Caves

Smocza Jama

The Dragon's Den on Wawel Hill is a cave with 276 metres of corridors, forever tied to the legend of the Wawel Dragon. The tour starts inside the castle grounds, down a spiral staircase of 136 steps, and ends by the bed of the Vistula, right next to the 1972 dragon sculpture by Bronisław Chromy. It is the shortest, yet most legendary walk on Wawel Hill.

What awaits underground

The cave's main passage forms an 82-metre tourist route through three chambers — the largest measures 25 metres long and up to 10 metres high. Geology intertwines with legend here: this is where the dragon was said to live, until a clever shoemaker defeated him by serving him a sheepskin stuffed with sulphur.

A cave older than independence

The cave opened to visitors on 3 August 1918 — before Poland regained independence — with the staircase designed by Prof. Adam Szyszko-Bohusz cut into a specially dug shaft. Ticket revenue was meant to cover the cost of its restoration. In 1974, miners supervised by scientists from the AGH University of Science and Technology adapted the cave for modern tourism, cutting a four-metre tunnel to further corridors.

Planning your visit

The tour takes a dozen or so minutes and fits best into a walk around Wawel — the entrance lies on the hill and the exit comes out by the Vistula, so you naturally descend from the castle towards the river boulevards and the dragon statue. The stairs are spiral and steep, so visitors with limited mobility should take this into account. In summer the cave offers a pleasant coolness; in winter it can be slippery.