3 Days in Kraków: A Local-Tested Itinerary

Kraków is small enough to walk and dense enough to fill a week, which makes three days close to ideal. You can see the headline sights without rushing, eat extremely well for very little, and still have time to sit in a square and do nothing. This route assumes you're staying in or near the Old Town.

Day 1 — The Old Town, slowly

Start at the Main Market Square (Rynek Główny), one of the largest medieval squares in Europe. Get there before 10am if you want it without the crowds. Walk through the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) in the middle — it's touristy, but the building is the point. Climb the Town Hall Tower for the view if the queue is short.

Mid-morning, walk up to Wawel Castle and Cathedral. The grounds are free and worth an hour on their own; the paid interiors (State Rooms, the cathedral, the bell tower) are sold as separate tickets, so decide what you actually care about rather than buying the full bundle. The view over the Vistula from the castle walls is the free highlight.

For lunch, avoid anything with a photo menu on the square. Walk two or three streets out and get a zapiekanka (an open-faced baguette, the classic cheap Kraków snack) or a proper sit-down pierogi lunch. Expect to pay roughly 30–50 zł (about €7–12) for a full meal away from the square.

Afternoon: wander Planty, the green ring where the city walls used to be, and duck into St. Mary's Basilica to see the Veit Stoss altarpiece. Listen for the hejnał, the trumpet call played from the tower every hour — it cuts off mid-note, on purpose.

Day 2 — Kazimierz and the food

Spend the day in Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter and now the best neighborhood in the city for eating, drinking, and atmosphere. It's a 15-minute walk south of the Old Town.

Morning: the synagogues and Plac Nowy, where the round building in the middle (the "Okrąglak") sells zapiekanki late into the night. Daytime, the square has a small market. The streets around here — Józefa, Meiselsa, Szeroka — are where you'll want to slow down.

This is also the part of Kraków that most rewards just having a drink. Kazimierz is full of mismatched-furniture bars that look like someone's living room. Order a craft beer or a nalewka (Polish fruit liqueur) and stay a while.

In the afternoon, if you want more history, cross the river to Podgórze for the Schindler's Factory museum — it's less about Schindler than a very good museum of wartime Kraków. Book the timed entry in advance; it sells out.

Day 3 — One day trip