Poland
Krakow
Europe's largest medieval square, a royal castle above the river, and the country's history at its heaviest ninety minutes west.
Krakow kept its old town when the rest of Poland lost theirs, so the Main Market Square is the real thing: the largest medieval square in Europe, with a cloth hall down the middle and a trumpet call sounded from a church tower every hour. Wawel Hill above the Vistula holds the castle and cathedral where Polish kings were crowned and buried. Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, has become the city's late-night heart, and Auschwitz is ninety minutes west.
Suggested stay
3–4 days
Language
Polish
Currency
PLN
Timezone
UTC+2
Why you'll love Krakow
The square a medieval market place on a scale nowhere else in Europe matches, and still the middle of city life rather than a museum
Wawel the castle and cathedral where kings were crowned and buried, on a limestone hill above the river
Kazimierz the old Jewish quarter, its synagogues intact, now also where the city drinks until very late
It survived Krakow came through the war largely unbombed, so its old town is genuinely old rather than reconstructed
Best time to visit
Apr-Oct
14-25° days
50.047° N, 19.997° E
UTC+2 · Europe/Warsaw
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Weather & when to go to Krakow
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Apr-Oct
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Krakow
The continental winter is cold and grey, and the city has a long-standing smog problem in the coldest months when household coal burning and still air combine in the valley. Midsummer is warm and pleasant but the square, Wawel and the salt mine are all at their most crowded, and Auschwitz visits need booking well ahead. Late spring and early autumn dodge both.
Top things to do in Krakow
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Rynek Glowny - the main square
history 👍 PopularThe largest medieval market square in Europe, with the Renaissance cloth hall along its spine, cafes around all four sides and an underground museum of the original street level beneath it.
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St Mary's Basilica and the hourly trumpet
culture arts 👍 PopularA brick Gothic church with an enormous carved and gilded altarpiece inside, and a bugle call played from the tower every hour that breaks off mid-note, as it has for centuries.
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Wawel Castle and Cathedral
history 👍 PopularThe coronation and burial place of Polish monarchs on a limestone hill above the Vistula, with a Renaissance courtyard, a treasury, and a dragon's cave in the rock beneath.
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Kazimierz
culture arts ⭐ Highly recommendedThe old Jewish quarter, with several surviving synagogues and an old cemetery, and since the 1990s the city's most concentrated run of bars, small restaurants and late music.
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Schindler's Factory museum
history ⭐ Highly recommendedThe enamel works across the river, now a museum less about the film than about the occupation of the city itself, told street by street through 1939 to 1945.
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Podgorze and the ghetto square
historyThe district where the ghetto stood, with a fragment of its wall shaped like gravestones, and a square of empty bronze chairs marking where people waited for deportation.
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The Planty ring
nature wildlifeA belt of park laid out where the city walls once stood, wrapping the whole old town in a green circle you can walk in about an hour.
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Nowa Huta
historyA socialist-realist steel town built next door in the 1950s as an ideological counterweight to bourgeois Krakow, laid out on monumental avenues and reached by tram.
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Pierogi, zapiekanki and milk bars
foodDumplings in a dozen fillings, long open-faced baguettes sold from a round hall in Kazimierz, and subsidised canteens still serving the food of the communist decades.
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Kosciuszko Mound
scenicAn artificial hill raised by hand in the 1820s to honour a national hero, ringed later by an Austrian fort, with the city and the Tatras visible from the top on a clear day.
Best areas to stay in Krakow
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Stare Miasto
First-time visitors $$The medieval core inside the park ring
Explore hotels in Stare Miasto →
Kazimierz
Nightlife & character $$Synagogues, courtyards and late bars
Explore hotels in Kazimierz →
Podgorze
Best value $Across the river, quieter, serious history
Explore hotels in Podgorze →
Zwierzyniec
Quiet & green $$Green, residential, near the river bend
Explore hotels in Zwierzyniec →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Krakow
Getting to & around Krakow
Getting there
Fly into Krakow airport, with a train into the main station in about twenty minutes
Flight
Krakow John Paul II (KRK)
Eleven km west of the centre. A shuttle train runs from the terminal to the main station beside the old town in around twenty minutes, and city buses and taxis cover the same route.
Train
Krakow Glowny
Fast trains from Warsaw take about two and a half hours into a station on the edge of the old town, with services from Gdansk, Wroclaw and Prague as well
Coach
Krakow MDA
International and regional coaches use the terminal above the main station, including the frequent services to Zakopane
Getting around
Walking
The old town is pedestrianised and small, and Kazimierz is a fifteen-minute walk from the square
Free
Tram
A dense network that reaches Kazimierz, Podgorze, Nowa Huta and the mound, and the main way across the city
TBC
Bus
Covers the airport, the outer districts and the road toward the salt mine
TBC
Taxi & rideshare
Inexpensive and widely used, particularly late at night out of Kazimierz
TBC
City bikes
Flat terrain and riverside paths make cycling easy, with lanes along the Vistula embankments
TBC
Day trips from Krakow
Auschwitz-Birkenau
Full dayMemorial & museum
The former concentration and extermination camp at Oswiecim, preserved as a memorial and museum. Entry is free but timed, guided tours are required for much of the day, and both need booking well ahead.
Getting there
bus | car | tour | train
1 hr 30 min by coach or car west
Wieliczka Salt Mine
Half dayUnderground workings
Seven hundred years of salt mining, with chambers, lakes and a full chapel carved out of rock salt including chandeliers made from it.
Getting there
train | bus | car | tour
30 min by train or bus southeast
Zakopane and the Tatras
Full dayMountain town
Poland's mountain resort under the Tatra peaks, with a cable car to the ridge, wooden highlander architecture and smoked sheep cheese on every corner.
Getting there
bus | car
2 hr by coach south
Ojcow National Park
Half dayLimestone valley
A small karst valley of limestone pillars, caves and two castles on the old eagles' nests trail, and the closest proper countryside to the city.
Getting there
bus | car
45 min by bus or car north
Zalipie
Full dayPainted village
A village where the houses, barns, wells and even the interiors are covered in hand-painted flowers, a tradition kept up by its residents for over a century.
Getting there
car
1 hr 30 min by car east
A little history of Krakow
Krakow was the Polish capital from the 11th century until the court left for Warsaw around 1596, and Wawel remained the coronation and burial place of kings long after. Its university, founded in 1364, is among the oldest in central Europe, and the city grew rich on trade along the amber and salt routes, with a large Jewish community established at Kazimierz from the 15th century.
Austria took the city in the partitions, which meant it escaped Russian rule and kept a Polish cultural life through the 19th century. In the Second World War it was made the seat of the German General Government, which is partly why it was not destroyed in the way Warsaw was; the Jewish population was confined to the ghetto in Podgorze and murdered, largely at Belzec and Auschwitz. Communist planners built the steelworks at Nowa Huta next door to dilute the city's intellectual character, and it became a centre of opposition instead.
Krakow becomes the capital of Poland
The university is founded, among the oldest in central Europe
The court moves to Warsaw, though kings are still crowned and buried at Wawel
German forces make the city the seat of the General Government
The Jewish population is confined to the ghetto in Podgorze
The historic centre is inscribed on the first UNESCO World Heritage list
Know before you go
Payment
Cards everywhere
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / E
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+48
The months our climate read flags to avoid: the wettest, lowest-rated weather of the year.
FAQs about Krakow
▸ How many days do you need in Krakow?
Three is the honest minimum: one for the old town and Wawel, one for Kazimierz and the factory museum, and one taken almost entirely by Auschwitz. A fourth adds the salt mine or the Tatras.
▸ How do you visit Auschwitz?
It is ninety minutes west at Oswiecim, reachable by coach, train or organised tour. Entry is free but requires a timed booking, and a guided tour is compulsory for most of the day. Book well in advance; slots go weeks ahead in busy periods.
▸ Is Krakow's old town genuinely medieval?
Yes, unlike Warsaw's. The city came through the war largely undamaged, so the square, the cloth hall and the churches are original rather than reconstructed.
▸ Is Krakow good value?
Very, by western European standards, though the square itself charges square prices. Walk two streets in any direction and food and drink cost a fraction of what they do in the middle.
▸ What is the trumpet call from the church tower?
The hejnal, played to each of the four compass points every hour and cut off mid-phrase. Tradition holds it commemorates a trumpeter shot in the throat while sounding a warning during a medieval raid.
More in Poland
Gdansk
A rebuilt Hanseatic port where amber, a medieval crane and the shipyard that broke a system all sit within one walk.
✓ best May-SepPoznan
Where Poland began: the first rulers' graves, a painted market square, and two mechanical goats that butt heads at noon.
✓ best Apr-OctTorun
A brick Gothic town that survived the war intact, where Copernicus was born and gingerbread has been baked for seven centuries.
✓ best Apr-Sep