10 Best Things to Do in Krakow
Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use.
Krakow’s core sights genuinely fit into 2 focused days, and seven of the ten below sit within a 20-minute walk of each other. Start on Rynek Główny for the Cloth Hall and St Mary’s Basilica, climb Wawel Hill for the Castle and Cathedral (two separate tickets, budget for both), then cross the river between Kazimierz and Podgórze, the pre-war Jewish quarter and the WWII ghetto site, two different places with two different histories. Check rates on Booking.com for an Old Town or Kazimierz base, everything below is walkable or a short tram ride from either.
10 things to do, at a glance
| Pick | Price | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Rynek Główny (Cloth Hall, St Mary’s, Town Hall Tower) | Free square, 15-22 PLN interiors | 1.5-2 hours |
| Wawel Royal Castle | 57-95 PLN | 2-3 hours |
| Wawel Cathedral | 26 PLN | 45-75 min |
| Dragon’s Den + Wawel Dragon statue | 15 PLN cave (seasonal), statue free | 20 min |
| Kazimierz (synagogues, Plac Nowy) | Free streets, ~10 PLN Remuh Synagogue | Half day |
| Podgórze + Schindler’s Factory | ~60 PLN museum | 2-3 hours |
| Rynek Underground Museum | 36 PLN | 60-90 min |
| Barbican + St Florian’s Gate (Apr-Oct) | ~16 PLN | 30-45 min |
| Czartoryski Museum (“Lady with an Ermine”) | 65 PLN | 60-90 min |
| Kościuszko Mound / Piłsudski Mound | 40-45 PLN / free | 1-2 hours |
Day 1: the Rynek and Wawel spine
Rynek Główny, Europe’s largest surviving medieval square, was laid out in 1257 and is essentially unchanged in footprint since. The square itself is free; the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice)’s ground floor market is also free to browse, with the upper-floor 19th-Century Polish Art gallery at 35 PLN (free Tuesdays). St Mary’s Basilica charges around 15 PLN to view the Veit Stoss altarpiece up close, and the hourly hejnał trumpet call, which cuts off mid-note every hour, 24/7, is free from anywhere on the square. The Town Hall Tower (22 PLN) gives the best rooftop photo over the square’s roofline.
From there, walk to wawel.krakow.pl territory: Wawel Royal Castle’s State Rooms and Royal Private Apartments run 57 PLN each, 95 PLN combined, and Wawel Cathedral is a separate 26 PLN ticket sold at a separate office, don’t assume one ticket covers both. The Cathedral’s Sigismund Bell climb is included and rewards with rooftop views over the Vistula. Finish at the Dragon’s Den (15 PLN, seasonal, closed in winter), a spiral cave that exits at river level near the bronze, fire-breathing Wawel Dragon statue, always free to view. Book a Wawel skip-the-line ticket if you’re visiting May-September, same-day walk-up tickets frequently sell out by late morning.
Day 2: Kazimierz and Podgórze
Kazimierz, south of the Old Town, was Kraków’s Jewish quarter for roughly 500 years until 1939. The Old Synagogue (Poland’s oldest surviving Jewish temple), Remuh Synagogue (still holding services, combined synagogue-and-cemetery ticket about 10 PLN), and Plac Nowy’s Okrąglak hall, home of the cult zapiekanka stall Endzior, anchor a half day here. Cross the Bernatek footbridge into Podgórze, the district the Nazis walled off as the Kraków Ghetto in March 1941, not Kazimierz itself. Ghetto Heroes Square, with its 70 empty bronze chairs, and Schindler’s Factory (around 60 PLN, timed-entry, book ahead, bring a passport or photo ID) cover that history directly. Browse a Kazimierz and Schindler’s Factory tour if you’d rather have the history explained on the walk.
The paid extras worth the queue
The Rynek Underground Museum (36 PLN, timed-entry, one of Kraków’s most-booked sights in summer) puts you at the level of the square’s original 13th-century market stalls. The Barbican and St Florian’s Gate (about 16 PLN combined, open April-October only) sit on the old Royal Route toward Wawel. The Czartoryski Museum (65 PLN, free but crowded on Tuesdays) holds Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine, one of only around 15 surviving Leonardo panel paintings anywhere. For a view over the whole city, Kościuszko Mound (40-45 PLN, includes a small museum) beats the free, forested Piłsudski Mound on the skyline, but not on price.
Is 2 days enough to see Krakow’s essentials?
Yes, just about. The Rynek/Wawel spine and a Kazimierz/Podgórze afternoon fit into 2 focused days. What 2 days doesn’t do is touch a day trip, our best day trips from Krakow guide covers Wieliczka, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Zakopane for a 3-5 day trip.
What should you book before you arrive?
Timed tickets for Wawel Castle and the Rynek Underground Museum are worth reserving in peak season to avoid a same-day sellout. Check wawel.krakow.pl and muzeumkrakowa.pl for current hours before you fly, and see our Krakow travel tips for the PLN-not-euro basics.
One concrete tip: don’t schedule Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral as a single quick stop. They’re separately ticketed at separate offices, and trying to rush both between two other sights is the most common way first-timers end up queuing twice instead of once.