Kraków weaves royal history into everyday city life: Wawel Castle with the Cathedral, the Main Market Square with St Mary's Basilica and its hourly trumpet call, the former Jewish district of Kazimierz and the landscaped boulevards of the Vistula. The historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and many of the sights are within a single day's walk.
Churches & monasteries
Kraków
Tyniec Abbey (pronounced "TIN-yets") is a Benedictine monastery perched on a white limestone cliff above the Vistula River, within the city limits of Kraków, and one of the oldest abbeys in Poland. Tradition dates its founding to 1044, and…
Historic sites
Kraków
The National Pantheon in Kraków occupies the brick crypts of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul at 52a Grodzka Street, halfway between the Main Square and Wawel Hill. Since 2012 it has been the resting place of outstanding figures of Poli…
Thermal baths & water parks
Kraków
The Kraków Water Park (Park Wodny, say "PARK VOD-nee") is the city's big indoor aquapark, open since 2000 in the Mistrzejowice district, about 2.5 km north of the Main Market Square. Under a striking timber roof you'll find pools, a lazy r…
Gardens
Kraków
Planty Park in Kraków (Polish: Planty, "PLAHN-ti") is the historic green ring, roughly 4 km (2.5 miles) long, that wraps around the city's Old Town. It was laid out where the medieval walls and moat once stood, and today it is the most ple…
Cities & towns
Kraków
Podgórze (say "pod-GOO-zheh") and its Market Square are the heart of a former independent town on the south bank of the Vistula, now one of Kraków's most rewarding districts to explore on foot. Here you'll find a triangular square crowned…
Museums
Kraków
The Rynek Underground (Podziemia Rynku, "pod-ZHEM-ya RIH-neh-koo") in Kraków is a museum hidden beneath the city's Main Market Square, one of the largest medieval squares in Europe. Below the cobbles around the Cloth Hall, archaeologists u…
Museums
Kraków
The Polonia Wax Museum at ul. Floriańska 32, on the route between the Main Market Square and St Florian's Gate, displays wax figures of politicians, clergy, athletes, actors and fictional characters. It has earned an unusual reputation: ma…
Old towns & squares
Kraków
Kraków's Main Market Square (Rynek Główny, say: RIH-nek GWOO-vnih) is the heart of the Old Town and one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe – roughly 200 by 200 meters, about 10 acres, laid out when Kraków received its town char…
Churches & monasteries
Kraków
Above the Łagiewniki district rises a white, elliptical building shaped like a boat, with a slender tower topped by a cross beside it. This is the Basilica of Divine Mercy, the newest part of a shrine that pilgrims from around the world ca…
Old towns & squares
Kraków
Kraków Old Town (Stare Miasto) is the medieval core of Poland's former royal capital: a compact grid of streets, churches and university colleges wrapped in a ring of parkland, centered on one of the largest market squares in Europe. Toget…
Landmarks
Kraków
Of the roughly 12,000 manor houses that once stood within today's Poland, 2,800 survived — and according to the VisitMałopolska portal, 2,000 of those are wrecks beyond saving. The Lesser Poland Manor Houses Route (Szlak Dwory Małopolski)…
Other
Kraków
Poland has been on the World Heritage List from the very start: the first list, announced in September 1978, included the Old Town of Kraków and the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Today the Polish National Commission for UNESCO counts 18 Polish site…
Museums
Kraków
A few metres below the Arcaded Courtyard lies one of the oldest stone buildings in Poland: a pre-Romanesque rotunda shaped like a four-leaf clover, dated by radiocarbon testing to around 970. Lost Wawel is an archaeological and architectur…
Churches & monasteries
Kraków
St. Mary's Tower in Kraków (KRAH-koof), known locally as the Hejnalica (hey-nah-LEE-tsah), is the taller of the two towers of St. Mary's Basilica on the Main Market Square. At 82 m (269 ft) it dominates the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritag…
Landmarks
Kraków
The Town Hall Tower in Kraków (Polish: Wieża Ratuszowa, "VYEH-zhah rah-too-SHOH-vah") is the Gothic tower rising from the Main Market Square – the only part of the medieval town hall that survived its demolition in the 19th century. About…
Amusement parks
Kraków
A Ghanaian village, a Peruvian hut, a Mongolian yurt and a Papuan stilt house stand a few steps apart in Kraków. Wioski Świata (Villages of the World) is a Global Education Park created by the Salesians, where homes from different parts of…