Everything you need to know to visit Krakow in a few days as a solo traveler!

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Krakow surprised me. I confess I didn’t know much about Polish history or culture before planning my trip, but I quickly fell in love with the charm and feel of the city!

Krakow is a great destination for so many reasons. It’s a small enough city to explore on foot, but not so small that you’ll get bored after a day. The streets are picturesque even if you don’t know the history, but there’s so much history worth learning!

It’s also a super affordable city: for the cost of a spartan, no-frills hotel room in many other European cities, you can get a five-star experience! Which means splurging doesn’t cost much.

Logistics

Ideally, you want three days in Krakow: one to explore the old town, another for the Jewish quarter, and a day trip. You can also easily take the train to Warsaw or Gdansk, so doing a multi-stop trip is easy and inexpensive!

Poland’s currency is the Polish złoty. Make sure to check the current rate, but as of summer 24, it’s about 1 złoty to $0.25.

Poland is part of the EU and the Schengen Zone, so if you’re road-tripping through Europe the border is open!

Krakow Hotels

Old Town

Jewish Quarter

Take a Free Walking Tour of Krakow

Let’s own it: the average American doesn’t know much about Polish history unless they’re of Polish ancestry. So the best way to get a sense of Krakow’s history is on a walking tour!

I always say this, but a walking tour is 100% the best way to get to know a city. If I can, I always schedule these on the first day to get my bearings and learn about what I’m seeing. I chose this one for an overview of Krakow old town and it was fantastic. I got a great overview of the city from a local, learned a ton of history I didn’t know about Krakow and Poland, and made a friend who wanted to grab a local dinner that night!

A walking tour also helps prioritize. You’ll figure out pretty quickly which historic buildings you want to explore more, and which only need a walk-by with a guide to tell you what you need to know.

Some of the walk-by sights include:

• Rynek Główny – the old town square. You’ll pass through here a bunch!
• Town hall tower – formerly a prison, it’s the last piece of the old town hall dating from the 14th century.
• Cloth Market Hall– sometimes called the world’s oldest mall! Historically the major city market, but currently mostly sells tourist junk.
• Slowacki Theater – a stunning 19th-century opera house.
• Jagiellonian University – especially for its founding (by a woman! in a time when women couldn’t go to university!) and its dark Nazi history.
• Wawel Dragon – a sculpture of Krakow’s city animal that sits at the base of the castle
• St. Florian’s Gate – historically the major entrance to the city. Most of the city walls were destroyed, but the reminder stands.
• Barbican – historic fortress outside St. Florian’s gate and considered impenetrable for centuries.

St. Mary’s Basilica

Sitting on Krakow’s main square, St. Mary’s Basilica is the city cathedral. It’s most famous for housing the largest Gothic altarpiece in the world. The massive altarpiece was stolen by Nazis during WWII, only to be recovered in Nuremberg and eventually returned.

I loved the interior. It’s ornate and colorful, striking in the designs. The extensive designs invite you to sit down and soak it in. As someone who knows nothing about art, I especially loved the ceilings.

The exterior is beautiful but also surprising because the two towers on the front are significantly different. There are a few legends about this, but you’ll have to do the walking tour to hear these. The functional difference is that one is for the church’s use and the other is for the city. The city tower was historically staffed by firefighters to look for fires and play a trumpet to set the time hourly. That song cuts off suddenly today, but historically was picked up by a second trumpeter on the city walls. After the second trumpeter was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm for an attack, the second half was discontinued in his memory.

I visited several churches in Krakow and will confidently say this one deserves to the be one that’s most talked about!

Wawel Castle

Wawel Castle is the fortified former royal castle. Some of its buildings date back to the 10th century, with each significant ruler adding on. You can even see Italian influences in the main enclosed courtyard, thanks to a Sforza princess marrying a Polish king! It’s joked that as well as bringing Italian Renaissance influence into Poland, she also introduced vegetables beyond cabbage.

Today, the complex houses a series of exhibitions including the State Rooms, Art of the Orient, Treasury Museum, Italian Renaissance Museum, Contemporary art, the dragon’s den – a cave under Wawel Hill – and more.

Each exhibition requires a separate ticket, or you can buy a combo ticket for everything. On Mondays, some of the exhibitions are free!

Not interested in museums? Still wander the complex a bit. You can enter the courtyard and see a bunch of the exteriors, so it’s worth trekking up the hill either way.

Wawel Cathedral

Wawel Cathedral is part of the castle complex, but it’s worth mentioning as its own thing. It houses the biggest bell in Poland, the Sigismund Bell, and you can climb the tower to touch it and get some great views overlooking Krakow. It’s also where centuries of Polish royalty are interred, many with alcoves reflecting the style of the times.

The cathedral is cool, but not as great as St. Mary’s. If you only do one, stick to St. Mary’s.

If you don’t pay to enter, you can see a bit of these alcoves from the outside as well! You can also peep the dragon bone hanging along the cathedral entrance, which is believed to protect the city. It’s likely a whale mandible, but who brought it to Krakow is unclear.

Kazmierz: The Jewish Quarter

No visit to Krakow is complete without a visit to Kazmierz, Krakow’s Jewish quarter.

Doing a guided walking tour focused on the Jewish Quarter will help immensely in seeing the significance of this neighborhood. Poland’s experience during WWII continues to show up on every street here. I’ve used Guru Walk a bunch and have always loved their tours, so I’d recommend their free Jewish Quarter & Ghetto tour – also tips based, so a great place to start!

If you don’t have time to do a guided tour, make sure to see a few spots on your own. I recommend Ghetto Heroes Square and the Old Synagogue and walk around to see all the amazing street art. Consider visiting the Eagle Pharmacy: a small museum on life in the Krakow ghetto. Do this especially if you don’t have time to visit Schindler’s Factory!

Schindler’s Factory

Made famous by the film Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler was a Nazi who took over an enamel factory in Krakow. He converted it to a metalworks factory, making it essential to war efforts, and employed hundreds of Jewish employees. What started as an economic decision (wages to Jewish men & women were significantly cheaper) became a moral cause for Schindler as he realized Nazi intentions for Jews.

The exhibit talks about the Nazi occupation of Krakow, not only the factory or Schindler. Book Schindler’s Enamel Factory in advance year-round, because their timed-entry tickets fill up. Consider doing a guided tour, because the English signs may not provide as much detail as you want!

The Day Trip You Have to Take: Auschwitz

You can’t visit Krakow without planning a day trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There’s nothing that compares to experiencing a visit and walking the paths that millions of victims walked. I’ll spend more time talking about this soon, but in the meantime, I highly recommend this day trip if you’re ready to organize it now.

For a small city, Krakow has a ton to see! You can get everything here and more on my full Krakow master list on Thatch: it has even more things to do in Krakow as well as my full restaurant guide!