I’ll be honest, I had no idea where Bialystok was before I was told to go there for a work trip. Granted geography was never my strong point…but found it and started planning right away!
First, I had to learn that there are no direct flights from LA to Bialystok. I had to take a flight to Warsaw and then a 2 hour train to Bialystok. Note about the train: there are two types of tickets you can get. The “first class” ticket is $18 and has an electronic counter (you can see what stop is coming up) and someone announces each stop. It’s only a $3 difference so I strongly recommend this ticket if you’re visiting.

When we arrived, I immediately wanted to break into song “little town, it’s a quiet villageeee” because really it seemed so quaint.

My favorite is the beautiful park surrounding the palace. Fun fact: the design of the place supposedly inspired the design of the place of Versailles..or was that vice versa? Sorry history also isn’t my strong suit haha but I do know that now the palace is no longer for the royals and houses a med school. I did a few morning jogs there and I found some hidden gems.

Also my boss is the queen of Trip Advisor and found the cutest coffee shop, Fly High Coffee. I finally made it there on my last day in Bialystok. I was so appreciative of the staff there that helped me order once they saw the confusion flood my face when there was only a menu in Polish. I order a latte and the pancakes because that’s what I saw on TripAdvisor. By the way, a lot of the European spots use TripAdvisor over Yelp so I recommend getting that app! Anyways I’m not sure what’s in the batter of polish pancakes, but it’s a little sweeter than “American” pancakes and I loved it 🙂

Bialystok, you truly are a gem! And you seriously have the best ice cream!! Till next time xo