Kraków is one of Europe's best-value weekend cities — an intact medieval centre, cheap, walkable, with an excellent food scene. It also sits 90 minutes from Auschwitz, which is a decision no other city break asks you to make.
The Auschwitz question
It takes most of a day — 90 minutes each way plus three to four hours at the two sites, Auschwitz I and Birkenau.
It is not something to fit around other sightseeing. If you go, it is the day, and returning to a normal evening afterwards is harder than most people anticipate.
Booking: through the official museum site. Entry is free for individual visitors and requires a reserved time slot; guided tours in various languages carry a fee. Slots release months ahead and fill, particularly in summer.
Booking through a third party generally means paying for transport and a guide rather than for access.
On a two-night trip, going means seeing very little of Kraków. That is a legitimate choice and it should be a conscious one.
Kraków itself
The Rynek Główny — one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, with the Cloth Hall in the middle and a trumpet call from St Mary's tower every hour that breaks off mid-note, commemorating a trumpeter shot during a Mongol raid.
St Mary's Basilica, with the Veit Stoss altarpiece.
Wawel — the castle and cathedral on the hill above the Vistula, where Polish kings were crowned and buried. The grounds are free; specific buildings are ticketed separately.
The Planty, the ring of park replacing the city walls, which circles the whole old town.
Kazimierz
The historic Jewish quarter, fifteen minutes' walk from the square.
Surviving synagogues — the Old Synagogue, Remuh with its cemetery — and a market square. Since the 1990s a food and bar scene has grown up around them, and it is where most of Kraków's evening life now is.
Across the river, Podgórze holds the ghetto site, the Eagle Pharmacy museum, and Schindler's Factory, which is a museum of occupied Kraków rather than of the film.
Wieliczka
The salt mine, a UNESCO site — chambers, chapels and sculptures carved from rock salt hundreds of metres underground, including a full chapel with salt chandeliers.
Guided only, around three hours including travel. A good half-day counterweight to a heavy itinerary.
What it costs
| Item | Typical |
|---|---|
| Central double room | €45–80 |
| Restaurant meal | €8–16 |
| Beer | €2–3 |
| Milk bar lunch | €4–6 |
Milk bars (bar mleczny) are subsidised canteens from the communist era, still operating, serving pierogi and soup at very low prices. They are a genuine institution rather than a novelty.
Practical
The airport is 20 minutes by train to the main station.
The old town is walkable end to end in fifteen minutes, which makes Kraków ideal for two nights.
Season: May, June and September are best. Winter is cold, cheap and atmospheric, with a Christmas market on the square.