Community Highlights Europe Poland – 2025 – Krakow, Gdansk, Torun & Wroclaw

Poland – 2025 – Krakow, Gdansk, Torun & Wroclaw

Published 4 Jun 2025 · Poland · Comments

We take an early morning bus to the Cluj-Napoca airport, (1 euro) and then take a Ryanair flight to Bergamo airport, direct 2 hours, then after a five hour wait plus a 1 hour delay we finally take another Ryanair flight, direct 1.45 hours, to Krakow in Poland. We’ve been to stunning Krakow before, so this time it’s just a stopover to catch our train to Gdansk. After a short train ride from the airport to Krakow Glowny train station we settle in for our 8 hour overnight train to Gdansk leaving Krakow at 10pm and arriving at 6am. The train is new and very modern, we have a four person couchette cabin and it’s blissfully quiet and modern with bedside powerpoints and WiFi. We share the cabin with a young woman and a guy, both very quiet and polite. After an improbably great night’s sleep we arrive at the central train station at 7am but our negotiated early check-in is at 11am so what do we do? Obviously we leave our backpacks in the left luggage lockers at the train station, grab some breakfast at a Milk Bar (more on that later) and go sightseeing, yeah, that level of stamina! Gdansk is everything we read about and then some, the photos and videos won’t prepare you for how beautiful this city is, seriously. And because it’s so early in the morning, there’s nobody out and about, check out our gorgeous photos and you’ll be as impressed as we were. What an enchanting, vibrant city. The Old Town was destroyed during WW2 but it has been masterfully rebuilt and it’s just marvellous. We have lunch at another Milk Bar then take a tram to our digs for the next 2 nights, Firstroom Gdansk, 39 euros, walking distance to the Old Town but also on the tram line and with a nice shared kitchen.

Milk bars (also known as bar mleczny in Polish) are a type of cafeteria in Poland, offering affordable, traditional Polish meals. They’re everywhere and serve a wide variety of food, including soups, salads, fried pork chops, pierogi and more. Milk bars are often considered a communist-era legacy, providing workers with cheap, nutritious meals. On the subject of food, Polish pastries, both sweet and savoury are amazing, don’t leave this country without hitting a decent bakery. We’re very familiar with Polish food, we even cook it at home sometimes but this time we want to dig a bit deeper into the food scene. It’s our second day and we go back to the Old Town a bit later in the day, and it’s a shocking change from early the previous morning. As it’s a port city, it’s now overflowing with cruise ship day-trippers, school groups, and all manner of tourists, anyway, there are people everywhere… We grab lunch at another Milk Bar and try to make our way through the hordes of tourists. Our last day and we’ve learnt our lesson and go back for one last tour of the Old Town very early in the morning and then try lunch at another milk bar/local diner, recommended by our host, a lovely, fresh meal.

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It’s now time to grab our backpacks, take a tram to Gdansk central station and then take a train, 2.25 hour, to Torun central. After a 2.5 km walk we arrive at Apartamenty nad Wisla, 50 euros, right in the heart of the Old Town, definitely not as good as the photos, but it’ll do. The trains in Poland run like clockwork, they’re modern, new and always on time and they generally only stop at stations for 5 minutes, so make sure you’re ready to board. Another interesting fact about Poland is there are so many young people around, it’s very refreshing in an ageing continent. People are also very polite and quiet, even teenagers. The towns are clean and modern, great supermarkets and fantastic beers, I bet we got you interested by now!! Torun is a nice, walled medieval city on the banks of a long river. Toruń is also renowned for its gingerbread – the gingerbread-baking tradition dates back nearly a millennium – as the same goes for its large Cathedral. Toruń is also noted for its very high standard of living as well as being the birthplace of Nikolas Copernicus, his impressive house is open to visitation. On our second day, we walk along the river, outside the city walls and of course, go back to the charming Old Town, enjoying a pint at Jadwiga Bar and a lovely Italian lunch at the Metropolis Restaurant. Toruń largely escaped substantial destruction during World War II, especially its historic Old Town. Unlike many other Polish cities, Toruń's Old Town remains largely intact and it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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The next morning we walk to Torun central station for our indirect train to Wroclaw, 3.5 hours total. A short walk later we arrive at the lovely Grey Rooms (31 euros with a well equipped shared kitchen), perfectly located between the Train Station and the Old Town. Wroclaw is known for its Market Square, lined with elegant townhouses and a modern fountain as well as the Gothic Old Town Hall, with its large astronomical clock. The Old Town is incredibly colourful and vibrant, what a lovely city to explore on foot. Wrocław is also replete with small islands and picturesque bends of rivers. Over time, around 120 bridges appeared in the city. Another fascinating fact about this city is that there are over 800 “gnomes” all over town, they are small bronze statues depicting a variety of everyday scenes or some historical moments, and they’re adorable, check out our photos.

We’ve been reading about a restaurant in Wroclaw (apparently it’s pronounced Rostov, go figure) and can’t wait to try it out. Its called Lepione, a bright & lively cafeteria-style spot with a self-service buffet, paid by weight. It’s a fantastic way to taste lots of traditional Polish foods without having to commit to any particular dish. We have a plate each full of delicious things we hadn't tried before as well as some familiar dishes and everything was delicious. Great low-cost introduction to interesting, fresh and healthy Polish food in a smart canteen with good views of the former Royal Palace (now it belongs to the local University) and a nice atmosphere. You also get 50% off prices between 6pm and 7pm (closing time), we got it on the first day, what a great way to both save cash and avoid food waste. Of course we go back for lunch on the next day, it’s hard not to fill up your plate with a broad variety of delicious dumplings. It’s now our last day in Poland so we get up and go for our last wander of Wroclaw’s stunning Old Town, then check out and leave our bags at left luggage at the shopping centre near the train station. Then once again we have lunch at Lepione, this time at the one located in the shopping centre, equally delicious, it’s always hard to say goodbye to a place where we find a food spot we love.

We take a bus to Wroclaw Airport (1 euro) and then our Ryanair flight to Porto, 3.5 hours), wait till 20:30 for our 1:45 hour bus ride with Rede Expressos to Coimbra then a 40 minute (40 euros) taxi ride home to Verride. That’s all for now folks, home, sweet home after 2 wonderful months: 4 countries (Italy, Greece, Romania & Poland), we've now also completed 80 countries and been to 22 Greek islands, celebrated 32 years together and 10 years in Portugal, another perfect trip, thanks for following us, take care and till the next trip.

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