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Kraków: Market Square and Wawel
The Royal Route from the Barbican to the dragon — thirteen stories in under two hours
15 stops 105 min 2.9 km
At a glance
- Distance
- 2.9 km
- Duration
- 105 min
- Stops
- 15
- Languages
- English, Polski
- Finish
- The Wawel Dragon: A Legend That Grew for Four Hundred Years
Walk the route Polish kings once took into their capital: from the Barbican and St Florian's Gate, across the vast Main Market Square and down Grodzka Street, up Wawel Hill and finally to the river, where a bronze dragon breathes real fire. Thirteen stops, and at each one a single story told well rather than a list of dates.
You will hear the unlikely argument that saved the Barbican from demolition, why the bugle call from St Mary's tower stops mid-note, and how surprisingly recent the famous legend behind it is. You will find a knife with a dark legend hanging in the Cloth Hall, a tower that has leaned since a storm three centuries ago, and the oldest building of the university where the young Copernicus studied. On Wawel Hill we show you the 'dragon bones' above the cathedral door and one of the finest Renaissance courtyards in Central Europe.
The narration also guides you between stops, so you can walk with your phone in your pocket. The route is just under three kilometres, flat apart from the climb up Wawel Hill, and needs no tickets: everything is seen from the outside or from freely accessible courtyards. Museums and church interiors can wait for later. Bring headphones and a charged phone.
Kraków: Market Square and Wawel
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