Krakow Day Trip from the UK: £56 Flights, Nearly 10 Hours, £95 All In

£95 for the whole day. Flight, train in, lunch, dinner, and nearly 10 hours in Kraków, Poland. Here's where every pound goes.

The flight: £56

Luton on Monday 23 November. Out at 06:20, land 09:45, fly home at 22:20. £56 is the cheapest same-day return on Google Flights for that date, checked on 2 October 2026. Fares move daily, so check the trip page before you book.

That late flight home is the whole reason this trip works. Our trip page has you in the city from about 10:45 until 20:20. Nearly 10 hours. Most day trips give you six.

Kraków on Mon 23 Nov: times, hours and today's price

Getting in: £6

The train from the airport into town is about £6 there and back on our cost data. The cheaper option is the agglomeration bus, 209 or 300, on a 60 minute ticket for 8 złoty, against 20 złoty for the train. If you're counting pennies, get the bus. If you want to be in town quicker, get the train.

Getting about: £5

Our data puts local transport at £5 for the day. In practice the old town, the Planty and Kazimierz are all walkable, so you might not spend it.

Food: £28

Lunch £10, dinner £18. Add £4 if you stop for a coffee or a pint, and you will. Kraków's cheap enough that a proper Polish dinner is where to spend. You've got time for a sit-down meal before the airport, which is rare on a day trip.

Free things to do in Krakow

A lot. The Main Market Square, the Planty park that rings the old town, and Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, cost nothing. And because it's a Monday, Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory is free too. Normally it's 60 złoty. That's the main reason we picked this date.

What's worth paying for

Wawel Royal Castle is 95 złoty. The hill and the walk up are free, and the views over the Vistula from the walls are the bit most people remember. St Mary's Basilica is 20 złoty. The Rynek Underground museum is 45 złoty, and it's free on Tuesdays, so not today.

Can I do Auschwitz and the salt mine in one day?

Not on a day trip from the UK. Both are outside the city, and either one takes up a big chunk of the day. Try to do both and you'll spend your 10 hours in a minibus. If one of them matters to you, book it properly and make it the day. Otherwise, do the city. There's more than enough.

The total

Flight £56, train £6, local transport £5, lunch £10, dinner £18. That's £95. A coffee or a pint takes it to £99. Under £100 for nearly 10 hours in one of the best cities in Europe.

Suggested itinerary for the day

Into town by about 10:45. Morning: Wawel and the river while it's light. Lunch in Kazimierz. Afternoon: Schindler's Factory, free today. It gets dark at about 15:50 at the end of November, so the evening is the old town and the Main Market Square lit up, then dinner, then leave for the airport by 20:20. Average high around 5°C, per our trip page, so wrap up.

Krakow dos and don'ts

Do get the bus in if you're counting pennies. 8 złoty against 20 for the train. Do go to Schindler's Factory on a Monday, it's free. Do pay in złoty, Poland doesn't use the euro, and card works almost everywhere.

Don't pay 95 złoty for Wawel if you only want the view. The hill and the walls are free. Don't try to squeeze in Auschwitz or the salt mine as well as the city, you'll do all of it badly. And don't leave before you've seen the Main Market Square after dark. That's the photo.

Is Auschwitz a day trip from Krakow?

From Krakow, plenty of people do it as a day out. From the UK on a day trip, it would be your whole day, and it deserves that. If it's the reason you're going, make it the plan and leave the city for another time. If it isn't, don't bolt it on.

Is Krakow cheap?

For a day trip, it's one of the cheapest days on our board once you've landed. Our cost data has the day on the ground at about £39, against £43 for Riga and £61 for Vienna. Dinner's £18. The flight's £56. That's why the whole thing comes in under £100.

Other dates

We picked Monday 23 November for the free Schindler's Factory and the late flight home. Prices and times change by date, so check the Krakow trip page for other days. Look at the hours in the city as well as the price. A cheap flight that gets you four hours isn't a cheap day.

What to wear

Average high about 5°C and dark by 15:50, per our trip page. It's a lot of walking on cobbles, so proper shoes over nice shoes. You'll thank yourself by 18:00.

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Photo credits. Top: Piotrekwas, CC BY-SA 3.0 PL. Kazimierz: Igor123121, CC BY 4.0. Wawel: Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 4.0.