Krakow City Tour

The tour starts in Krakow Old City near the Grunwald Monument, from there we will stroll through Barbacan and the St. Florian gate to Florianska street. As we know today, it was used by Polish Kings to cross the city on holidays, and special events.

Next, we will visit “Rynek Glowny” – in polish the Central Market, deemed the Best Public Space in Europe by the Project for Public Spaces (PPS). This beautiful square is almost 10 acres large and is home to the famous Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), rebuilt in 1555.

Here you can also find the main highlight of the old city – the beautiful Gothic Basilica of St. Mary. You will learn about the famous legends of Krakow surrounding this place:

a gruesome story about two brothers who built the two towers and a legend about a selfless trumpeter who gave his life to warn the townsfolk of an invasion.

After hearing the local stories and walking up an appetite we will go try some local cuisine in Piwnica Pod Kominkiem. You’ll find a complete menu of delicious local meals including starters, soups, main dishes, and deserts. We recommend you try the traditional Polish soup with boiled egg, sausage, and potatoes. And for the main dish – Pirogi, polish dumplings with meat, cheese or vegetables. There are plenty of vegetarian options as well like the traditional polish stew with buckwheat pancakes. Finally, do not forget to spoil yourself with some mouthwatering cherry filled dumplings.

After a lovely meal we will stroll along the narrow streets to see one of the oldest universities in Europe. Among its famous students, were M. Kopernicus and K. Wotyla who is worldwide known as Pope John Paul II.

From the University we will walk through the Planty Park towards the river and an ancient hill. After reaching the top of the hill we will enter the Residence of the Kings of Poland – the renaissance Royal Castle at Wawel. Statue of a famous polish leader Tadeusz Kosciuszko meets the visitors at the gate. We’ll walk around the castle and admire the majesty of the kings of old.

After Wawel Castle Hill, we will proceed to one of the former suburbs where we will learn about Jewish history and visit the Jewish quarter – a large open space with a Jewish museum.

Continuing the Jewish theme, we will proceed to Kazimierz, a place named after the King who gave the first charter to the Jews to settle in Poland. It is a former Jewish district, and in the center of it is the Sheroka (Wide) street and square.

Here you will find the famous Rema Synagogue and the old Jewish cemetery containing graves from 15th century. The old synagogue was built just next to the old Kazimierz city walls.

Following the Ester Street will bring you to the new market square. Here is a big flea market, where you can buy nice souvenirs, find a fresh fruit basket, or eat a famous Krakow sandwich – zapiekanki. Zapiekanki, a local favorite – is an open-faced sandwich made of half of a baguette or other long roll of bread, topped with sautéed white mushrooms, cheese, and other ingredients, then toasted until the cheese melts.

There are many old synagogues in the district. One was built in the early 19th century – The Temple Synagogue near the the Moorish Revival building built in 1860–1862 along Miodowa Street. The temple, with its tall central section flanked by lower wings, is designed with the same style as the Leopoldstädter temple, in Vienna. It is an important piece of history reminding people of the period when it was built, when Kraków was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In addition, we will see a Jewish community center which was donated to this newly organized center for the revival of the Jewish community. It is really impressive and heartwarming how people come together and share their private stories about their Jewish roots.

We’ll walk around a bit more to find other temples and buildings of different importance. Further, when we’ll cross the river, we’ll will find sites and courtyards where the famous Schindler’s List movie was shot. Nowadays, it has become a very popular place for the entertainment of locals and city guests. As a result, you will find a lot of places to eat, drink or just hang around with locals.

Finally, if you still have some energy left, we can continue to the Ghetto Heroes Square and Shindler’s Factory Museum. The museum has a great free audio guide.