Kraków
Kraków kept its old centre through the war, a huge market square, a castle on the Wawel rock, and the former Jewish quarter of Kazimierz a short walk south. It is Poland’s most complete historic city, and in summer it knows it. Mornings on the square are the kind ones.
Photo: Scotch Mist · CC BY-SA 4.0
What to see
Main Market Square
The Main Market is one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, with the Cloth Hall in the middle, St. Mary’s Basilica on the east, and the hourly trumpet from the tower. It is the city’s floor. Come early, before the tour groups make a circle of the trumpeter.
Rynek Główny, Kraków
Photo: Igor123121 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in Google Maps , Main Market Square
Wawel Castle
Wawel is the castle and cathedral on the limestone rock above the river, the burial church of Polish kings and the courtyard people mean when they say the city has a castle. Tickets for the state rooms go early in the day. The cathedral and the courtyard approach are the parts not to skip even if the museums are full.
Wawel 5, Kraków
Photo: Ingo Mehling · CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in Google Maps , Wawel Castle
Kazimierz
Kazimierz is the former Jewish quarter south of the old town, with synagogues around Szeroka Street, a working food market on Plac Nowy, and a night life that arrived later. The synagogues and the Remuh cemetery are the sober visit. The bars are a different Kazimierz, starting in the evening.
ul. Szeroka, Kraków
Photo: Igor123121 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in Google Maps , Kazimierz
St. Florian's Gate
St. Florian’s Gate is the surviving medieval gate at the top of Floriańska, with the Barbican just outside and the old walls running into the Planty park. It is the north door of the old town. Walk through it rather than treating it as a photo stop only; Floriańska leads straight to the square.
ul. Floriańska, Kraków
Photo: Scotch Mist · CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in Google Maps , St. Florian's Gate
Collegium Maius
Collegium Maius is the oldest college of the Jagiellonian University, a Gothic courtyard a few streets west of the square, visited with a timed ticket. Copernicus studied in this university. The courtyard is the part you will remember; the instruments upstairs are the bonus.
ul. Jagiellońska 15, Kraków
Photo: Ingo Mehling · CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in Google Maps , Collegium MaiusFood and restaurants
Restaurants and hotels change hands. These listings were last checked on 26 October 2026.
Wierzynek
Wierzynek claims a medieval banquet and has, in any case, been a restaurant on the main square for a very long time. The cooking is formal Polish. You are dining on the most famous floor in the city. Book, and do not expect a quiet local secret.
Rynek Główny 15, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Wierzynek
Wentzl
Wentzl is a historic townhouse restaurant on the square, with a cellar and an upstairs that looks over the Cloth Hall. The menu is Polish and Middle European. It is a settled address, not a pop-up. In summer the window tables are the ones to ask for, and to book.
Rynek Główny 19, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Wentzl
Pod Aniołami
Pod Aniołami, on Grodzka on the way toward Wawel, is a cellar of Polish cooking that has kept its name on this street for years. It is a step off the square and a little calmer for it. The food is traditional. Book on a weekend when the royal route is a procession.
ul. Grodzka 35, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Pod Aniołami
Szara
Szara is a restaurant and café in a corner house of the square, a long-known address for a sit-down meal with the Cloth Hall in view. It works for lunch when you do not want a milk bar and do not want a banquet either. The terrace is the summer product.
Rynek Główny 6, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Szara
Miód Malina
Miód Malina, further down Grodzka, cooks Polish food in a prettier room than the name’s honey-and-raspberry sweetness suggests. It is popular, and the popularity is not a secret. Go at lunch or book. It is a better meal than the first tourist menu you are handed on the square.
ul. Grodzka 40, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Miód MalinaWhere to stay
Restaurants and hotels change hands. These listings were last checked on 26 October 2026.
Hotel Pod Różą
Hotel Pod Różą is a historic inn on Floriańska, one of the old-town hotels that has used this house for a very long time. You sleep on the street that runs from the gate to the square. Ask for a room off the street if you want the location without the evening noise.
ul. Floriańska 14, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Hotel Pod Różą
Hotel Stary
Hotel Stary occupies a converted old-town complex just off the square, with a courtyard and a more polished service than a simple inn. It is a full-service stay inside the pedestrian grid. The square is two minutes. In high summer that proximity is the luxury and the caveat.
ul. Szczepańska 5, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Hotel Stary
Hotel Copernicus
Hotel Copernicus is on Kanonicza, the canon’s street that leads to Wawel, in historic houses with a view toward the castle hill. It is the stay for people whose day is the cathedral rather than the market cafés. The street is quieter than Floriańska and still inside everything.
ul. Kanonicza 16, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Hotel CopernicusShopping
Cloth Hall
The Cloth Hall in the middle of the square has sold goods from this arcade for centuries, today amber, linen, and crafts on the ground floor and a gallery of nineteenth-century Polish painting upstairs. The stalls are for visitors. The painting gallery is the part that rewards a ticket.
Rynek Główny 1/3, Kraków
Photo: Ingo Mehling · CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in Google Maps , Cloth Hall
Plac Nowy
Plac Nowy in Kazimierz is the neighbourhood food market, with the round hall in the middle and the zapiekanka windows that became a city snack. Daytime is shopping and lunch. At night the square changes character. Go before evening if you want the market rather than the bars.
Plac Nowy, Kraków
Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0
Open in Google Maps , Plac Nowy
Galeria Krakowska
Galeria Krakowska is the large shopping centre attached to the main station, just outside the old town. Use it for ordinary shops and a roof in the rain. The old town begins on the far side of the tram tracks. It is not where Kraków’s character is sold.
ul. Pawia 5, Kraków
Photo: Lestat (Jan Mehlich) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Open in Google Maps , Galeria KrakowskaHow to get there
Kraków Airport
Kraków Airport is in Balice, west of the city, with a direct train to the main station that is the sensible transfer. Taxis take the congested road and cost more without saving a clear amount of time. The station stop is the one to use, not a vague bus if the train is running.
Balice, Kraków
Photo: Bigmac3986 · Public domain
Open in Google Maps , Kraków Airport
Kraków Główny
Kraków Główny sits in a modern hall under the shopping centre, a few minutes’ walk from St. Florian’s Gate. Trains to Warsaw, Gdańsk, and the airport leave from here. You can be in the old town before you have finished orienting yourself. Follow the exit toward the Planty, not deeper into the mall.
Plac Dworcowy 1, Kraków
Photo: photobeppus · CC BY-SA 2.0
Open in Google Maps , Kraków Główny
MDA bus station
The regional and long-distance coaches use the MDA station beside the railway, on the Bosacka side. It is the gate for buses that the train does not bother with, including some airport-adjacent and cross-border routes. You are still at the edge of the old town. Buy a seat before a Friday afternoon toward the mountains.
ul. Bosacka 18, Kraków
Open in Google Maps , MDA bus stationA travel company can place a labeled partner route here. Advertise with us