Walkative! Free Walking Tours

Walkative! is a walking tour company that has been running local tours since 2007 under a pay-what-you-wish model. There is no fixed price for its core tours: you join, walk with the guide and decide at the end how much the experience was worth. That makes the tours accessible to budget travellers and a low-risk way to get your bearings on the first day of a trip.

The programme in Kraków is broad. The introductory Welcome to Kraków tour lasts about two and a half hours and covers the Old Town and Wawel Hill, taking in the Main Market Square, St Mary's Basilica, the Cloth Hall and the medieval walls. Its companion, Jewish Kraków, spends the same length of time in Kazimierz, the historic Jewish quarter, and across the river at the site of the wartime ghetto. Both run several times a day; on a typical autumn day there are five departures of each between morning and late afternoon.

Other pay-what-you-wish routes explore more specialised themes. Nowa Huta: Kraków's Ideal Communist City takes visitors to the planned socialist district, Kraków at War covers the Second World War and the Nazi occupation, and a two-hour tour visits the former Płaszów concentration camp and its memorial. In the evening, Ghosts and Crimes: Macabre Kraków offers eighty minutes of ghost stories and crime history, and the Step by Step series offers shorter thematic walks. Alongside these, Walkative! sells paid tours, including a beer tour, a traditional Polish food tour with optional tastings, private custom tours and a guided trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

The tours suit solo travellers, students, couples and families with older children, and the main tours have strong ratings from thousands of reviews on the company's site. When deciding what to give at the end, consider the length of the tour and how much you learned. Taking the Old Town tour on your first morning is a sensible plan, as it helps you decide which museums deserve a return visit.

Book a free place for your chosen date and time through the Walkative! website. Wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather. For questions, the company can be contacted by email or through the contact page on its website.