After our wonderful walking and cycling experiences in Saxony, we needed to transit through southern Poland to get to our next walking destination in Slovakia. Natalie's partner Dom was born in Kraków, and still has family there. He and Natalie have visited his home town a few times, and they were keen to meet us there for a weekend and show us around. Having personal local guides was a nice change for us.

The drive from Bad Schandau to Kraków was too long to tackle in a day, so we looked for a place to spend a couple of nights on the way. Natalie suggested Wrocław, so that's where we landed to break the journey.

The two cities we saw in Poland were an amazing surprise for us. We loved Kraków in particular, with its big university population and edgy vibe. Great food, great sights and with our insiders to help, we found a lot of bars that we would never have got to on our own.

We hope you enjoy the story of this part of our trip, and that you are inspired to add Poland to your future travels.