Attraction
Wawel Royal Castle
The hilltop residence of Polish kings beside the Vistula, now a museum of state rooms, royal apartments, the Crown Treasury and seasonal gardens.
There are plenty of things to do in Kraków, Poland's former royal capital and one of the best-preserved historic cities in Central Europe. Its Old Town, inscribed by UNESCO in 1978, centres on the vast Main Market Square, with the Cloth Hall and St Mary's Basilica at its heart, while Wawel Hill above the Vistula holds the royal castle and cathedral. South of the walls, Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, mixes synagogues and museums with cafés and bars, and across the river Podgórze is home to Schindler's Factory.
Food is a big part of a visit, from pierogi and hearty highlander cooking to a two-Michelin-star tasting menu, and the city's cafés and bars are lively at all hours. Most sights are within walking distance of each other. Three days covers the Old Town, Wawel and Kazimierz at a comfortable pace; add a fourth or fifth day for the Wieliczka Salt Mine or a day trip to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.
Attraction
The hilltop residence of Polish kings beside the Vistula, now a museum of state rooms, royal apartments, the Crown Treasury and seasonal gardens.
Attraction
Poland's coronation church on Wawel Hill, consecrated in 1364, with the gilded Sigismund Chapel, royal tombs, poets' crypts and the giant Sigismund Bell.
Attraction
The twin-towered brick Gothic church on the Main Market Square, home of Veit Stoss's carved altarpiece and the hourly hejnał trumpet call.
Attraction
The long Renaissance trading hall in the middle of the Main Market Square, with souvenir stalls below and the National Museum's 19th-century Polish art gallery upstairs.
Attraction
A multimedia museum beneath the Main Market Square where glass walkways run over excavated medieval streets, workshops and trading stalls of early Kraków.
Attraction
The Zabłocie factory once run by Oskar Schindler, now a Museum of Kraków exhibition on life in the city under German occupation from 1939 to 1945.
Café
A café on Floriańska Street founded in 1895, birthplace of the Green Balloon cabaret, serving house cakes amid a collection of Young Poland art.
Café
A long-running English-language bookshop with a café on Felicjanek Street, stocking Polish, East European and Jewish literature in translation alongside coffee and pie.
Café
A characterful Old Town café on St Thomas Street with creaky floors and watercolours on the walls, serving breakfasts, light meals and cakes, with cabaret downstairs.
Café
A specialty coffee café on Krupnicza Street that roasts its own beans, serving vegetarian and vegan breakfasts, a daily lunch menu and cakes made on site.
Café
A roomy bakery café beside the PURO Hotel in Kazimierz, baking its own sourdough, bagels and cinnamon rolls and serving breakfast all day.
Café
A French-Belgian patisserie on Podgórze's market square, making croissants, éclairs, cakes and macarons by hand with fresh seasonal fruit.
Hotel
A five-star boutique hotel in an early 16th-century house on Kanonicza Street below Wawel, the first Polish member of Relais & Châteaux.
Hotel
A five-star hotel in a centuries-old tenement just off the Main Market Square, with a spa and two pools in its medieval cellars and two restaurants.
Hotel
Kraków's oldest hotel, on Floriańska Street, renovated to five-star standard in 2020, with a spa in its medieval cellars and a restaurant with a glass-walled kitchen.
Hotel
A five-star, 230-room hotel on the Vistula at the foot of Wawel, with a rooftop terrace bar, an indoor pool and the Italian restaurant Anima.
Hotel
A 228-room design hotel in Kazimierz with a minimalist style, an all-day restaurant, its own bakery café, a spa and gym, fifteen minutes from the Old…
Hotel
A boutique hotel in a historic tenement on Szeroka Street, the heart of Jewish Kazimierz, with elegant rooms, its own restaurant and a sky bar.
Bar
A Kazimierz bar and music club on the corner of Plac Nowy, running since 1999 and known for concerts, including the Kraków Jazz Autumn festival.
Bar
A jazz club and bar in a historic tenement on Szewska Street, with concerts in its medieval cellar and more than fifty whiskies served from noon.
Bar
A hidden 1920s-style speakeasy above a restaurant on Straszewskiego Street, serving artisanal cocktails with house tinctures to an electro-swing soundtrack.
Bar
A Kazimierz bar in a 19th-century Jewish prayer house with faded frescoes, serving tank beer, seasonal cocktails and Galician-inspired food, with weekend DJs.
Bar
A Kazimierz wine bar and shop specialising in Georgian wine, with a cellar of buried clay qvevri, regular tastings and live music.
Bar
A downstairs jazz bar on the Main Market Square with concerts every day, food served until midnight and opening hours that run late into the night.
Restaurant
A two-Michelin-star restaurant in Kazimierz where chef Przemysław Klima serves seasonal tasting menus that rework Polish dishes, backed by a strong wine list.
Restaurant
A Polish restaurant in the Gothic cellars of a house on Grodzka Street, known for meats and game cooked over a natural beech-wood fire.
Restaurant
A long-established restaurant on the Main Market Square serving Old Polish cuisine in art-filled rooms, named after the merchant who hosted a royal feast in 1364.
Restaurant
A Kazimierz restaurant serving traditional Polish dishes with modern touches, homemade pierogi and more than twenty house-made flavoured vodka infusions.
Restaurant
A friendly Kazimierz restaurant serving home-style Polish meals made from scratch, including beef bitki with Silesian dumplings and a daily changing lunch special.
Restaurant
A restaurant near Wawel founded in 1997 by chef Jan Baran, serving Polish cooking with European touches, from żurek and pierogi to lamb cutlets and game.
Thing to do
The 3.8-hectare medieval market square at the centre of the Old Town, laid out in 1257 and framed by the Cloth Hall, St Mary's Basilica and…
Thing to do
A centuries-old royal salt mine just outside Kraków, where guided routes descend past chapels and sculptures carved from rock salt to 135 metres below ground.
Thing to do
The former royal town south of the Old Town, once a great centre of Jewish life, now a district of synagogues, cafés, bars and restored historic…
Thing to do
A 35-metre memorial mound raised in 1820 to 1823 on Sikornik hill in western Kraków, with a spiral path to the top and wide views over…
Thing to do
A four-kilometre ring of gardens laid out in 1822 to 1830 on the line of the demolished city walls, making an easy green loop around the…
Tour operator
A walking tour company running pay-what-you-wish tours of Kraków's Old Town, Wawel, Kazimierz and Nowa Huta, plus paid food, beer and Wieliczka tours.
Tour operator
A Kraków tour company best known for its Communism tours to Nowa Huta in Trabants and Soviet-era Ladas, plus food, vodka and day-trip outings.
Tour operator
A Polish food tour company with local guides in Kraków, running a half-day tasting tour, a vodka tour of three or four bars and a pierogi-making…
Tour operator
A Kraków tour company offering a daily 3.5-hour bike tour from the Old Town through Kazimierz to Schindler's Factory, plus Segway and walking tours.
Tour operator
A Kraków boat company offering 30-minute and one-hour sightseeing cruises past Wawel and Kazimierz, plus longer trips upriver to Bielany and Tyniec.
Three days covers the Old Town, Wawel and Kazimierz; four or five days allows time for the Wieliczka Salt Mine or Auschwitz-Birkenau
The Old Town is the most central for sightseeing, Kazimierz suits those who want restaurants and nightlife, and the area around Wawel and the Vistula is quieter but still walkable
Trains run from Kraków Airport to Kraków Główny station next to the Old Town, and buses and taxis are also available
Kraków is generally cheaper than Western European capitals, especially for food, drink and public transport, although prices around the Main Market Square are higher
Kraków is generally safe; use normal precautions against pickpockets in crowded areas and check bar bills carefully at night
Pierogi, żurek sour rye soup, bigos stew, highlander dishes, obwarzanek bread rings and Polish cakes such as kremówka and szarlotka
Yes. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial is about an hour and a half from Kraków, and entry should be booked in advance through the memorial's official website