Poland and Cracow offers crisp wintry weather and snow for Christmas.

Cracow's streets and buildings are beautifully festive, mulled wine is sold at every restaurant to really get you in the mood.

The big Christmas meal for Poles is Wigilia on Christmas Eve where families sit down to eat their way through the traditional twelve vegetarian dishes, wish each other well, children open their presents then go to church for midnight mass or pasterka.

If you spend Christmas Eve in a hotel, unless there are lots of other foreign tourists, it may be a very quiet occasion. The menu will include beetroot or mushrooms soup, Polish vegetarian dumplings, a fish such as carp, noodles with poppy seeds and perhaps a dried fruit compote. Not the standard western festive fare and definitely an acquired taste!

Christmas Day is a an even more quiet occasion and almost everywhere is closed apart from hotels. The best way for tourists to enjoy Christmas in Poland is rent a house or apartment and share it with their family and friends. This way you can be in Poland to enjoy the Christmas Markets and run up to Christmas but celebrate your own way with your preferred food.

Bring your own Christmas pudding, mince pies, Christmas cake and custard because you won't find these foods on sale in Poland. After Christmas go skiing, tobogganing and just enjoy the snow.

The Tatra Mountains are about 1.5 hours drive south of Cracow and have fabulous scenery and numerous places to ski. Kasprowy Wierch is shown above. Zakopane is the big ski resort set at the foot of the Tatra Mountains and another interesting place to visit that is full of peasant character and highland culture.