Amazing four-day itinerary for Poznan, Poland

SIM card

I bought the card at a little grocery shop just before the exit from the airport, on the left. The sim card was by Plus company and cost 1.5 euro!! (The cheapest I’ve ever paid for a sim card), it lasted me the whole trip (4 days) and worked great. Today I personally recommend using an ESIM, which is an electronic SIM, and recommend Airalo. I was very satisfied with their user experience (simple tutorial videos for operating the SIM card) and everything worked without any special problems. I wrote more about them in an extended post on the subject of taking a SIM card abroad and also about other options such as buying a local SIM card.

Blog followers have a 15% discount code for the Airalo company to purchase an ESIM – to redeem the discount, click on this link. The discount code is already included in the link. See it at checkout.

The biggest drawback at the moment is that some devices do not support an electronic SIM. How can you know if your device supports the electronic card? Very simple: go to this link and you can see. Link to which devices support ESIM.

Car rental in Poznan

I think this is the most convenient and fun way to travel. Car prices are low and the roads are easy to drive.

You can search for a car in the search engine Papam Papam. Personally, I really like to search through them because they save me time (instead of going to several websites) and they also have the option of filtering out non-recommended rental companies.

Public transport

Public transport was very cheap, an unlimited 72 hour ticket costs 7 euro You may purchase the ticket at the metro’s main stations. You can also pay with cash or credit.

Attractions in Poznan

You can get ideas for other cool things you can do on the various attraction sites and even order through them (sometimes at a discounted price). The first attractions site is tiqets the second is Get your guide and Viator.

How do you get from the airport to Poznan’s city center?

I booked a cab on Uber for 6 euro (The advantage to Uber is seeing the price in advance). You can also take the bus, but seeing as the taxi was so cheap, I preferred it.

Where to stay in Poznan

Retro hostel was in a great location. It was near public transport (The metro and busses), had a 24/7 store next to it and was really close to the heart of the old town, while still located in a quite area.

The hostel itself is very clean and has a kitchen for those wishing to cook, the shared bathroom and shower were always clean and the room itself was basic but nice. On the first night there was a group of guests making a ton of noise, despite an attempt by an employee to quite them. As a result, my sleep on the first night wasn’t as great – Luckily, however, the group left the next morning, so I got proper sleep for the rest of my stay.

The downside to a hostel is that you hear everything going on in the hallway, so if someone’s talking outside – you can hear it in your room (I would recommend bringing ear plugs when going to hostels, which should solve the problem).

You can search for places to stay in Poznan via Booking.

Local currency

The local currency is Zloty, 1 Poland złoty equals 0.23 Euro. I brought euros with me and went to an exchange in the old town, where I converted it to Zloty.

Dinner

I love Indian food, so when I spotted Taj Mahal (map), an Indian restaurant, I decided to check out the prices along the way. Once again I discovered how cheap everything in Poznan is. A serving of Palak Paneer (An Indian spinach stew with cheese) costs 4 euro. I immediately decided to stay there for dinner.

I ordered the stew with rice and a vegetable salad to start. The salad was very good, with Indian spices – but a bit too spicy for my taste (I would recommend asking for the sauce to be served on the side, so you can adjust the spiciness to your taste). The Palak Paneer was really good, and despite being nearly full half-way through, I still nearly managed to finish it.

Breakfast

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, and when I found out Poznan has many good cafés, I grew really excited. One of the best cafés I had the opportunity to eat at was right next to my hostel. Jaglana Café is a modern café with delicious food and great coffee. I ordered Quaker oatmeal with fruit (My favourite breakfast :)), But they also serve sandwiches, salads, pancakes and more. I also ordered a Cappuccino which was excellent.

Visit to the castle

Visit to Royal Castle (Map)

The croissant museum

Apparently, Poznan is well known for its local Croissants and there is even a croissant museum with a nice, short show which teaches about the history of the croissant and how to make it. You get to eat the croissant they make, as well. They have shows in English and Polish. I recommend mailing prior to the trip and asking on which days, and at which hours, the English show is held. That’s what I’ve done, and there was a 12:30 show on the day I visited. The show is light and well suited for children, but it would be interesting for adults as well and costs around 18 shekels per person (Croissant included).

Lunch – Polish dumplings

One of the Polish foods I really like are Pigori dumplings. I think the best place to have them is the Pierozak chain. They have a huge variety, I ordered five different flavours and the whole dish cost me 8 shekels, with sour cream and fried onions included. There are flavours like Fetta cheese, cabbage and mushrooms, spinach and cheese, duck, and other interesting options. They make the dumplings on the spot, so they turn out fresh and delicious.

Tea at lovely café

I saw this café from the road and couldn’t help but go in. Rozove Café a pink café with tons of cute stuff. They bake fresh cakes every day, which look fantastic. I was full, so I decided to order a tea infusion. It was really tasty, so I simply sat there to read a book and relax.

Little market

Next to the metro station by my hostel is a little market, offering fruit, vegetables and many other nice things (Map to market). I noticed they had strawberries and other berries and bought small amounts of many different berries at the cost of 10 shekels and took them with me in my bag.

Botanical Gardens

I took the metro to the botanical gardens. The entrance is free and the gardens are very large and extremely beautiful. You can spend hours walking in them, or just sitting on the benches and enjoying the view.

Rusalka Lake

From the botanical gardens I continued on foot to Rusalka Lake (Map). If you like riding a bike, I’d recommend renting one (There are bike renting stations along the streets) and using it to ride around the lake. It’s a very pleasant area to ride in. It’s also very nice to sit by the lake and read a book (That’s what I did :)). I ate the berries I purchased there.

Dinner

Thai Restaurant, Why Thai. Next to my hostel was a Thai restaurant with good reviews, and as a fan of Thai cuisine I decided to go have my dinner there. The menu held many items that sounded good, but I ended up going for the classic dish of Pad Thai with shrimp, and ordered a glass of white wine. For starters, I was served rice crackers with a peanut butter dip (Yummy), and the Pad Thai itself was really good and filling. The wine glass suited the meal well, and I enjoyed sitting there and sipping it despite being on my own.

Breakfast

It was a bit of a rainy morning but I didn’t settle and looked for a good café for breakfast.
Finally, I found Lavenda. It seemed like a café many businessmen visit, as there were many suit-wearing men and well dressed, tailored women. Despite the fact, the prices were very reasonable. The dish I chose this time was avocado toast with scrambled eggs. The food was great and I was very pleased with my choice, despite my love for oatmeal breakfasts :).

I ordered a Cappuccino as well and sat down to read a book in peace.

Castle and exhibit about Enigma

After my wonderful breakfast, I took the metro to the Imperial Castle (Map), which was beautiful. At it’s back was an exhibition about Enigma, including a video with the story behind it’s invention. According to estimates, it shortened the 2nd world war by 2-3 years and saved tens of millions of lives.

Cytadela Park

Cytadela park is the largest park in Poznan and you could spend hours strolling in it. It holds amusement parks and is packed with history. In it is a British cemetery, war museum, memorial statues and a statue for the “Unrecognized” by Magdalena Abakanowicz.

Beer and food tour

Before my trip to Poznan I searched for interesting tours to go on. I ended up finding City Event Poznan, a company offering food tours for groups and has recently started offering beer tours. I mailed the owner, Piotr, and he was glad to offering me a special private tour so I could experience the kinds of tours the company offers.

The tour combined the food with the beer tasting and was very cool and unique. I got to try insane Polish beers I never would have otherwise and probably never will again, for example, a hot beer with eggs and sugar! There were several other crazy beers, but I won’t spoil your experience. Piotr was really charming and had extensive knowledge about Poznan and its history. Read more about my experience on the tour.

Beer pudding dessert

I arrived at this place with Piotr, the beer tour guide. It’s a restaurant serving a beer pudding dessert. While it may sound strange, it’s actually quite delicious and I’m always up for trying local dishes I might never get to have again. This dessert isn’t on the menu but if you visit Pastela and ask for it specifically, they’ll make it for you 🙂

Shopping

One of the fun things about Poznan is how cheap it is, meaning shopping is really cheap as well. The city has a shopping avenue, where you can find cool stores with really low prices. There are malls as well – a big, new one is by the Malta lake.

Shakshuka breakfast

For my final day, I found a café serving Shakshuka, which suited me very well. The Razowa café. They serve vegan Shakshuka. I ordered the regular Shakshuka, which had cheese on top and was really good. They served it with a bread I liked, as well. They have a variety of breakfasts, pastries, sandwiches and more. In short, another excellent café.

Renting a bike

After breakfast, I decided to rent a bike. Although there are bike rental stands all across town, I found a hostel – Folk Hostel (Map) which rents bikes by the hour and preferred to rent through them. The first two hours cost 5 euro, then each additional hour is 5 more. Or you can pay 12 euro  for the entire day. I preferred to pay by the hour and ended up renting for 4 hours and paying 7 euro . The bikes are in working condition, but they’re simple bikes and are hard to ride for long periods of time.

There is also an option to rent bike in the street. There are many bike rental station. You need to register first in there website (link)

3D wall painting on a building

I rode the bike to a street where there is a 3D painting on the side of a building. I was recommended by someone who lives in Poland, through Instagram and really liked her suggestion. The painting was very cool and unique (map). From there, I continued to lake Malta.

Bike ride at Malta park

Malta lake is a really pretty lake with all sorts of attractions along it, like simulated ski which is open all year round, a little amusement park, bowling and more. It has a really nice bike track and I ended up riding a the bike all around the lake (map).

Train ride to the zoo

I tied the bike next to Maltanka train station (Map), ordered cold tea from the restaurant and waited for a train going to the zoo (You can reach it by bike, but taking the train there seemed nice). There is a train exactly every hour and a one-way ticket costs 1.5 euro. The ride is about 15 minutes.

The zoo

At first, I wasn’t sure whether to visit the zoo or not, but I’m really glad I did. Nowo Zoo is in a safari style. There are many large, fenced areas where the animals have plenty of room to roam, so they’re not confined to little cages. The zoo is really well maintained and taken care of. There are plenty of places to sit and just enjoy the view and the animals.

Entrance is 4.5 euro for an adult and it’s definitely worth it for adults and children alike.
The train back runs at 1-hour intervals, 10:30, 11:30, etc.

I’d recommend bringing fruits and snacks with you. When I was visiting (Middle of May) the restaurant was closed and there was nowhere to eat.

Returning the bike to the hostel

Late lunch

The hostel I rented the bike from recommended Pod Nosem restaurant. It’s a little restaurant with a few daily dishes in an Asian style, and it was super delicious. I ordered two little burgers with slow-cooked meat. I was really hungry, so I ordered potato chips on the side, which turned out to be unnecessary as the burgers filled me up completely.

And some more shopping 🙂

Pancake dinner at café

At night I was still full from lunch, but I’ve found Sofa Café, a café serving oat and yam pancakes, which sounded interesting to me. I ordered a dish of yam pancakes with Camembert cheese and blueberry jam. The pancakes are more like latkes,

but the dish was delicious and unique – even though I was too full to eat more than one pancake. I also ordered orange and honey tea and asked for ginger in it as well – It was really good. I read the book there, along with my tea and was very pleased. It was a good finish for a super fun and cheap trip.