Things to do in Krakow

Kraków was Poland's capital for more than five centuries, until Sigismund III moved the court to Warsaw in 1596. Kings kept coming back to be crowned at Wawel anyway. The last coronation there was in 1734.

Wawel, the square, and Kazimierz

Wawel Hill carries the castle and the cathedral together, and both stood through the war undamaged. Below it, the Main Market Square covers four hectares. Each side runs just over 200 metres, laid out when the city got its charter in 1257.

• St Mary's Basilica — a bugle call sounds from its tower every hour and cuts off mid-note; legend ties it to a watchman shot during a Mongol raid.
• The Cloth Hall — the Renaissance trading hall splitting the square in two, amber and folk crafts inside.
• Kazimierz — the old Jewish quarter south of the centre, synagogues standing alongside the bars that took over its courtyards.
• The dragon's cave — under Wawel Hill, with a fire-breathing statue at the entrance for the legend behind the city's name.

What leaves the city for the day

Auschwitz-Birkenau lies some sixty-five kilometres west. Most visits run as a guided half-day, under an hour and a half each way by road. Zakopane and the Tatra peaks sit about a hundred and nine kilometres south, a full day there and back.

• Bochnia's salt mine — mined since the 1240s, a little earlier than nearby Wieliczka, and joined to its UNESCO listing in 2013.
• Ojców and Pieskowa Skała — a limestone valley and the castle guarding it, part of the Eagle's Nests trail.
• Wadowice — fifty kilometres out, where Karol Wojtyła, later Pope John Paul II, was born in 1920.

Practical

• Weather. August highs reach around 25C; January sits near 2C, and a river-valley inversion traps winter smog on still days.
• Coal ban. Kraków banned coal and wood home heating in 2019, which has already cut the worst of the winter haze.
• Museum days. The main state museums close on Mondays; Wawel keeps its own closing day, so check before walking up.
• Money. Złoty, not euro; cards work almost everywhere in the centre.
• Tipping. Around ten per cent in restaurants, rounding up elsewhere.
• Booking ahead. Auschwitz-Birkenau's timed entries sell out days ahead in summer, and Wawel caps its daily visitor numbers too.