Krakow Very cheap
Milk bars (bar mleczny) are subsidised canteens serving pierogi and soup for a few euros — the best value meal in Europe. Zapiekanka from Plac Nowy is the late-night staple.
Budget travel in Poland
What a visitor's money does in Poland: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Good value average across 2 guides · 5 is very cheap
Money
Polish Złoty (PLN) · 1 EUR = 4.30 PLN · 1 USD = 3.80 PLN
Poland uses the złoty, not the euro. Kantor exchange offices give good rates — much better than banks or airports — but compare a couple and avoid ones right on the Main Square.
ATMs
Avoid: Euronet, Planet Cash, machines on the Main Market Square
Use: PKO Bank Polski, Pekao, mBank, Santander Polska
Euronet is the default machine in the old town and consistently the worst rate.
Getting around
A short ride in Krakow: 20–35 zł across town — middling
From the airport: Kraków airport to the old town 50–70 zł; Warsaw Chopin to the centre 40–60 zł
Cheaper than a street taxi, and far cheaper than one waiting outside a station.
City by city, cheapest first
Gdańsk Good value
Pierogi, obviously, but the Baltic ones are filled with fish as often as with cheese. Herring a dozen ways, żurek — a sour rye soup served in bread — and gołąbki. Goldwasser is a local liqueur with gold flakes in it and has been made here since 1598.
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
