Kraków travel guide
The old centre is small enough to cross on foot, and the castle hill is a short stroll from the square. Here is an order of days that wastes little walking.
Kraków in a nutshell
Nearly everything people come for lies within a walk of the Main Market Square: the Cloth Hall, St Mary’s Basilica, the museums on the streets around it, and Wawel Hill with the castle and cathedral above the Vistula. Kazimierz, the historic district next to the centre, and the Schindler factory on Lipowa Street are a little further out. Winter here is cold, with a January low averaging −5 °C, so the month you pick changes the plan more than in most cities.
How many days
- Two days: Wawel Hill on the first, the square, St Mary’s and a museum on the second.
- Three days: the same two, then the salt mine at Wieliczka, a twenty-minute train ride away.
- Four days: add Zakopane for the mountains, or slow down in Kazimierz and at the Schindler factory.
A plan for three days
Day 1: Wawel Hill
Go up early. The castle shows its royal residence in separate exhibitions, each with its own ticket, and the cathedral beside it holds the royal tombs and Sigismund’s Bell. Walk down to the Vistula for the view back up at the hill, then north into the old centre for dinner.
Day 2: the square and a museum
Be on the Main Market Square before the cafés fill. Join a tour of St Mary’s, go down into the Rynek Underground Museum, and keep the afternoon for the Czartoryski Museum, where Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine hangs and every ticket has a date and a time.
Day 3: salt, then Lipowa Street
Catch the train to Wieliczka and give the middle of the day to the underground route. Back in the city, Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory covers Kraków under Nazi occupation, and its ticket also opens the Eagle Pharmacy and Pomorska Street within seven days.
If it rains
Some precipitation falls on 12 to 17 days of every month, so a wet day will come. Most of the good answers are museums with fixed entry times.
- Morning: the Rynek Underground Museum beneath the square; look at its page for closure dates first.
- Afternoon: the Czartoryski Museum, on a timed ticket for the Leonardo.
- Evening: the arcades of the Cloth Hall keep the rain off while you cross the square.
- Any time: Wieliczka, where the mine stays at 16 to 18 °C whatever happens above.
Where to stay
- The Old Town
- Wawel, the square and the museums are all on foot from here. Pick a room off the square itself if you want quiet.
- By Kraków Główny
- The airport train terminates at this station and the trains to Wieliczka leave from it, with the Old Town a short walk away.
- Kazimierz
- The historic district beside the centre suits a longer stay; you cross into the Old Town on foot or by tram.