the salt mines as well as the trip to Aushwitz? I know it’s going to be very distressing but I think it’s important to bear witness to the atrocities that happened there. I feel like maybe doing the both would feel a little wrong somehow.

I didn’t do the salt mines, I’m a bit too claustrophobic for that! The city is really nice to wander around, it’s v pretty, The Catholic Church in the square is worth a visit. I went to a folk museum which was v interesting. The food was nice too, stodgy and tasty!

This is the museum I went to

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g274772-d276739-Reviews-Ethnographic_Museum-Krakow_Lesser_Poland_Province_Southern_Poland.html

@Destinysdaughter that looks brill. We’ll definitely seek it out.

I’m getting hungry just thinking of all the food. I’m going to set myself a personal challenge to eat as many pierogis as I possibly can .

I've been to both and think Krakow best fit for your time scale and season.

Love pierogi! 😀

We're just home from Budapest. An ideal time of year to visit I would say as it was 22 degrees most of the week. The thermal baths were great for resting my weary legs. It felt great to have some heat.

Krakow was the other in my list but I couldn't get direct flights to fit in with our week off (restricted to term time). But we hope to go another time.

Ive been to both, and would return to Krakow in a heartbeat.