Kraków

Stare Miasto & Wawel

The medieval city inside a ring of park, and the reason Kraków went onto UNESCO's very first World Heritage list. A grid of stone streets laid out in 1257 around the largest medieval square in Europe, with a royal castle on a limestone bluff at one end and a fortified gate at the other. It is also the most heavily touristed square kilometre in Poland, and the difference between a good day here and a bad one is almost entirely a matter of what time you show up and how far off the two main streets you're willing to walk.

Who it's for: First-time visitors, without argument — the square, the basilica, the castle, the cathedral and the university are all inside a twenty-minute walk of each other. History travellers, because the layers here run continuously from the eleventh century to the Nazi governor's office in Wawel Castle. Anyone who wants to stay somewhere they can walk home from at 1am. Church and art people: the Veit Stoss altarpiece, Wyspiański's windows and a Leonardo are all within 600 metres.

Things to know

  • The hejnał sounds from the taller tower of St Mary's every hour, on the hour, played in four directions and broken off mid-note. The square looks up; the bugler waves back. It costs nothing and it is the best free two minutes in Kraków.
  • Restaurant frontages directly on Rynek Główny are, almost without exception, the worst value in the city. Walk one street off — Stolarska, św. Tomasza, Bracka, Sławkowska — and both the price and the cooking improve immediately.
  • Several menus price meat and fish per 100 g rather than per portion. It is legal and common, not a scam, but confirm which you're reading before you order or the plate arrives at three times the number you saw.
  • The Museum of Kraków and the National Museum both run free days, and they are different days. Museum of Kraków branches are free on Monday (Town Hall Tower, Old Synagogue, Schindler's Factory) or Tuesday (Rynek Underground, Krzysztofory); every National Museum branch, including the Czartoryski and the Cloth Hall gallery, is free on Tuesday. Free-day tickets are counted and go from the box office on the day only.
  • Wawel is not one ticket. The castle's exhibitions are individually priced and timed, the Cathedral is run by the Cathedral Chapter and sold from a completely separate office across the courtyard, and neither will sell you the other. Buy castle slots online in advance; the Cathedral ticket you buy on the day.
  • Rynek Underground is closed every second Monday of the month, and Schindler's Factory is closed the first Tuesday. Both catch people out.
  • The Barbican and the city walls are a summer proposition only — the Museum of Kraków opens them roughly April to October and shuts them for the winter.
  • Horse carriages on the square are a fixture and a live welfare argument in Kraków. The city has tightened rules on heat and working hours repeatedly; if it matters to you, walk.
  • The obwarzanek carts are cheapest and best in the morning. By late afternoon they have gone leathery, and the ones sold from the stands nearest the square are no fresher than the ones two streets away.