Krakow’s enchanting atmosphere took me by complete surprise, I wasn’t necessarily expecting to find it as fascinating as it turned out to be. The well-preserved medieval town boasts a wealth of treasures around the city from its wide-open, ancient plazas and castles to incredibly kind locals and delicious food. Plus it’s so cheap! What’s not to love? I had 2 days to explore the city and see what it’s all about!
How to get there:
A massive train station connects Krakow to all of Europe – I came from Bratislava, Slovakia on a night train but it’s also easy to arrive from nearby-ish Prague, Budapest, or even Berlin, but you can come from virtually anywhere on the continent via multiple connections. Krakow does have an international airport but the night trains are so dang fun and cheap that I opted for that instead of flying from Slovakia.
Where to stay:
Stay as close as you can to the Main Square. It’s probably the biggest center square of any city I’ve been to, lively and full of people at all hours. It has tons of restaurants and bars, plus several historical sights right there in the square. I stayed at Cracow Hostel for $12 per night per dorm bed, a great hostel located directly in the center overlooking the square!
Getting around:
Krakow is small and quaint enough to see entirely on foot. I found that few main tourist locations were more than 20 minutes walking from each other, which to me was worth it since you get to see the city along the way. There are inter-city trams that run during the day if you’re feeling especially lazy, or bike rentals if you want to speed things up a bit. There’s also horse drawn carriage rentals for around €20 which acts as both transportation and a tour guide, though I don’t necessarily promote this ’cause I feel bad for the hard-working animals.
What to do:
First, take some time to visit the Main Square, which is home to many cultural landmarks. Dating back to the 13th century, you can check out St. Mary’s Basilica (go inside!) and elegant Town Hall behind it. There’s an old building housing a market in the middle of the square that’s worth checking out as well! This square is so huge and lively that you could spend hours exploring the sights, popping in and out of the shops, and people watching. There’s also free walking tours everyday that start in this square in the mid-morning, so if that’s your style I would definitely keep that in mind. From what I saw, they had tours running in tons of different languages – they seemed to be very popular.
Some other must dos include the Wawel Castle, a medieval-era royal castle/museum complex very close to the Main Square; The Old Jewish Quarter where you can see at once a historic community in ruins from WWII, and the rebirth of it into a vibrant, modern district; and the Vistula River where there are eclectic street performers and throngs of locals gathering and enjoying the views. If you’re feeling adventurous, there are also day tours available to Wieliczka Salt Mines, an underground complex of tunnels, mines, and chambers made from salt. I visited Auschwitz/Birkenau Concentration Camp as a day trip from Krakow where I was able to learn, in-depth, of the horrors that occurred there during the Holocaust. I wrote more about that emotional experience here.
Other tips:
Poland uses the Polish Zloty as their currency, and you can either exchange for most major currencies or withdraw Zloty from the wealth of ATMs that they have available. Nearly everybody speaks English in Krakow, and it was one of the most English-friendly places I’d ever been aka the locals are not annoyed to speak with you in English, like they are in Paris, for example. Krakow is a booming tourist destination but is still rather cheap, just not as cheap as other Eastern/Central European destinations with less tourist attention. You can eat a decent meal with drinks for well under $10 if you’re on a budget.
Krakow is truly a magical city that easily made my mental list of favorite cities in the world. I hope this guide inspired you to visit and see what Krakow has to offer.
