Kraków

Kraków grew where the Vistula bends below a limestone hill, a natural fort and a river crossing. A settlement on Wawel hill is recorded from the early Middle Ages, and by the 11th century Kraków was a ducal and later royal seat. Kings of Poland were crowned and buried at Wawel for most of the following centuries.

In 1241 a Mongol raid burned the town. When it was rebuilt, a new city charter of 1257 laid out the Main Market Square as a grid, roughly 200 metres on each side, which is still the largest medieval town square in Europe. The square, the streets that run off it and the ring of walls that once enclosed them define the Old Town today.

The 14th century was a high point. King Casimir the Great built up the city, founded the university in 1364 and created the town of Kazimierz, named for him, to the south. The university later took the name Jagiellonian, and Nicolaus Copernicus was among its students. Kraków became a centre of learning, trade and Renaissance culture.

In 1596 the royal court moved to Warsaw, although coronations at Wawel continued into the 18th century. Poland was then partitioned in the late 1700s, and Kraków passed under Austrian rule. Under the Habsburgs it became a centre of Polish culture and national feeling, with theatres, painters and writers gathering in its cafés. The walls were pulled down in the early 19th century and replaced by the Planty park that rings the Old Town today.

The 20th century brought occupation and war. The German occupation from 1939 to 1945 devastated the city's Jewish community, which had made up a quarter of the population. Yet Kraków's buildings came through the war largely intact. After 1945 the communist government built the steelworks and the planned district of Nowa Huta to the east. The city entered UNESCO's first list of World Heritage sites in 1978, and today it is one of Poland's most visited places.

The Rynek Główny is the living room of the city. It is a vast open square, cobbled and edged with tall townhouses, and at its centre stands the Cloth Hall, a long arcaded trading hall that dates from the 14th century and was reshaped in the Renaissance. Souvenir stalls fill the arcade, and a gallery of Polish art sits upstairs.

The square's landmark is St Mary's Basilica on the east side. It is easy to spot: two towers of different height. The taller one carries a trumpet call, the hejnał, played on the hour from a window, and the melody breaks off in mid-phrase to recall the town watchman who is said to have been shot while warning of a Mongol attack. It is worth stopping to hear it.

Inside, the church is packed with colour: a blue vault sprinkled with stars, painted walls and, above all, the great Gothic altarpiece carved by the sculptor Veit Stoss in the late 15th century. The wings of the altarpiece are usually closed and opened at set times, so check the hours before you go and dress modestly.

Beneath the square is the Rynek Underground, a museum built over the excavated remains of medieval market stalls and streets. It shows what the square looked like eight centuries ago, using screens, sound and objects, and it is a cool refuge on a hot day. Book a timed slot in summer and at weekends, because the numbers are limited.

Around the square the side streets are the working heart of the Old Town: Floriańska leads north to the Barbican and the Florian Gate, the surviving parts of the defences, and Grodzka leads south toward Wawel. Cafés, cellar bars and small museums line both. The Planty park ring is a five-minute walk in any direction and a good place to sit.

The square changes with the hour. Early on a weekday it is calm, with street sweepers, pigeons and the smell of coffee. By noon in summer it is crowded, and evenings are loud with terraces, buskers and stag groups. Choose your hour, and remember that food and drink on the square itself cost more than a street away.

Wawel is a limestone hill on the Vistula, crowned by a castle and a cathedral, and it is the place that Poles treat as the national shrine. Kings were crowned and buried in the cathedral for centuries, and later heroes and poets were laid to rest there too. The complex is large, with several separate tickets, so decide before you go what you want inside.

The castle was rebuilt in the Renaissance style in the early 16th century, with an arcaded courtyard that is one of the finest in Europe. Inside are state rooms, royal apartments, a treasury and an armoury, with tapestries collected by the Jagiellonian kings. The cathedral has the royal tombs, the golden-domed Sigismund Chapel and the Sigismund Bell, which is rung on major occasions. A climb to the bell tower is worth it for the view.

Tickets for the state rooms and the cathedral are timed in summer, so book ahead or arrive early. The courtyard and the grounds are open without a ticket at most times, and they are pleasant even if you skip the interiors. Plan two to three hours for a full visit, less if you choose one or two exhibitions.

On the river side of the hill, a cave called the Dragon's Den lies at the foot of the walls, with a statue of the Wawel Dragon that breathes fire on a timer. The legend of the dragon is one of the city's oldest stories: a monster who lived in the cave until a clever cobbler tricked it into eating a sheep stuffed with sulphur.

Below the hill, a flat path follows the river toward Kazimierz. It gives the best view of Wawel from below, and the riverbank has cafés and boat bars in summer. It makes a pleasant end to a morning on the hill and a natural walk to lunch.

For a smooth visit, go in the morning, wear comfortable shoes for cobbles, and carry water. The ramps and stairs are steep in places, so check accessibility if you need step-free access. Large bags are usually checked, and some rooms restrict photography.

Kazimierz began as a separate town founded by Casimir the Great in 1335. From 1494 it became home to Kraków's Jewish community, who were moved out of the walled city, and for the next four and a half centuries it was the centre of Jewish life in the region. Synagogues, schools, shops and prayer houses filled a compact grid of streets.

The Old Synagogue, which dates from the 15th century and is now a museum, is the oldest surviving synagogue building in Poland. The Remuh Synagogue on Szeroka street, founded in 1553, is still used for prayer, and its adjoining cemetery contains gravestones from the Renaissance. Together with other synagogues nearby they form the core of Jewish heritage in the district.

The Second World War ended that world. Kraków's Jews were forced into the Podgórze ghetto in 1941 and were deported or killed in the following two years. Kazimierz was left quiet and run-down for decades. After 1989 it began to recover, and in the 1990s a film shot in the district drew international attention. Today it is one of the liveliest districts in the city, full of galleries, cafés and bars, with the annual Jewish Culture Festival in late June or July.

For visitors, Kazimierz is best in two halves. By day it is a heritage walk: the Remuh Synagogue and cemetery, the Old Synagogue, Szeroka street and the Jewish Cultural Centre. In the evening it is a food and drink district, with Plac Nowy at its centre, where a round market hall serves zapiekanki from small windows.

A few cautions apply. Synagogues and the cemetery close on Shabbat and Jewish holidays, and visiting hours change. Dress modestly, keep voices low and follow the rules on photography. Some of the shops and restaurants use Jewish themes as decoration: choose places that are open about their history, and treat the cemetery as a place of prayer.

It is a short walk from the Old Town, about 20 minutes, or a quick tram or ride. If you sleep in Kazimierz, you will have more choice of small guesthouses and better prices than in the Old Town, but weekend nights are loud.

Across the Vistula from Kazimierz, Podgórze is the district where the German authorities created the Kraków ghetto in March 1941. It held around 15,000 people, and it was liquidated in March 1943. The district today is quiet and residential, but its streets hold the memory of that time, and two places explain it best.

Ghetto Heroes Square was the ghetto's main square, and the memorial there is simple: seventy large empty chairs stand in the open space, each one standing for the lives lost. Stand back, read the plaques and keep your voice low. A small pharmacy museum on the square tells the story of its owner, who stayed to help the ghetto's inhabitants.

Schindler's Factory, a short walk away, is the former enamel works where Oskar Schindler employed Jewish workers and protected many of them. Today the administration block houses a large museum about Kraków under occupation between 1939 and 1945. It is not a museum about one man. It is a walk-through of everyday life, fear and resistance, told with rooms, sound and objects. Book a timed ticket, arrive early and allow two to three hours.

Both places deal with hard subjects, and the museum gives age guidance for children, so check before you bring young ones. Leave time afterwards to walk or sit outside before the next thing on your day. Many visitors find that a slow lunch in Podgórze helps.

Two more sites often appear on itineraries. Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former German concentration and extermination camp, lies about 70 km to the west, and it needs a full day, timed tickets and respect for the rules on bags and behaviour. Nowa Huta, to the east, is a planned socialist district built in the 1950s and is very different in tone. Book ahead for the first and go with a local guide for the second.

The main point is to choose depth over volume. One of these places done properly is better than three done in a rush, and Kraków has other days for cafés and cake. Plan the memorial for the morning, keep the afternoon light and be careful about photographs.

Kraków is a good food city for its price. The staples are pierogi, filled dumplings with cheese, potato, meat or cabbage, żurek, a sour rye soup, and pork cutlets with potatoes and cabbage. Cheap versions are served in milk bars, the state-era cafeterias where a full meal costs PLN 20 to 35, and better ones in sit-down restaurants for PLN 40 to 70. Try an obwarzanek, a ring of boiled and baked dough from a street cart, and a zapiekanka, a toasted open baguette with mushrooms and cheese, from a Plac Nowy window.

Cafés are part of the city's identity. Jama Michalika on Floriańska street is a historic Art Nouveau café where writers and painters met in the early 20th century, and it is a good place for cake and coffee outside dinner hours. Elsewhere, craft-beer bars, vodka bars in cellars and cafés in Kazimierz fill the evenings, and the legal drinking age is 18.

The season decides comfort. May to September is the usual visiting season, with long days and terraces, but the square is crowded in July and August and the Wawel queues are longest. Autumn is mild and quieter. Winter is cold and can bring smog on still days, but it also brings a Christmas market on the square and cheaper rooms. Spring is changeable, with rain in May. Big events include the Jewish Culture Festival, Wianki in June and the Christmas market.

The centre is small and flat, so walk. Trams cover Kazimierz, Podgórze and the station, and tickets are cheap and easiest in the jakdojade app. Ride-hailing cars, such as Bolt and Uber, cost PLN 15 to 35 across the centre and are the best option late at night or with bags. From the airport, a direct train takes about 20 minutes to Kraków Główny station, next to the Old Town.

Book the big sights early. Wawel's state rooms, the salt mine at Wieliczka, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Schindler's Factory all use timed tickets that sell out in summer. Keep one day for a booked trip, and use the others for walking and cafés.

Most shops close on most Sundays under Polish trading rules, and many museums close on Mondays, so plan groceries for Saturday and museums for Tuesday to Sunday. The currency is the złoty, not the euro, so decline currency conversion at card terminals and ATMs. Emergency number 112 works everywhere, and tap water is safe to drink.