Top Poland Christmas

I was walking through the old town in Krakow when I found a tourist office. I had already booked tours to Auschwitz and the Salt Mines on line, but also wanted to visit Zakopane so I booked a tour which included Chocołòw, a cheese tasting and a funicular trip to Gubalowka. I was told that I would be collected near my hotel but this was not the case - although my hotel was just south of the river in Krakow, near Kantor where cars and vans are allowed, they made the collection point Starowislna 65, which was a 25 minute walk from my hotel. Not that great as I have osteoarthritis.Anyway I was collected on time in a small white van with about 6 other people in the van, all British as the tour was in English. Our driver / guide was a really nice bloke called Andrew who was a very careful driver. I was collected on time, in fact about 5 minutes early and was the only one waiting for my particular tour.We set off to Zakopane, stopping to take photos in a very quaint town with wooden houses called Cocholow, and also stopping for a cheese tasting. This was by a small wooden hut at the side of the road and Andrew put the cheese pieces on smoking fire in the hut. Apparently this is a traditional Polish sheep’s cheese. I really liked it, it tasted a bit like halloumi but saltier.We continued on into Zakopane where we were given tickets to the funicular up to Gubalowka. There were several ski lifts on the side of the mountain but not enough snow to ski, although it is obviously a popular ski resort. The views from the top of the funicular were spectacular, I did not stop for a coffee in the cafe up the top as it looked too busy.Once back at the bottom of the funicular I wondered through the wooden stalls selling tourist souvenirs and into the main street which was pedestrianised. There were some of the usual high street shops you would find in any European city, including Tiger, Tiger and TK Maxx alongside some more traditional shops. It was a very pretty town and we had a couple of hours to explore it as well as find some lunch. I stopped in a cafe and had some excellent goulash soup which was more of a stew, very filling, for under £6 before heading back to the van and back to Krakow. We went a different route for the first half of the journey back which made it more interesting, it was about a 2 hour drive in each direction.All in all I would recommend this trip to anyone wanting to visit Zakopane although it is easy to do this trip yourself on a train, but you would not visit Cocholow or the cheese hut!

friendly driver, small group, nice to be outside the big city

What a fantastic tour! Suzanna was the most perfect guide. Taking us to multiple spots, gearing it towards our loves (bread baking) giving us traditional Polish foods to try that were some of the most delicious bites we’ve had in Europe. Storytelling like a pro with pictures of the same markets a hundred years before. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better tour.

Although it was not a Christmas event, we did a Krakow tour that was about 3 hours and it was exceptional! Zuzanna is an incredible friendly tour guide who is glexible to her guest’s needs. Highly recommend!!!

It was worth doing it's very long day but stunning scenery 😁

Zuzanna was an excellent guide, very knowledgeable about Krakow and its history. We enjoyed the tour very much, she even gave us restaurant recommendations, and took us to a local vodka shop for a tasting 😃 We’ll definitely be back 😊

ZAKOPANE Tatra Mountains Thermal Baths was amazing. Booked with SeeKrakow driver and vehicle were amazing. A little bit of history of the area was given on route. The pools and saunas were lovely. Couples, families and children all catered for. Food was very reasonably prices. Big thank you to Pawel for help with changing our pick up location due to construction work outside our hotel. Great trip.

A wonderful experience. From the beginning, Zuzanna was very responsive in communicating and making arrangements. On the day of our tour, she picked us up from our hotel right on time. We spent the day at Auchwitz, which was a bit of a drive from the hotel. Zuzanna was so informative and provided so much insight on the country and culture while we traveled. After the tour, she took us through the local city and provided even more history. She was so knowledgeable and personable. We couldn’t have asked for a better guide during our time in Poland. Thank you so much Zuzanna!!

Amazing day trip. Could not fault our guide, Alex. Zakopane is simply stunning. The funicular to the top was breathtaking. So much to see and do. We visited the thermal baths, not quite what we expected and very busy but still great. Would recommend this day trip to anyone. It’s a long day, 11 hours in total but so worth it. Make sure you have a wonder around Zakopane itself after you descend from the mountain.

Museum was impressive headphones used were easy to hear and understand, weather perfect, mountains beautiful. especially when you took the funicular ride too the top. We had booked an English speaking guide but our driver spoke no English at all so we missed out on some vital information regarding the area which was disappointing.He was very pleasant though.

My favourite day in Poland. We had a great trip up to Zakopane and the views at the top of the Funicular were incredible. The high street was lovely but the shops and stalls are all the same, that said, it was a great experience.

We were collected from Krakow in a nice minibus, and only one other couple joined the 4 of us on the trip, so a nice small party. We had a lovely day, and saw some fantastic scenery in the mountains, the location for the main stop in Zakopane/Gubalowka Ski Resort was beautiful, one not to be left out of your tour.The driver was a nice guy, and drove well, but spoke very little English. Sadly we speak even less Polish, so it was difficult to know what was happening next, and what was happening at each stop. Examples were a stop for cheese tasting, and a museum stop, where it was a case of follow me, rather than any explanation. The lack of a common language also meant we were not given any sort of information as we went through the regions. We felt that the driver had been put in an awkward situation, and he definitely did his best to ensure we had a good day. We would do this trip again, but would need to find one with an English speaking guide.

We were a bit nervous before travelling due to heavy snowfall. But our driver, Chris, was a careful driver and got us to Zakopane and back very safely. On the way we stopped for some smoked cheese which Chris smoked for us on a fire and told us some interesting facts about the history of the area. Once in Zakopane, Chris collected our tickets for the funicular and gave us a clear time to meet up at the end. We had around 3 hours in Zakopane which was enough for us to see everything there. We were back in Kraków at approx 5:30pm.

Chris was fab. He gave us ownership of our day, allowed the trip to be flexible which is what we really wanted. He was kind, friendly and informative. He was a great driver and informed us of toilet stops as and when appropriate, he ensured that he continuously checked on us and that we were comfortable. The trip itself was lovely, long car journey though, about 2 hours 30 minutes there - but we knew that when booking.

Despite seeing online that transportation to Zakopane from Krakow was possible via train or bus, we decided to go on this tour to save time and energy in planning this trip. The tour guide was excellent! He was friendly from the very moment we met him and talked about the history of Krakow and Zakopane along the way.It was a 2 hour journey, and we made our way to the traditional wooden house where we met a wood sculptor and saw the interior of this amazing structure. Then, we went to the Zakopane museum which went into depth into the architecture and stylistic motifs of its woodwork (which was a really cool experience btw. We were given audio headsets and the narrator would change its information based on the room you walked into. There was plenty of info to take in).Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side that day, cloudy which later turned into heavy rains and a thunderstorm once we went up to Gubalowka by the funicular! Had it been clear skies, the Zakopane museum had some amazing views already even though we hadn't climbed in altitude yet, when we looked outside the windows you could see the beautiful forest with little wooden houses scattered all over and (what I think was) a glimpse of the mountains' peak too.We also went for the traditional cheese tasting, with our tour guide paying for our cheese and giving what he recommended. Finally, we made it to the funicular, going up what was actually only a 5 minute ride!At the top was supposed to be the breathtaking view across the balcony, which we were unable to see because of the rain and thick clouds. We settled in a cafe instead and shortly went back down to look through the many market stalls offering traditional leather, cheese, jams, wooden sculptures and other souvenirs native not only just to Poland, but to the highland culture of Zakopane itself.It genuinely was such a shame that the weather wasn't on our side, but that was beyond our control so I can't reduce my stars on this review for something that was out of their hands. All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the multitude of places and activities we went to that day. I'd definitely recommend keeping track of the weather before you plan a trip here, if possible. Although the skies did clear up once we made our way back... So we got to see the beauty of the mountains from the road at least. I plan to return to Zakopane one day to see that view hopefully!

The trip itself was lovely,nice views and guide was very informative. The only letdown was that the as was a bit misleading because the zipline is NOT included in the trip. Overall the experience was very pleasant