Stock photograph by Thiago Zanutigh / Unsplash. This warm-weather city view is not a photograph from the winter journey.
I booked Kraków on a whim: return flights and three nights in a hostel, before I had properly thought about the weather. I didn’t know anyone going, but I joined a solo traveller group and, before I knew it, a group of us had booked out a hostel together. Complete strangers in one building. It could’ve gone either way.
It turned out to be one of those trips that reminds you why travelling solo doesn’t mean being alone.
From Griff’s original travel journal, edited for this collection. These are memories of that visit, rather than a report on present-day venues or travel arrangements.
The first night
The icebreaker was, fittingly, a hostel bar crawl. Within an hour, everyone had forgotten names and nationalities and was just somehow friends. We hopped between bars and cellars that looked like medieval caves, and by the end of the night everyone had that warm “we’re in this together” buzz.
The places we went below ground had old brick walls and a secret, candlelit energy. But what really made the trip was how effortlessly everyone gelled. It felt like travelling with old friends rather than people I’d met a few hours earlier.
A walk through the Old Town
The next morning, we shook off the hangovers with a walk around Kraków’s Old Town: cobbled streets, colourful façades, and street musicians around Rynek Główny. The smell of freshly baked obwarzanek drifted through the air. The city gave us plenty to stop for without needing every hour to have a purpose.
We visited an optical illusion museum, which turned out to be much more entertaining than expected: mirrors, trick walls, upside-down rooms. There was something wonderfully uncomplicated about wandering around with people who were all discovering the same things at the same time.
That became the rhythm of the trip. There was the place itself, and there were the conversations happening while we walked through it. Neither needed much organising once we had got past the first introductions.
Snow in Zakopane
The highlight for me was the day trip to Zakopane. It was covered in snow, proper postcard stuff: pine trees frosted white, wooden houses with steep roofs, and a slow, peaceful energy that felt a world away from city noise.
We learned about the region’s traditions, tried local dishes, and spent the afternoon in thermal hot baths surrounded by snowy peaks. Sitting in steaming water while snow fell around us was one of those “how is this real?” moments.
That memory is about a particular day, with a particular group. Snow, transport and the experience itself will be different on another visit. It belongs here as part of the story, rather than as a promise attached to a booking.
The quieter part of the trip
One evening we ended up in an underground karaoke bar, belting out songs with people who sang along whether or not they knew the words. The nights blurred together in the best way.
And there was Auschwitz. Visiting was heavy, quiet, sobering, and difficult to describe properly. We didn’t talk much on the bus back. The silence felt right. That visit sits separately in my memory from the nights out and the mountain scenery; it wasn’t simply another attraction to tick off.
What stayed with me
Kraków in winter felt cold, properly cold. The warmth came from the people and the little moments between the bigger plans: cafés glowing through windows, a conversation on a walk, the feeling of recognising faces in the hostel.
Leaving felt strange. I’d come alone and left with a group of friends I hadn’t known before the trip. Kraków made me want to explore more of Poland, perhaps in another season, with a different pace.
For me, the trip was a reminder that a plan can create the conditions for something good without scripting it. Booking a place to stay and agreeing to meet people gave the weekend a starting point. The friendships were what filled the spaces.
Take the idea into your own trip
You do not need a hostel takeover or a bar crawl to make a solo trip social. A shared kitchen, a small group walk or a quiet communal breakfast can give you an easier opening. Choose the setting that suits you, and keep the option to spend time alone.
Read how to choose a social hostel for a practical way to compare those settings. The First Solo-Trip Planning Pack helps you sort the essentials and leave room for the unplanned part.
