RTW Budget: One Month in Poland

For the month of August we finished our stay in Florence, Italy and then our around the world adventure took us to the beautiful city of Krakow, Poland.  Krakow was one of those cities I was not sure what to expect, but we ended up really enjoying it.  We loved that it has lots of green spaces and parks and we also really liked how the city does not feel large despite approximately 800,000 people living there.  We also found that most things, especially food and local transportation, were fairly cheap.  While we were in Poland 1 USD was approximately 3.16 zlotys.

So how did we do on our budget?  I am really excited because after several months of being really over budget we are back on track. Our total for the month of August was $3,154.43 or $101.76 per day or $33.92 per person per day.

Lodging

Our biggest expenditure for the month of August was for lodging at $1610.97.  Unfortunately, lodging was more than half of our total expenditures for the month.  However, during August we really struggled to find affordable accommodations. Like I mentioned in my previous budget post, we panicked.   We probably should have kept on looking and until we found something cheaper.  In breaking our lodging expenditures further down, we had 5 days of lodging in Florence, Italy for a total of $271.65.  We spent 1 night in a bed and breakfast in Pisa for $53.20 and our lodgings in Krakow for the month of August was $1272.  We also had $14.12 in miscellaneous costs, which included laundry and replacing a knife that we accidentally broke.

Food

Our next biggest expenditure for the month of August was food, costing a total of $564.96.  We spent $464.21 on groceries and $100.75 for dinning out.  This is the least amount we have spent on food so far on our around the world adventure. I must say that Krakow has some great cheap street food and wonderful markets with tons of delicious fresh fruits and vegetables.  We were in Poland during raspberry season and were able to pick up a huge carton of raspberries for less than $2.  A similar amount of raspberries in the United States would have cost us close to $10.  Overall, we really enjoyed the foods and cheap prices of Poland.

Transportation

Our next biggest expenditure was for transportation for a total of $504.33.  We took the train from Florence to Pisa, which cost $25.74.  We then flew from Pisa to Krakow, which cost $383.69.  The remaining $95.40 was for local transportation around Krakow, being picked up at the airport, and local transportation to see Auschwitz and the Salt mines.

Entrance Fees

Our total expenditures for entrance fees were $187.16.  Krakow has lots of fascinating historical places to see and most are pretty cheap.  Our entrance fees included seeing Auschwitz, the Wieliczka Salt Mines, Wawel Castle, Rynok Underground, Schindler’s Factory, and the Krakow Zoo.  Our favorite places to see were Auschwitz and the Weiliczka Salt Mines. The museum that I was the most disappointed by was Schindler’s Factory.  I walked away feeling like I learned very little about Oscar Schindler.

Entertainment

Our total expenditures for entertainment were $115.30.  This included a movie, 3 different walking tours, swimming, and Sydney doing Aqua Zorbing.  During the month of August, we decided that we would treat ourselves to a movie in a cinema as the last time we had seen a movie in a movie theater was in Paris in December. It really was a treat for us to see a movie in a movie theater.

Miscellaneous

Our miscellaneous expenditures were $120.28.  Our miscellaneous expenditures included horse-riding lessons for Sydney, ibuprofen and a haircut for Jason.  A word of advice to those who plan to travel for a while in Europe, stock up on ibuprofen before leaving the US.  For some reason ibuprofen is ridiculously expensive.  After looking in several different countries, we finally found it for $7.19 for 50 tablets, which is really cheap in Europe.  Most places we were finding 10 tablets for that same price or more expensive.

Lessons Learned

•  We found it difficult to find affordable accommodations in Europe for August.  We probably should have kept on looking, but we panicked.
• We probably could have gotten cheaper accommodations further outside the city of Krakow, but we really enjoyed being close to the center and was worth it for us to pay a little extra to be closer in.
• Food is actually pretty cheap in Krakow especially the street food.  So have fun tasting the foods of Poland.  I encourage you to wander through the markets and try the street food.

Overall we were pleasantly surprised by Krakow and really enjoyed staying there. We found Krakow to be very family friendly.  We loved all the green spaces, which make it a very walkable or bikeable city.  Krakow also has a very interesting history.  We would definitely like to return to Krakow someday.