Welcome to the amazing city of Kraków in Poland! Where we visit the best Christmas Market in Europe!

Is there anything more magical than a European Christmas Market during the Holiday Season? We visited the beautiful city of Kraków, Poland to visit its unbelievable Christmas Market. While there we enjoyed some hot mulled wine also called Grzaniec Galicyjski in Polish and other delicious and famous polish dishes. In addition, we also check out the Christmas tree in the square as well as different stalls to see what types of things you can buy at the Krakow Christmas Market. If you’re coming to Europe to visit Christmas Markets, we’d highly suggest adding the Kraków Christmas Market to your list!

We are back in Kraków, Poland to explore our very first Christmas here. This is not our first time in Poland, we have come here before. However, we were here for only two nights and it was raining. So, we did not see much of the city. Nevertheless, this time around we knew we would be in Europe in December which means Christmas market time. We had some options and we decided to come back to Kraków which was appealing and fit nicely into our schedule. In Canada, it usually gets dark early, especially this time of the year, But, in Poland, it gets dark at 3:45 PM. We came to the market after dark. It looked really amazing. At the square, it is all lit up by the trees, they have these trickle-down lights. It is gorgeous. Honestly, it is a beautiful square in the regular season, but at Christmas time, it is extra special. We were really excited to be in Europe during this festive season.

We were most excited to try some hot mulled wine. So, we lined up to these barrels to get some. The steam coming from the cups was absolutely crazy. It smells like wine with a bunch of spices. They likely put some cinnamon and a few other spices. It is the perfect drink for this cold weather (it’s around zero celsius).

On another note, the big Christmas tree in the square is amazing. It is at least 30 or 40 feet high and it is filled with lights. Also, we noticed in Poland these trickled-down lights in different colours like white, blue and gold. It is absolute perfection.

As we were walking around the market, the smell of the food was very noticeable. W came to the market purposely hungry so we went on to grab some food so we can stay nice and warm. It is only appropriate since we are in Poland to try some Pierogi. We got a type of pierogi called ruskie, which is a mix potato and cheese in the middle with onions on top, we also went with a mix of fried and boiled pierogi. The pierogi we’re absolutely delicious. We did not expect it to be that good. Pierogi are super traditional and a must try when in Poland.

We came to know that Kraków has the biggest square in all of Europe. On one side, there is a market and in the middle of the square, it is totally empty. Poland is one of those countries that are so underrated and specifically the city of Kraków. In fact, it is one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe. However, not a lot of people are coming here yet. This also applies to the Christmas market. It is considered one of the top ten in Europe. However, it is definitely not the busiest. It is one of those cities that is lit up beautifully at night even if it’s not Christmas. A nighttime stroll is a must.

We found in the square these beautiful “Christmas cribs”. It is a Christmas tradition here in Kraków to hold a festival called Christmas cribs, where they make these castles and incorporate some historical monuments of Kraków into these nativity scenes. It is super cool. After checking out the square, we went off to do some Christmas shopping for our family back home, specifically our nieces. We managed to buy a beautiful gift for our five-year-old niece.

Have you booked your hotel or apartment in Krakow yet? Hotels book up early, use this handy map to find the perfect accommodations:

There is obviously an abundance of Polish food at the Christmas market. We read that we have to try this type of cheese. It is salty sheep cheese and it is from the mountain region in Poland. Basically, it is fried cheese. We ordered it and got one that has cranberry on top. The cheese itself was very chewy. We had a hard time biting into it. The cranberry is also good because it cuts the salt of the cheese. Otherwise, it would be overly salty. The other one we tried is wrapped in bacon. This one was pillowy in the middle. The bacon has a very strong flavour that incorporates nicely with the cheese. It was very good. Moreover, the flavour of the cheese itself is nice.

The Christmas market is quite large. There are about 80 stalls which include food and shopping. There are lots of baked food, Christmas gifts like sweaters and everything you could want. Interestingly, everything is planned by a committee which means that the stuff here is really good an planned out. It is exactly what we hoped the Christmas market would be. We think it has to be one of the best markets in Europe. After some shopping, we came to try another tasty dish which is potato pancakes with sour cream on top. It looks a bit like deep-fried hash browns. It is super crunchy and it reminded us of McDonald’s hash browns. The sour cream is really nice. It was one of our favourite foods of the day.

Overall the Kraków Christmas market was an absolutely magical experience. If you’re looking to visit some European Christmas Markets we’d highly suggest you add this one to your list!