Ever since we visited the Christmas markets in Tallinn, Estonia, I have been waiting for our kids to be old enough to take them to European Christmas markets to experience the magic. My daughter cried to me after we returned from Norway and asked why we didn’t bring her; she wants to travel with us! Alright, I guess this is the time to take them to Christmas markets! Lufthansa’s change fee was costly and their seat assignment policy was super bad – I thought I could select seats at check-in so as long as I check-in in exactly 24 hours prior, I should be able to get two rows with window seats (my kids love the window). Nope, the system auto-assign at check-in and in order to change the seat, I need to pay an additional, same cost if I pay to reserve the seat upfront WHAT??? I ended up paying an additional $200! I would avoid Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Swiss,…) as much as possible in the future!
We arrived in Wroclaw at 9:40 AM after a layover at Frankfurt, I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t find milk at any shop in Frankfurt, my son was asking for it so badly 🙁 I booked a private airport transfer via Viator in advance ($30.79) since we have two kids, a stroller, and luggage to make it easier and save time. We got to the hotel (Wyndham Wroclaw Old Town) within 20 minutes. Once we arrived at the hotel, we were lucky that our family room was ready so we got some rest before heading out for lunch at Mandarin House (opens at 12 PM). Mandarin House was a short walk from our hotel and my son needed white rice so I picked Asian restaurants as possible.
We ordered dumplings, those were northern Chinese style so not our typical Cantonese flavors.
The sweet and sour chicken was okay.
The oyster sauce beef was too salty!
The crispy duck was decent, hard to go wrong with deep-fried duck in Europe!
3 main dishes plus dumplings for only $45.53! After lunch, we walked to Muzeum Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego (Museum of the University of Wrocław). We purchased the 3 halls ticket (one of the hall was closed that day) for 18 PLN (around $4.68). The “first” hall was the Stefan Banach Hall, it looked like an exhibition with old books and portraits of professors. The hallway to the hall has a Harry Potter vibe!
Paintings on the ceiling of the hall:
The staircase to the 2nd floor was stunning!
The next hall was the Leopoldina Hall with paintings completely covering the ceiling. It was so grand and beautiful. My son was too young to appreciate it or have the patience so we took the photos quickly and moved on to the next.
After that we walked up to the Mathematical Tower for the view of the city, it was just okay. It started to rain so we ran back inside quickly.
Artwork on display near the stairs.
The last hall was the magnificent Oratorio Marianum! It was located on the 1st floor on the other side of the Stefan Banach Hall. No one was there so we took our time to admire the masterpiece!
After the university museum, we walked back to the hotel to rest because it was raining out. For dinner, we went to Orientuj Się, across the street from our hotel as it was raining. The restaurant was small and packed, luckily, a group of friends moved over to another table so we could have a larger table for our family. The food was okay.
My kids liked the fried rice.
The ramen soup base was different, they tried to be creative but not to our liking.
All that food for only $38.88!
The following day, I went to get breakfast at Chleboteka Bakery. Polish people must love pistachios; there are lots of pistachio-flavored items! I got one pistachio croissant, one pistachio roll, and one pistachio donut to try. The roll was the best with pistachio cream fillings inside!!!
I even bought their dessert to try, they looked so good!
I walked back to the hotel, had breakfast with our family, and got the kids ready to go explore Wroclaw’s old town! One of the best and free activities to do in Wroclaw is to find the Wrocław Dwarves “hidden” throughout the Old Town. I read that since 2005 till now, there are over 800 dwarves! We found the first one along the walk from our hotel to the Old Town.
After the first one, the kids had so much fun spotting the dwarves!
The Market Square is only a block away from our hotel so it was super convenient. The Christmas market stalls were set and tonight was their opening day! We couldn’t wait to check them out! The Market Square was filled with colorful buildings, I love this style of old towns!
Those snow globes were so cool and beautiful!
One of the shoe mugs that we had to take a photo with.
Another beautiful and colorful street of the Market Square.
Lots of sweets stalls!
This is probably the most beautiful side of the square with the Muzeum Sztuki Mieszczańskiej. My son was tired of having photos taken of him so he started his signature photo face LOL!
This was one of the kids’ favorite stalls! They got a Mickey Mouse puzzle and a set of magnetic wooden trains. Their prices were affordable!
More toys stall:
The kids found more dwarves!
This was at the entrance of the train station and the end of the Old Town so we turned back.
There were hundreds of stalls filling the four sides of the Market Square!
We found another shoe mug that is red.
They sell the collectible Christmas shoe mug here! Technically, they don’t sell it, you need to pay a deposit to borrow the mug along with paying for the drink. But if you decided not to return the mug then you won’t get your deposit back 😉
Luckily, they have non-alcoholic drinks so I could “buy” the mug! I asked about it and the lady was cool of my intention of not returning the mug LOL. She said after I finished the drink, I could return the mug in exchange for a new one :O
I ordered a hot chocolate with cream on top.
Isn’t this shoe mug beautiful? It has Wroclaw 2024, I read that they have different colors each year, I would love to have a blue or purple one!!! People travel around different Christmas markets to collect those unique mugs!
Their stall was one of my favorites and highly decorated.
More people arrived and it started to get busy at the square. Photo with the reindeer and sleigh?
They had the Christmas tree lighting ceremony later on in early December so we didn’t get to see the decorated and lit Christmas tree 🙁
It was time for the lunch break, we walked over to Chiński Wiatr | Restauracja orientalna – Chińska just right outside the Old Town. Jason ordered the wonton soup, it was fast-food chain quality.
But we were impressed by other dishes, those tasted much better and more authentic! The oyster sauce stir-fried lettuce was so good! When in Europe, I miss stir-fried vegetable the most!
The sizzling beef was good too.
As well as the tofu and vegetable stir-fried.
Poland is very affordable, it was only $41.08 for 3 dishes plus a soup and white rice! After lunch, we continued with our exploration of the Old Town. Technically, it’s not part of the Market Square but it’s right next to it called Plac Solny.
This wooden stall (more like a house) was another highly decorated one.
We found another shoe mug here at this square. I really like this turquoise color one!
We looped back to the Market Square.
The colorful houses were very picturesque.
Amusement park rides for kids!
This snow angel/princess was my daughter’s favorite.
They even have stalls decorated as different rooms for people to take photos.
Lastly, a dark blue shoe mug!
This corner here looked like a fairytale land with a cute mushroom “house” and windmill-styled wooden stall.
They found more dwarves!
We were back to the reindeer and sleigh again.
We passed this arch a few times and finally, I remembered to take a photo. This is the “Kamieniczki “Jaś i Małgosia”
Next, we ventured out of the Market Square and went to Jatki Street where this short street is filled with art galleries.
This is one of the best places (besides the Christmas markets) to get locally made souvenirs. However, we didn’t see anything that we like.
We continued to walk to the famous bridge, Most Tumski.
Wrocław Cathedral is on the end of the street.
Wrocław Cathedral with two towers:
The gothic interior of the cathedral:
After the cathedral, Jason found a post office nearby so we went to check it out. We couldn’t believe that the post office was located inside a hotel: Hotel im. Jana Pawła II. This post office sells religious-themed stamps!
Afterward, we walked back toward the Old Town and saw this building – it’s an indoor market: Hala Targowa.
We checked that out too hoping to find fresh berries for my son but unfortunately, those weren’t too fresh; we saw molds on a berry!
Upstairs had a lot of misc. shops from clothing to jewelry.
We made it back to the Old Town and it was the blue hour! The Christmas market was fully open and the lights were on, the atmosphere was so festival and magical!
We bought hats, gloves, magnets, and lots of little gifts to bring home 😀
During the daytime, the Muzeum Sztuki Mieszczańskiej looked so beautiful. At night with the Christmas lights surrounding it, it was magificent.
Looking closely at this windmill-style wooden stall, it even had a toy train running around it, the details were unbelievable.
The best thing was it was only 4 PM so it was perfect for my kids to experience the Christmas lights and not have to stay up late!
They had a blast riding the rides from one to another.
They had rides for toddlers to small kids to big kids….even a roller coaster!
The display of the Red Riding Hood!
It got really cold fast so after they had done all the rides, it was time for dinner. The smell of grilled meats and fried dough made me extra hungry. We had dinner at Darea where we ordered Korean and Japanese dishes. The Korean seafood pancake was not good.
The kids had the bibimbap and the grilled meat was dry.
We ordered a sizzling beef and there were way more onions than meat! It was night and day compared to what we had for lunch and much more expensive too, $54.60!
I ordered the spicy seafood noodle soup and WOW it was super spicy! It was the spiciest Korean noodle soup that I ever had! It had a lot of frozen mussels that I did not enjoy and hardly any shrimp or other types of seafood.
Jason tried their sushi and they were okay.
After dinner, we walked to the Christmas market once again; it was on our way back to the hotel 😛
It was freezing at this point so we decided to call it a day, besides, the kids were tired after a whole day of exploring.
Overall, I was totally impressed with Wroclaw’s Old Town, not only it was one of the most beautiful and colorful old towns that I had ever visited, it is also one of the best and largest Christmas markets! With hundreds of wooden stalls selling affordable gifts and food, kid-friendly amusement park rides, beautifully decorated with Christmas figures and lights, and an incredibly picturesque backdrop, the Christmas market in Wroclaw is not to be missed!
