Flight time
2h 30m
Best season
April–June & September
Budget
Budget
Best for
History, culture, value, Jewish heritage
Overview
Why Krakow for a city break?
Krakow is one of Europe's most complete medieval cities — a city that escaped World War II almost entirely intact, preserving a UNESCO World Heritage old town of Gothic churches, Renaissance merchants' houses, and the Wawel castle and cathedral on their limestone hill above the Vistula. The Cloth Hall in the main square is still a functioning market, as it has been since the 13th century. The Kazimierz Jewish quarter — site of one of Europe's most important Jewish communities before the Holocaust — has been sensitively transformed into the city's most interesting neighbourhood.
From most UK airports it's a direct two-and-a-half-hour flight, and Krakow remains one of the most affordable city breaks in Europe — a three-course dinner with excellent Polish vodka costs under £20, good hotels are well under £100, and most of the best things to do cost very little. Auschwitz-Birkenau, 75km west, is an essential but profoundly demanding day trip. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, an extraordinary underground city of carved salt, is 15km southeast. Both deserve at least half a day.
Where to stay & explore
Krakow's best neighbourhoods
Old Town (Stare Miasto)
The UNESCO medieval centre — the Rynek Główny (main square, the largest medieval square in Europe), St Mary's Basilica, the Cloth Hall and the best restaurants and bars. The Royal Road runs south to Wawel.
Kazimierz
The former Jewish quarter — synagogues, the old Jewish cemetery, the market square, and a thriving neighbourhood of cafés, restaurants and bars that honour the neighbourhood's history while building something new. 20 minutes' walk from the main square.
Podgórze
Across the Vistula from Kazimierz — the former Jewish Ghetto of WWII, the Schindler Factory Museum, and the Ghetto Heroes Square with its haunting chairs installation. A sobering and essential part of understanding the city.
Things to do
What to see in Krakow
1
Wawel Castle & Cathedral
The seat of Polish kings for five centuries — the castle complex contains the State Rooms (with an extraordinary collection of Flemish tapestries commissioned by King Sigismund Augustus), the Royal Private Apartments, the Crown Treasury and the Cathedral where most Polish kings were crowned and buried. The Cathedral's Sigismund Bell (the largest bell in Poland) rings only on great occasions. Book tickets online; different parts require different tickets.
2
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum
The largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp — where 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered between 1940 and 1945. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important memorial sites in the world. The guided tour takes 3-4 hours; the Birkenau site (3km from Auschwitz) is vast and devastating. Mandatory booking online; the tour is emotionally exhausting and entirely necessary. Run by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
3
Rynek Główny & St Mary's Basilica
The largest medieval market square in Europe — 200m × 200m, surrounded by Gothic and Renaissance merchant houses, with the Renaissance Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in the centre. St Mary's Basilica at the square's corner has the finest Gothic altarpiece in Poland (Veit Stoss, 1489, the largest Gothic altarpiece in the world). Every hour, a trumpeter plays the Hejnał from the taller tower — the melody stops mid-phrase, commemorating a 13th-century trumpeter killed by an arrow while sounding the alarm.
4
Schindler's Factory Museum
The Emalia Factory where Oskar Schindler employed Jewish workers to save them from the camps is now one of the finest WWII museums in Europe — a comprehensive account of the German occupation of Krakow from 1939 to 1945, told through the stories of individuals. The permanent exhibition 'Krakow Under Nazi Occupation 1939-45' takes two to three hours. Book timed entry online.
Food & drink
Where to eat in Krakow
Miód Malina
Traditional Polish / Old Town
The best traditional Polish restaurant in the old town — żurek (sour rye soup with egg and sausage), pierogi ruskie (dumplings with potato and cheese), duck with apple, bigos (hunter's stew). The cellar dining room with its exposed brick and candlelight is beautifully atmospheric. Excellent value.
Café Camelot
Café / breakfast / Old Town
The finest café in Krakow — a beautiful old house off the main square, with excellent coffee, apple cake (sernik, the Polish cheesecake) and a warm, bookshop atmosphere. The breakfast here — zapiekanka with egg and the fresh bread — is the best in the city. Unhurried and excellent.
Marchewka z Groszkiem
Modern Polish / Kazimierz
The best modern Polish cooking in Kazimierz — a small, enthusiastic restaurant with a creative menu of updated Polish classics. The duck with cherry and the trout with wild garlic are consistently excellent. Book ahead; it's small and popular.
Itinerary
3 days in Krakow — a suggested itinerary
Day 1
Wawel Castle, the Rynek, and an evening in Kazimierz
Krakow Airport is 15km from the city — the 292 bus or the train runs every 30 minutes to the centre (about 50 minutes, under £2). Wawel Castle opens at 9am — start with the State Rooms (the Flemish tapestries are extraordinary) then the Cathedral (climb the Sigismund Bell tower for the view). Walk north through the Royal Road to the Rynek Główny: St Mary's Basilica (the Veit Stoss altarpiece is unveiled hourly), the Cloth Hall for amber and folk craft souvenirs, the St Mary's tower trumpeter at noon. Lunch at Miód Malina. Afternoon: walk south through the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz — the Old Synagogue, the Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery (one of the best-preserved Jewish cemeteries in Europe), the Galicia Jewish Museum. Evening in Kazimierz: the square around Plac Nowy for a zapiekanka (stuffed baguette, a Krakow street food staple), then the bars of Ulica Szeroka.
Day 2
Auschwitz-Birkenau — a necessary day
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum runs guided tours from Krakow — the most responsible way to visit is via the museum's own tour (book months ahead at auschwitz.org). Buses and minibuses run from Krakow MDA bus station; the journey is 90 minutes. The Auschwitz I site takes 2 hours; Birkenau (3km away, free shuttle) takes 90 minutes. Allow five hours in total. Take water and appropriate clothing; the site is exposed and large. The visit is exhausting and irreplaceable. Return to Krakow for a quiet evening — the bars of the old town or Kazimierz, and Polish vodka at one of the milk bars (Bar Mleczny Centralny for the most authentic experience).
Day 3
Schindler's Factory, Podgórze, the Wieliczka salt mine
Schindler's Factory Museum (Lipowa 4, Podgórze) opens at 9am — book timed entry online. The exhibition takes two to three hours. Walk around the former Ghetto: the Ghetto Heroes Square with its 70 empty chairs (one for each thousand Jewish Krakow residents who perished), the surviving stretch of Ghetto wall. Alternatively, take the train 15 minutes south to the Wieliczka Salt Mine — an extraordinary underground city of 300 chambers, chapels and lakes carved from rock salt over 700 years. The Chapel of St Kinga (an entire underground cathedral, 101m below ground) is one of the most remarkable spaces in Europe. Book ahead; it sells out. Return to the Rynek for a final żurek at Café Camelot and a walk through the university quarter before the airport bus.
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