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Sightseeing Overview
Krakow is very easy to navigate on foot as most of the main sights are located within the Planty - a leafy park that forms a green belt around the historic center or Stare Miasto (Old Town). The epicenter of tourist Krakow is the Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square), one of Europe’s most impressive public spaces, which is overrun by tourists during the high season. Relaxing in a pavement café here is a good way to get acquainted with the city.

Away from the main square, busy Grodzka leads towards Wzgorze Wawelskie (Wawel Hill), the buttress where Krakow’s castle complex overlooks the city. It was here that the Polish Kings ruled from the 14th to 17th centuries and there is enough to see to occupy at least a day or two, including the Castle itself, the State Rooms, Treasury and Armoury, Royal Tombs and Wawel Cathedral.

Ten minutes’ walk from Wawel is the district of Kazimierz, southeast of the Old Town, where the city’s sizeable Jewish population used to prosper before the Nazis arrived. There is little of sightseeing merit on the other bank of the sleepy Wisla River (Vistula River), apart from the old wartime Jewish ghetto of Podgorze, an area which received an ever-growing number of visitors following the release of Schindler’s List in 1993.

Tourist Information
Krakow Tourist Information Center
Ulica Szpitalna 25 (kiosk on Planty)
Tel: (012) 432 0110/0060.
Website: www.krakow.pl
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 0900-1700 (Oct-May), Mon-Sun 0800-2000 (Jun-Sep).

There is also a tourist information center in the Town Hall Tower on the main market square (tel: (012) 433 7310) and one on ulica Jozefa 7 for the Kazimierz District (tel: (012) 422 0471).

A cultural center, offering a full tourist information service to Krakow and the Malopolska Region, is located at ulica Sw Jana 2 (tel: (012) 421 7787). Jordan, ulica Pawia 8 (tel: (012) 422 6091), also offer information and tours.

The Malopolska Tourist Information Center
Rynek Glowny 1/3 (main market square)
Tel: (012) 421 7706.
Website: www.mcit.pl
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1700, Sun 1000-1600.

Passes
The Krakow Tourist Card (website: www.krakowcard.com), available for two or three days, entitles the holder to free travel on city buses and trams (including bus no.192 to the airport) and to free entry in up to 32 Krakow museums.

Key Attractions:

Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square)
Dating from 1257, this was one of the largest market squares in medieval Europe. Occupying the center of the square, the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall) is filled with market stalls in its vaulted ground-floor passages. Along the sides of the building, pavement cafés draw locals and tourists alike. A branch of the National Museum (see below) is upstairs.

Surrounding the square are impressive period houses and two of the city’s most important churches. Kosciol sw Wojciecha (St Adalbert’s Church) dates from the 10th century and is the oldest extant church in Krakow, but it is the gothic Kosciol Mariacki (St Mary’s Church), with its twin spires, that really catches the eye. Within this church is the 15th-century Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa and Wit Stwosz’s large stone crucifix and wooden polyptych, The Dormition of the Virgin of 1477-89, the largest gothic altar in Europe. Above the organ loft, the church also boasts excellent 14th-century stained glass and art nouveau works by Wyspianski and Mehoffer. The taller of the two towers was the city’s watch-tower and every hour the traditional heynal is played by the town trumpeter, who cuts off the last note to commemorate the death of a trumpeter killed by a Turkish arrow.

Also on the square is the Wieza ratuszowa (Town Tower) - the only surviving part of the town hall, which dates from the 14th century.

St Mary’s Church
Rynek Glowny
Opening hours (tower): Tue, Thu, Sat 0900-1130 and 1300-1730 (May-Aug).
Free admission, charge to see the altar.

Zamek Krolewski (Royal Castle)
From the year 1000, when the bishopric of Krakow was established, Wzgorze Wawelskie (Wawel Hill) has been at the heart of Poland’s history. Located at Wawel, the Royal Castle was the seat of Poland’s kings from the 11th to the early 17th century. The majority of the castle is Renaissance in style (1504-35), although Romanesque and gothic elements remain. Today, it is a museum, and among the treasures in the historic interior of the State Rooms is a collection of 16th-century Flemish tapestries, paintings and period furniture. Other separate sections of the castle open to the public include the Royal Private Apartments and the Crown Treasury and Armoury. Also worth a look is The Lost Wawel exhibit, which showcases the excavated remains of Wawel’s original buildings, including the foundations of the oldest known church in Poland, the early 11th-century Rotunda of St Felix and St Adauctus. The Museum of Oriental Art (west wing) has an excellent collection of Near and Far Eastern art, including important 17th-century Turkish items. More whimsical is the Dragon’s Den, a karstic cave reached by a spiral staircase, where Prince Gracchus (Krak) supposedly killed the Wawel dragon.

Wawel 5
Tel: (012) 422 5155 ext. 291.
Website: www.wawel.krakow.pl
Opening hours: (Wawel Hill) Daily 0600-2000 (Apr-Sep); 0600-1800 (Oct); 0600-1700 (Nov-Mar); (State Rooms and Crown Treasury and Armoury) Tues-Sat 0930-1600, Sun 1000-1600; (Royal Private Apartments) Tue-Sat 0930-1600; (Oriental Art) Tue-Sat 1000-1600; (Dragon’s Den) Daily 1000-1700 (Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct), 1000-1800 (Jul-Aug).
Admission charge. State Rooms and Crown Treasury and Armoury have free entrance Sun, but the number of tickets is limited.

Katedra Wawelska (Wawel Cathedral)
Part of Wawel, this cathedral (also known as the Archcathedral Church of SS Venceslaus and Stanislaus or the Royal Cathedral) is the coronation site and burial place of almost all of Poland’s monarchs. It was built in the early 11th century by King Boleslaw the Brave after Krakow was made a bishopric. Although there are Romanesque elements, the overall impact is determined by the 14th-century gothic structure. The relics of St Stanislaw, the patron saint of Krakow and Poland, are kept here. Of the many royal chapels, the Renaissance Chapel of King Zygmunt (Sigismund) stands out. It is possible to climb the tower to see the 9,979kg (11-tonne) Zygmunt Bell and enjoy the fine view.

Wawel 3
Tel: (012) 422 5155.
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1600, Sun 1215-1600 (Apr, Oct); Mon-Sat 0900-1715, Sun 1215-1715 (May-Sep); Mon-Sat 0900-1500, Sun 1215-1500 (Nov-Mar).
Admission charge.

Muzeum Narodowe (National Museum)
The museum’s large collection is located in a number of separate buildings, including the Czartoryski Museum (see below). The Main Building houses a collection of decorative art, 20th-century Polish art and Polish arms and national colors, in addition to temporary exhibitions. The Gallery in the Cloth Hall exhibits 19th-century Polish art and temporary exhibitions.

Aleja 3 Maja 1
Tel: (012) 295 5600.
Website: www.muzeum.krakow.pl
Opening hours (main building): Tue, Thu 1000-1600; Wed, Fri-Sat 1000-1900; Sun 1000-1500.
Admission charge. Gallery in the Cloth Hall Rynek Glowny 1/3Tel: (012) 422 1166.

Muzeum Czartoryskich (Czartoryski Museum)
A large collection of ancient art from Greece and Egypt, as well as Oriental artifacts, weapons and Turkish carpets can be found here. European paintings and sculpture cover the 13th to 18th centuries - the most famous works here are Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine and Rembrandt’s Landscape with the Good Samaritan.

Ulica sw Jana 19
Tel: (012) 422 5566.
Website: www.muzeum-czartoryskich.krakow.pl (Polish only)
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1530 (Fri until 1800).
Admission charge; free Sun.

Stara Synagoga or Alte Shul (Old Synagogue)
Kazimierz was originally a separate town, only merging with Krakow in 1868. Here the memories of the Jewish community who lived in the Kazimierz district for centuries (up until the Holocaust) are collected in physical form. Part of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow, the Old Synagogue houses a permanent exhibit - Tradition and Culture of Polish Jews. The synagogue was built in the early 15th century and reconstructed with Renaissance aspects by the Florentine architect, Matteo Gucci, after the fire of 1574. The surrounding area had been largely ignored until Steven Spielberg’s film, Schindler’s List (1993), drew attention to the Kazimierz (there are also a number of sites around the former wartime ghetto, south of the Vistula River, which are included in tours). The only two functioning synagogues in Krakow (the Remuh Synagoga, ulica Szeroka 40, with cemetery attached, and the Isaak Synagoga, ulica Kupa 18, which shows documentary films) are located nearby.

Ulica Szeroka 24
Tel: (012) 422 0962.
Opening hours: Wed-Thu, Sat-Sun 0900-1530; Fri 1100-1400; Tue (after the first Sat and Sun of the month) 0900-1530. Closed Mon, Tue and first Sat and Sun of the month.
Admission charge; free Wed.

Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego (Jagiellonian University Museum)
Housed in the mid-15th-century Collegium Maius, the oldest building of the Krakow Academy (the university’s forerunner) this museum is home to an eclectic collection. The University was founded in 1364 and reformed by King Wladyslaw Jagiello in 1400. Visits are by guided tour only, which includes important rooms and reconstructed professors’ chambers, as well as significant historical objects, such as astronomical instruments that may have been used by Copernicus.

Ulica Jagiellonska 15
Tel: (012) 422 0549.
Website: www.uj.edu.pl/muzeum (Polish only)
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1100-1500 (last admission), Sat 1100-1400 (last entry 40 minutes before closing time); closed Sun and holidays.
Admission charge; free Sat.

Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa (History Museum of the City of Krakow)
This museum’s collection is spread over a number of sites. The branch in Rynek Glowny occupies three burgher houses and displays objects from Krakow’s earliest times. Other galleries showcase a collection of portraiture and antique clocks.

Krzysztofory Palace
Rynek Glowny 35
Tel: (012) 422 3264.
Website: www.mhk.pl
Opening hours: Wed-Sun 1000-1730 (except every second Sun of the month, when the museum is closed).
Admission charge.

Further Distractions:

Muzeum Archidiecezjalne (Archdiocesan Museum)
Sacral art from the Krakow Archdiocese, 13th-century paintings and Pope John Paul II’s room (he lived here twice) are among the attractions in this 14th-century canonic house. A number of the presents received by the late Polish pontiff in his role as pope from various world leaders are also on display.

Ulica Kanonicza 19-21
Tel: (012) 421 8963.
Website: www.diecezja.krakow.pl (Polish only)
Opening hours: Tue-Fri 1000-1600, Sat-Sun 1000-1500.
Admission charge.

Centrum Sztuki i Techniki Japonskiej Manggha (‘Manggha’ Center of Japanese Art and Technology)
While its appearance may be at odds with Krakow’s many historic buildings, this center has one of the continent’s finest collection of ancient Japanese art housed in a sleek, glass and concrete building designed by Arata Isozaki. The collection was created by Felix ‘Manggha’ Jasienski (1861-1929), who first discovered Japanese art while studying in Paris in the 1880s. He adopted the pseudonym ‘Manggha’ from a transliteration of the Japanese ‘manga’ - the title of Hokusu’s famous series of sketches. He collected throughout his life and bestowed the collection to the National Museum in 1920. However, there was no place to show it until the new museum was opened in 1994.

Ulica M Konopnickiej 26
Tel: (012) 267 2703.
Website: www.manggha.krakow.pl
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1800.
Admission charge; free Sun.

Nowa Huta (New Town)
Although all traces of communist rule are being systematically erased from the Old Town, those with an interest in ‘Real Socialist’ architecture can travel out of town to the model Soviet suburb of Nowa Huta. The Malopolska Tourist Information Center (tel: (012) 421 7706; website: www.mcit.pl) on the main market square organizes tours to Nowa Huta.
 
This ‘New Town’, with its wide boulevards, geometrically ordered streets and imposing buildings, extends from the Plac Centralny (Central Square). Yet while it characterizes communist architectural style, it also displays the Poles’ resistance to certain aspects of communism - as can be witnessed by the Church of the Virgin Mary Queen of Poland (designed by Wojciech Peitrzyk), constructed between 1967 and 1977 in the Bienczyce Quarter.

Not everything in Nowa Huta is new. The Church of St Bartholomew (located at ulica Klasztorna, just in front of the 18th-century Cistercian Abbey), built by Maciej Maczka, dates from 1466 and is Poland’s only surviving example of a medieval wooden church. Now part of the European Culture Program, the church houses some beautiful 14th-century wall paintings and a sculpture of Jesus. According to a local belief, hair is said to sprout from the head of the statue. The church is open 24 hours.

Also worth a visit is Centrum, the Gallery of Nowa Huta Cultural Center, located at aleja Jana Pawla II.

Nowohuckie Centrum Kultury (Center of Culture in Nowa Huta)
Aleja Jana Pawla II 232
Tel: (012) 644 0266.
Website: www.nh.pl or www.nck.krakow.pl

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Auschwitz-Birkenau Main Market Square, Krakow (Rynek Glowny, Krakow)	Warsaw Royal Castle (Zamek Krolewski w Warsawie) Wawel Royal Castle (Zamek Krolewski na Wawelu)