Traveleriences
The Cloth Hall on Kraków's Main Market Square

Kraków, Poland

Ideal: 3 daysBest: May–Sep, DecPrice: Inexpensive
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In 60 seconds

Kraków in 60 seconds

Kraków escaped the destruction that levelled Warsaw, and its medieval square, royal castle and Jewish quarter remain whole. It is also a student city, so the evenings are cheap and long. The Old Town ring is entirely walkable, and trams reach Kazimierz and Podgórze in minutes. Eat pierogi and żurek in a milk bar, the old workers' canteens, for very little. Give it three days: one for the Old Town and Wawel, one for Kazimierz and Podgórze, and one for the trip that most visitors make and none forget — the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial, which needs a timed entry booked ahead and most of a day with the journey — or for the salt mine at Wieliczka.

Architecture

Best for

  • History
  • Budget
  • Nightlife
  • Weekend

Known for

  • Main Market Square
  • Wawel Castle
  • Kazimierz

Skip if

You want an easy trip. The history here is heavy, and the day at Auschwitz-Birkenau deserves the time and attention it asks for.

Your match

Choose a few travel interests and we will show how well Kraków fits them. Choose interests

See

Must experience

The things that would make the trip incomplete without them.

Main Market Square & the Cloth Hall

Medieval square · Renaissance market hall

One of Europe's largest medieval squares. Listen for the trumpeter from St Mary's tower on the hour.

Stare MiastoCentralFree

Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory

Moderate

Museum of Kraków under occupation

Less about Schindler than about the city under occupation, and better for it. Book a timed entry.

ZabłocieBook aheadHistory

Eat

Where to eat

A short list, kept short on purpose. Each entry answers one question: when is this the right choice?

Local

Where to eat the food this city is actually known for.

Bar Mleczny Pod Temidą

Inexpensive

Milk bar · Self-service Polish

Pierogi, soups and cutlets from the counter at canteen prices, on the Royal Route.

Stare MiastoCashCheap

Kogel Mogel

Expensive

Kraków brasserie

Classic Kraków and Polish dishes, modernised, in a retro Old Town brasserie with a summer garden.

Stare MiastoGardenPolish

Pierogarnia Krakowiacy

Inexpensive

Pierogi

A long pierogi list, from ruskie to duck and sweet cherry, a few steps off the main square.

Stare MiastoCheapPierogi

Casual

No booking, no ceremony, reliably good.

Starka

Moderate

Polish · House-flavoured vodka

Dumplings and roasts with a flight of the house vodkas, in a low-lit Kazimierz room.

KazimierzVodka

Przystanek Pierogarnia

Inexpensive

Pierogi counter

A tiny local chain making pierogi to order, from 'student' potato and bacon to lentil.

Stare MiastoCheapQuick

Endzior

Inexpensive

Zapiekanki at Plac Nowy

The busiest zapiekanka hatch in the round market hall on Plac Nowy, open into the small hours.

KazimierzCashLate

Special occasion

Worth planning the evening around.

Bottiglieria 1881

Very expensive

Modern Polish tasting menu

Poland's first two-star kitchen, in a brick wine cellar in Kazimierz.

KazimierzBook aheadWine

Pod Różą

Very expensive

Modern Polish · Wine

Modern Polish cooking with an Italian accent and a deep wine list, in Kraków's oldest hotel on Floriańska.

Stare MiastoBook aheadWine

Copernicus

Very expensive

Polish royal cuisine · Tasting menu

Seasonal tasting menus based on old Polish royal recipes, in Gothic cellars on Kanonicza below Wawel.

Stare MiastoBook aheadTasting menu

Coffee & fika

Mornings, and the slow hour between things.

Massolit Books & Café

Inexpensive

English-language bookshop café

Floor-to-ceiling secondhand books, good coffee and cake, five minutes from the square.

Stare MiastoBooksCake

Café Camelot

Inexpensive

Folk-art café

Squeaking floorboards, watercolours and cake, with cabaret in the cellar at weekends. One of Szymborska's haunts.

Stare MiastoCakeClassic

Jama Michalika

Moderate

Artists' café · Since 1895

The Floriańska café where Poland's first literary cabaret began in 1905. The interiors survive.

Stare MiastoCakeHistoric

Beyond the obvious

Hidden gems

Less obvious, rarely queued for, and usually the part people remember.

Krakus Mound

Prehistoric mound · City view

The highest point in the city, said to be the legendary founder's grave. Go at sunset.

PodgórzeFreeSunset

Zabłocie

Post-industrial district · MOCAK

Factories turned into MOCAK, the contemporary art museum, and a cluster of cafés beside it.

ZabłocieArtCafés

Pharmacy Under the Eagle

Inexpensive

Ghetto pharmacy museum

The only pharmacy inside the wartime ghetto, whose owner helped its inhabitants. Now a small museum on Ghetto Heroes Square.

PodgórzeHistoryMuseum

After dark

Bars & nightlife

Alchemia

Inexpensive

Candlelit bar · Cellar concerts

Candles, sepia photographs and a wardrobe that leads to another room. Jazz and klezmer in the cellar.

KazimierzLateLive music

Mleczarnia

Inexpensive

Old-world bar · Summer garden

Candles and old portraits inside, and a leafy beer garden across Meiselsa street from April to October.

KazimierzGardenQuiet

Hevre

Inexpensive

Bar in a former prayer house

A bar in an 1896 Beit Midrash, with the old frescoes still on its walls, run by the people behind Alchemia.

KazimierzHistoricTank beer

Orientation

Neighbourhoods

How the city is actually divided, and what each part is for.

Kazimierz

Jewish quarter · Synagogues, bars

Seven synagogues by day, the city's best bars by night.

Podgórze

Across the river · Former ghetto

The wartime ghetto, the Ghetto Heroes Square memorial, and the hill of Krakus Mound above.

Nowa Huta

Planned socialist-realist town

A model socialist-realist town built in the 1950s around a steelworks, with its own central square.

Stay

Where to stay

Areas rather than hotels — pick the right one and the rest follows.

Stare Miasto

Moderate

The Old Town

Everything on foot inside the Planty ring of gardens.

CentralWalkable

Kazimierz

Inexpensive

Bars and restaurants

Fifteen minutes' walk from the square, with the evenings at the door.

NightlifeValue

Podgórze

Inexpensive

Across the Vistula

Across the river from Kazimierz, quieter and better value.

QuietValue

Practical

Know before you go

Getting in
A train runs from Kraków Airport to Kraków Główny, the main station beside the Old Town.
Getting around
The Old Town and Kazimierz are walkable; trams cover the rest.
Money
Polish złoty, not the euro. Pay in złoty if a card machine offers a choice of currency.
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Entry with a guide is booked through the memorial's own website. Book early in high season.

Plan this trip — useful links

Kraków official guide (opens in a new tab)

Context

History in 5 minutes

Enough to make what you are looking at legible.

  1. 1038–1596

    Kraków is Poland's royal capital; kings are crowned and buried at Wawel.

  2. 1364

    The Jagiellonian University is founded, one of the oldest in Europe.

  3. 1941–1943

    The Nazi occupiers confine the city's Jews to a ghetto in Podgórze before deporting and murdering them.

Further out

Nearby escapes

Worth a day if you have one to spare.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial

Memorial and museum

Book a guided entry well ahead through the memorial itself, and leave the rest of the day free.

By bus or organised tourBook aheadHistory

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Underground chapels carved in salt

Chambers, lakes and a cathedral-sized chapel, all carved from rock salt by the miners.

By regional trainHalf dayUNESCO

Zakopane & the Tatras

Mountain town at the foot of the Tatras

Wooden highlander architecture and the Tatra mountains. Better as an overnight than a rushed day.

By bus or trainHikingMountains