What should we see on our Krakow Christmas trip?

Q My wife and I are undertaking a self-organised tour of European Christmas markets in December. We plan to fly to Krakow initially then continue by train using an Interrail pass. Over the years you have been very positive about Krakow. We are staying for two full days. What places should we try to see, other than the Christmas market?

Fred M

A Your plan sounds excellent. Krakow’s lively city-centre Christmas market fills part of the vast main square, Rynek Glowny – simply one of the most alluring plazas in Europe. Part of the December tradition involves horse-drawn carriages for tourists, which adds to the fairytale ambience whether or not you decide to try one.

Visit the excellent Underground Museum to understand the layers of history, and the exquisitely ornate St Mary’s Basilica at the western corner. Wawel Hill to the south of the Old Town is home to both the Royal Castle and Krakow’s 14th-century cathedral – both worth exploring.

Beyond the Old Town, the horror of the holocaust during the Second World War is set out in two contrasting locations. Go first to the Galicia Jewish Museum, which describes the vibrant community that thrived in the area known as Kazimierz until the Nazi genocide began.

Then visit Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory, to understand how the Nazi spy-turned-industrialist saved the lives of 1,200 Jewish people. The story is told in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film Schindler’s List, much of which was filmed in Kazimierz.

Krakow’s environs have much to offer, too. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is a Unesco World Heritage site that provides an unmatched experience of the underworld. Part of the tourist offering explains how this part of Poland was hollowed out, but a visit is memorable mostly for the mix of natural and man-made saline creations – culminating in the intricate Chapel of St Kinga. The train from Krakow’s main station takes 22 minutes; no need to pay for an expensive bus tour.

One suburb of Krakow I believe deserves more attention: Nowa Huta, to the east (easily accessible by tram). The name translates as New Steel Mill, and it was built during the communist era as a magnificent planned city. Visit Nowa Huta Museum and Nowa Huta Underground (a former bunker) to learn more.

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Q Returning from Mumbai earlier this year, our flight was cancelled by Emirates as Dubai was experiencing severe flooding. We were escorted to a hotel in Mumbai for the night but had no idea of how or when we would get a return flight to the UK. Staff at the airport suggested getting a refund and buying a ticket on another carrier.

With little sleep, I booked two tickets back to London Heathrow three days later. I paid for the new flights and the hotel in the belief that I’d get the money back from my travel insurance. However, on my return, the travel insurance company refused to pay on the technicality that Emirates refunded our return flight. The credit card company with which I had booked the tickets wasn’t interested, either. I’m still very confused: what else should people do if they’re left stranded thousands of miles away from home?

Mahesh P

A The devastating floods in the United Arab Emirates in April this year caused havoc for Emirates, whose Dubai hub was severely affected. Hundreds of thousands of passengers had their travel plans torn up, including you. In such circumstances, communication and rebooking was extremely difficult given the uncertainty about when the operation might recover and the sheer number of passengers involved.

Because you were travelling on a non-UK/EU airline from outside Europe, the usual air passengers’ rights rules do not apply: these require a cancelling airline to get travellers home as soon as possible using any available means. As things stood, you were expected to rely on Emirates to sort out new flights – possibly on a different airline – and provide a hotel while you waited. If you have something in writing from the staff at Mumbai airport recommending you buy another flight, you may be able to claim from Emirates. But otherwise you will need to demonstrate why you took it upon yourself to book an alternative flight (presumably much more expensively than the original departure) rather than waiting for Emirates to come up with a solution. In addition, it is difficult to see how you can claim for the extra nights in a hotel – unless no seats were available for immediate departure, or the fares were astronomical unless you waited a few days.

The basic premise of disruption: you must give the airline a chance to fix the problem. If you feel you did, ask Emirates to recompense your losses. If you get nowhere, then ask your travel insurer once again – attaching the airline’s refusal.

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Q My son’s girlfriend plans to spend six months in Australia from mid-February until early September as part of her year out. She wants to book early to get a cheap deal, but knows a friend who lost all her money when an airline collapsed. So should she get a credit card and book the flights on that? Or should she buy insurance in advance to ensure the flights are covered?

CB

A Booking early for a cheap deal is often a good plan – but, as far as I can see, this does not apply if you are planning to travel to Australia next year away from peak season, as these days are. A brief search by Skyscanner suggests the cheapest return flights are around the £1,200 level. I can pretty much guarantee that there will be a better deal nearer the time.

I am a late-booker to Australia, and on my last trip bought within 24 hours of departure and got a decent price: out to Sydney via Tokyo and returning from Melbourne via Doha for around £1,100.

Even if the price does not come down, I cannot see the prospect of fares increasing substantially between now and the departure date. Outside the peak Christmas/New Year spell and very occasionally in the northern summer, airlines do not sell out of UK-Asia-Australia seats. In addition, as I hear all too often from disappointed travellers, circumstances can change between booking a flight and the departure date. From experience, changing plans usually means many hundreds of pounds in extra costs.

On the question of protection against failure: first, I see no prospect of any of the airlines that are currently selling tickets between the UK and Australia failing within the next year. In the very unlikely event that hers does, then paying with a credit card direct to the airline means her money is safe. In any event, travelling life without a credit card is increasingly difficult, so I suggest she acquires one. Seeking insurance as financial protection strikes me as unnecessary.

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