Krakow

Main Square and Cloth Hall

Rynek Główny i Sukiennice

Old Town

A medieval square measuring 200m by 200m, ringed by townhouses and palaces. At its centre stands the Cloth Hall, a Renaissance arcaded cloth market, now home to souvenir and amber shops, with the Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art on the floor above.

Tip: Beneath the square is the Rynek Underground museum, with archaeological finds from medieval Kraków — timed tickets, and one of the best museums in the city. You can climb the town hall tower. Stalls in the Cloth Hall sell amber and lace, with prices varying from stall to stall. The square is at its best early in the morning and at night, when the cafés are lit up.

Admission:

free, underground museum around zł38

Time needed:

2h

St Mary's Basilica

Bazylika Mariacka

Old Town

A Gothic basilica with 2 towers of unequal height, standing on the corner of the square. Inside is the wooden altarpiece by Veit Stoss, made 1477–1489, the largest Gothic altarpiece in Europe, with 200 figures up to 3m tall. The bugle call is played every hour from the taller tower.

Tip: The altar opens daily at 11:50am — arrive early and take a seat. Tourists enter through a side door, with tickets bought at a booth opposite. The bugle call is played toward all 4 directions and cuts off midway, in memory of a bugler said by legend to have been struck by a Tatar arrow. In summer you can climb the tower, with timed entry slots.

Admission:

around zł15, tower extra

Time needed:

45min

Wawel Royal Castle

Zamek Królewski na Wawelu

Wawel

A Renaissance royal castle on a limestone hill above the Vistula, seat of the Polish kings until 1596. It has an arcaded courtyard, state rooms, a collection of 130 Flemish tapestries, and the crown treasury. Beneath the hill is the Dragon's Den, with its fire-breathing dragon.

Tip: Wawel has several separate exhibitions, each ticketed individually; numbers are limited and they sell out by midday in summer, so book online. The courtyard and the hill itself are free. The Dragon's Den is walked top to bottom down to the Vistula, where a dragon statue breathes fire every few minutes. Some exhibitions are free on Mondays.

Admission:

from zł35 per exhibition

Time needed:

2–3h

Wawel Cathedral

Katedra Wawelska

Wawel

The Gothic cathedral where Polish kings were crowned, and where they lie buried alongside statesmen and poets. The Sigismund Chapel, with its gilded dome, is a high point of Renaissance architecture north of the Alps. The Sigismund Bell, Poland's largest bell, hangs in the tower.

Tip: A steep wooden staircase leads up to the Sigismund Bell — tradition holds that touching its clapper with your left hand grants a wish. The crypts hold the tombs of kings, Marshal Piłsudski, and the poets Mickiewicz and Słowacki. Photography isn't allowed inside. Tickets are sold at a booth opposite the cathedral, not inside it.

Admission:

around zł25

Time needed:

1h

Kazimierz

Kazimierz

Originally an independent town founded in 1335, Kazimierz became a centre of Jewish life from the late 15th century. Before the war, 60,000 Jews lived here. Today it's Kraków's liveliest district, with cafés, galleries and bars in weathered buildings, alongside 7 synagogues.

Tip: The oldest synagogue is the Old Synagogue, now a museum; the Remuh Synagogue, with its 16th-century cemetery, is still active. On Plac Nowy, a round building sells the best zapiekanki in the city. Szeroka Street served as a filming location for Schindler's List. In the evening the bars on Plac Nowy fill up, and the Alchemia club is a local institution.

Admission:

free, synagogues around zł20

Time needed:

2–3h

Schindler's Factory

Fabryka Emalia Oskara Schindlera

Zabłocie

A museum in the former enamelware factory where Oskar Schindler saved over 1,000 Jews by employing them. The exhibition 'Kraków under Nazi Occupation 1939–1945' covers daily life in the city, the ghetto and the resistance; Schindler's office has been preserved.

Tip: The museum isn't just about Schindler — it tells the story of all of wartime Kraków, and does so very well. Tickets are timed and sell out, so book online. Entry is free on Mondays. Allow 2 hours. Right next door is MOCAK, the Museum of Contemporary Art, housed in the old factory halls.

Admission:

around zł40

Time needed:

2h

Planty and the Barbican

Planty i Barbakan

Old Town

A 4km ring of parks that replaced the walls around the Old Town in the 19th century. What remains of them is St Florian's Gate and the Barbican, a round Gothic bastion from 1498, one of the few surviving in Europe.

Tip: Walking the Planty is the best way to circle the Old Town in an hour. The Barbican is open in summer, and its ticket also covers the walls by St Florian's Gate. Painters sell their work along the walls by the gate. In autumn, the Planty turns gold and looks its best.

Admission:

park free, Barbican around zł18

Time needed:

1h

Collegium Maius

Old Town

The oldest building of the Jagiellonian University, dating from the 15th century, with a Gothic arcaded courtyard where Nicolaus Copernicus once studied. The university museum displays astronomical instruments, the Jagiellonian Globe with one of the earliest depictions of America, and its library.

Tip: The courtyard is freely accessible, and every 2 hours a mechanical clock with figures performs. The museum can only be visited with a guide, in small groups. Around the university are cheap student cafés and bookshops. The courtyard is one of the quietest spots in the Old Town.

Admission:

around zł20

Time needed:

1h

Nowa Huta

Nowa Huta

A socialist town built in the 1950s as a counterweight to Catholic, intellectual Kraków, for the workers of a giant steelworks. It's one of the most complete examples of socialist realist urban planning anywhere, with a monumental square, wide boulevards and residential blocks.

Tip: Take a tram from the centre, 20 minutes to Centralny Square. The Church of the Lord's Ark, from 1977, the first church in Nowa Huta, which workers fought the regime to build, is worth visiting. A café in a 1950s block and the Stylowa restaurant with its original fittings are worth the experience. 2 hours is enough to see it.

Admission:

free

Time needed:

2h