6 days in Krakow and Lviv without children in july.
Once these two cities were part of the same country, once in Austria, another time in Poland. Today Krakow is in Poland, and Lviv in Ukraine. In these two beautiful cities, there is something similar. The medieval architecture of the old city, mostly Catholic churches, music, endless cafes and an atmosphere that you feel when you walk along the streets in both cities.
Brief route:
Here you can see all the waypoints on the Google Maps and also use Google navigation to the place:
You can also download KML file and open it in other offline application for navigation and editing:
Day 1:
Airport in Katowice
Transfer to Krakow
Apartment in the center of the old town near the main square (Main Square Luxury Apartments by Amstra, Stolarska 11)
Day 2:
Central Market Square
Old Town, surrounded by city walls
Pedestrian Street Florianska
Barbakan – was once used as a weapon arsenal
Park around the walls of the Old City
Museum Collegium Maius one of the oldest universities in Europe
Piano concert of Chopin music
Harris Piano Jazz Bar
Day 3:
Wawel Castle
Former Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz
Restaurant with live music Piano Rouge
Day 4:
Sukiennice Market
Kopec Kosciuszko Hill and walk in the nearby forest
Day 5:
Four-hour transfer between Krakow and Lviv
View from the city tower on the Rynok square
Old city
Gas Lamp cafe
The Opera House and the nearby park
Jazz festival in Lvivska Kopalnya Kavy
Day 6:
Italian Courtyard and Venetian Palace
View of the city from the High Castle
Stryiskyi Park
City center
Day 7:
Tour inside the Opera house
Shevchenkivskyi Hai – Open air museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life
Lviv Airport
Photos and description:
Day 1:
In the evening we landed at the airport in Katowice.
We booked a transfer to Krakow on the internet before, an hour and a half drive.
We rented an excellent apartment in the center of the old town near the main square.
Day 2:
What an amazing city of Krakow! So convenient, small, not expensive, clean and beautiful.
For three days, there is enough what to see.
Today we walked around the Old Town and the park around. We just entered the tourist information office on the main square, got a map and all the necessary explanations.
We started our walk from the central market square.
The breakfast at the excellent Camelot cafe. There are several rooms in different styles, and you can also sit outside. We returned there on the last day.
Pedestrian Street Florianska
Barbakan – was once used as a weapon storage facility
Park around the walls of the Old City
Collegium Maius – a museum of one of the oldest universities in Europe, where Copernicus studied.
Towards evening, we went to the concert of a very talented pianist who played the music of Chopin, a famous Polish composer.
After a short walk through the Main Square and lunch in one of the restaurants, we went to the excellent Harris Piano Jazz Bar. Almost every evening in Krakow there are jazz concerts and live music.
Day 3:
Wawel Castle
Statue of a dragon spewing fire near a river
The former Jewish quarter Kazimierz is a tourist place with cafes in the Jewish style. There are several synagogues and an ancient Jewish cemetery, everything is very well maintained, and you can enter, but the Jews no longer live here.
In the evening, we found a good restaurant with live music – Piano Rouge.
Day 4:
Sukiennice – a souvenir covered market in the main square, once there was a textile market.
Artificial hill Kopec Kosciuszko, with a view of the city. After climbing the hill, we walked around in the nearby forest.
Day 5:
Four-hour transfer to the city of Lviv.
We rented an apartment on the main Rynok square.
Lviv is a city of cafes of all types and styles, each with a specific theme. Coffee here is a tradition, and they are really specialists in the preparation of black coffee.
We climbed to the town hall tower with a magnificent view of the city.
We walked around the old city, which is relatively small compared to Krakow, but still very beautiful and interesting.
The cafe on the theme of old lamps – Gas Lamp, in fact is also a museum of gas lamps, but also the food there is excellent.
Lviv Opera, one of the most beautiful in Europe.
In the evening we went to the jazz festival, we booked tickets online few weeks before, and this was the right decision, because there was no tickets available. The place is Lvivska Kopalnya Kavy “Coffee Mine”, but instead of coal, coffee beans are “mined” here. The place is highly recommended, and the coffee there is simply stunning, there are many varieties and flavors of coffee.
Day 6:
On the second day in Lviv we visited the Italian courtyard of the Venetian palace, where you feel the atmosphere of Italy.
After that, we took a taxi to see the city from the High Castle Park.
From there we took a taxi to the peaceful Stryiskyi Park. There we saw many squirrels, and they are not afraid of people, so you can feed them.
In the evening, we walked a little more along the narrow streets in the center of the city.
Day 7:
On our last day in Lviv, we went on an excursion to the Opera house in the morning. We checked in advance on which days and when to visit the place. Of course, lovers of the opera can also buy tickets for the performance, but we mainly wanted to see the interior decoration of this impressive building.
Our flight home was in the evening, and a taxi to the airport was ordered through the UBER application. By the way, very different prices for a taxi between UBER and if you catch one on the spot. Using UBER, the price is two times cheaper, but the prices are ridiculous even without UBER.
We had about 4 hours before the taxi, so we decided to go to the Open Air Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life Shevchenkivskyi Hai. Here you will see traditional life in the village as they lived hundreds of years ago, there are also attractions for children, such as archery and horse riding, I highly recommend.
