Kraków: Poland’s Historic Capital

St. Mary's Church

The original church built on this spot was destroyed by the first Tatar invasion in 1241, but all subsequent versions — including the current one — have been built on the same foundation. This was the church of the everyday townspeople, built out of a spirit of competition with the royal high church at Wawel Castle, and boasts impressively lavish decor. While it's free to those who come to pray, it's worth paying to enter the church to see one of the most finely crafted Gothic altarpieces anywhere. When the Nazis invaded Poland, they made a list of artistic masterpieces they planned to plunder and take home to Germany — and Stoss' altarpiece was on it. After the war, it was returned here from its cellar in Nürnberg and painstakingly reassembled.

Cloth Hall

Souvenir prices here are slightly inflated, but still cheap by American standards. You're paying a little extra for the convenience and the atmosphere, but you'll see locals buying gifts here, too. The upstairs of the Cloth Hall is home to the excellent Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art.

St. Francis Basilica

Kraków's beautiful Franciscan church, which was St. John Paul II's home church while he was archbishop of Kraków, features some of Poland's best Art Nouveau in situ. After an 1850 fire, it was redecorated by the two leading members of the Młoda Polska (Young Poland) movement: Stanisław Wyspiański and Józef Mehoffer. The glorious decorations inside this Gothic church are the result of their great rivalry run amok.

Wyspiański Museum

This concise, beautiful museum assembles many of Wyspiański's best works, offering an ideal introduction to this leader of the Młoda Polska movement. If you enjoy Wyspiański's stained glass and wall paintings in St. Francis Basilica, you'll find even more to like here.

Tomasz Klimek

Tomasz and his business partner Monika Prylinska are both top-notch guides; together they run Kraków Urban Tours. In addition to a variety of local walking tours — including a "greatest hits" Old Town walk and a food tour — they've curated some special experiences that offer more cultural intimacy, including a pierogi-making class at a local home (rather than a classroom or restaurant). You can either join a scheduled tour with other travelers or (for a higher cost) book a one-on-one experience.

Wawel Cathedral

Poland's national church is its Westminster Abbey. While the history buried here is pretty murky to most Americans, to Poles, this church is the national mausoleum. This uniquely eclectic church is the product of centuries of haphazard additions — it's surrounded by some 17 chapels and towers that were grafted on to the original, Romanesque, 12th-century core. The interior is slathered in Baroque memorials and tombs, decorated with tapestries, and soaked in Polish history. The ensemble was designed to help keep Polish identity strong through the ages. It has…and it still does.

Klezmer music in Kazimierz

On balmy summer nights, Kazimierz's main square, Ulica Szeroka, is filled with the haunting strains of traditional Jewish music from 19th-century Poland. Skilled klezmer musicians can make their instruments weep or laugh like human voices. Several eateries on Ulica Szeroka offer klezmer music, typically starting between 19:00 and 20:00. The musicians move from room to room, and the menus tend to be a mix of traditional Jewish and Polish cuisine (which are quite similar).

Some old-school restaurants offer reasonably priced food but charge per person for the music. Probably your best choice among these is the well-established Klezmer-Hois (seen in this episode), which fills a venerable former Jewish ritual bathhouse and makes you feel like you're dining in a rich grandparent's home. And some restaurants with outdoor seating on Ulica Szeroka offer klezmer music that anyone nearby can enjoy for free (though menu prices tend to be that much higher). Just show up, comparison-shop music and menus, and — if you like what you hear — pick a place for dinner or a drink.

Old Jewish Cemetery

This small cemetery was used to bury members of the Jewish community from 1552 to 1800. Desecrated by the Nazis during the Holocaust, it was discovered in the 1950s, excavated, and put back together as visitors see it today. With more than a hundred of the top Jewish intellectuals of that age buried here, it's considered one of the most important Jewish cemeteries in Europe.

Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum

"Auschwitz" actually refers a series of several camps in German-occupied Poland — most importantly Auschwitz I, in the town of Oświęcim (50 miles west of Kraków), and Auschwitz II–Birkenau (about 1.5 miles west of Oświęcim and connected by shuttle bus to Auschwitz I). Auschwitz I, where public transportation from Kraków arrives, has the main museum building, the Arbeit Macht Frei gate, and indoor museum exhibits in former prison buildings. Birkenau, on a much bigger scale and mostly outdoors, has the infamous guard tower, a vast field with ruins of barracks, a few tourable barracks, the notorious "dividing platform," and a giant monument flanked by remains of destroyed crematoria.

With well over one million visitors each year, Auschwitz struggles with crowds. Reservations are required; book your tickets as soon as your dates are set — ideally weeks in advance. Entrance slots for individuals typically become available 90 days before the date of visit (and can fill quickly, especially for May and June). If an English tour isn't available for your preferred date, consider booking one in a foreign language; once inside, you can use my guidebook's self-guided tour.

Nowa Huta

Nowa Huta, an enormous planned workers' town five miles east of central Kraków, offers a glimpse into the stark, grand-scale aesthetics of the communists. While it's lost on many visitors, Nowa Huta is a must for those curious for a look at large-scale artifacts of the communist period. Since it can be challenging to appreciate on your own, it's particularly well suited to a guided tour.

Crazy Guides

This outfit runs loose, off-the-wall tours of Nowa Huta in genuine communist-era vehicles with a laid-back hipster guide. (Kraków Urban Tours also have an option that offers thoughtful looks at the area.)

Plac Nowy

Kazimierz's endearing "new" market square retains much of the gritty flavor of the district before tourism and gentrification. The circular brick building in the center was a slaughterhouse where Jewish butchers would properly kill livestock, kosher-style. Today it's a market hall with windows filled with little stand-up eateries, most of them featuring the traditional pizza-like zapiekanki. This square is also ringed by several fun and funky bars — enjoyable by day but hopping at night.

See the Travel Details above for recommendations highlighted in bold, excerpted from Rick's guidebooks.

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Hi, I'm Rick Steves, back with more of the best of Europe — and always learning!

Rick: What's "good day?"
Tomasz: Dzień dobry.
Rick: Dzień dobry. What's "thank you?"
Tomasz: Dziękuję.
Rick: Dziękuję. What's this?
Tomasz: It's vodka!
Rick: Na zdrowie! We're in Poland, in its most visited city: Kraków! Thanks for joining us!

Poland's political capital may have moved to Warsaw centuries ago, but Kraków remains the historic, cultural, and intellectual capital — a proud symbol of the Polish national identity.

Kraków is ideally set on the Vistula River. We'll explore one of Europe's most crowd-pleasing squares, marvel at medieval glory, visit Wawel Hill — a site sacred to Poles since the 11th century, learn how to make a classic Polish dish — or at least try — and then eat what we cook. We'll remember the Holocaust at a concentration camp memorial, and with a guide we'll take a nostalgic communist-era joy ride. Finally, we'll cap our visit with a twilight stroll.

Medieval Poland was prominent on Europe's map. In the late 1700s it disappeared — partitioned by its powerful neighbors — and didn't reappear until after World War I. Then, after World War II, it was part of communist Eastern Europe. And today, with the Iron Curtain long gone, it's a leading country in central Europe. We're visiting Poland's historic and cultural capital, Kraków, and side-tripping to Auschwitz.

Kraków — or, as locals say, Kraków — was a crossroads, a trading center that boomed back in the 11th century. Today, it's a sprawling city of a million with a delightful Old Town.

And everything converges on the majestic and massive Main Market Square. It's hard not to be drawn to this square. It bustles with life: enticing cafés, families out for a stroll, fairytale carriages, a youthful energy, and, it seems, half the tourists in Poland.

St. Mary's Church stands tall over it all. Its spire doubles as the town watchtower. At the top of each hour — literally 24/7 — a fireman with a trumpet comes to the window and plays a tune…to announce "all is well" — a tune that suddenly dies, recalling a legend in which a watchman's throat was pierced by an enemy arrow.

Inside St. Mary's, each midday, is a medieval moment: A nun swings open the doors [of a] much-adored altarpiece.

This exquisite Gothic triptych — with hinged panels — was carved in the late 1400s by Veit Stoss. One of the most impressive medieval woodcarvings in Europe, it depicts the Virgin Mary's ascent to heaven with emotion rare in Gothic art.

The square's centerpiece is the Cloth Hall. Once a marketplace for cloth merchants, today it's home to souvenir stalls. Vendors sell gifty crafts from all over Poland — like painted wooden plates from the mountain forests, colorful embroidery — delicately hand-stitched, hand-painted pottery from Silesia, and amber jewelry from the Baltic coast, for your favorite travel partner.

Kraków's Old Town is compact and easy to navigate. The vibe is relaxed as modern and medieval mix it up.

In the 13th century, after their city was destroyed by invaders from the east, Krakovians rebuilt it with a near-perfect grid plan. Today it's pedestrian-friendly and thriving.

They also encircled their city with a wall featuring classic ramparts and towers. The big, round, free-standing fort is a barbican, which provided extra protection at the main gate.

Later, the wall was mostly torn down, leaving just a few evocative remnants. The moat was filled in, and a fine park was created in its place. This circular green belt — called the Planty — is popular with today's Krakovians. And if you need a break from all the tourists, you can bike or hike around the Planty and along the riverbank. It's a charming local scene: fun-loving boaters, lazy picnics…but beware the dragon! Oh — and if you think you're good at chess, challenge one of these guys. The riverside path is inviting, and so is the playful rigging on its delightful pedestrian bridge.

Kraków has been called "Little Rome." That's because of its many churches — there are 23 in the Old Town alone.

The country is devoutly Catholic; almost two-thirds of Poles attend weekly Mass. So churches here aren't just tourist attractions — they're alive with worshipers. Catholicism is central to Polish identity.

Squeezed for centuries between Protestant Germans and Orthodox Russia, Poles were united and strengthened by their Catholic faith. And after World War II, when Poland was ruled by anti-Church communists, going to Mass was more than worship: It was a political statement — a chance to express both dissent and a desire for freedom.

It was during these challenging times that a charismatic Kraków priest named Karol Wojtyła led his flock in defiance of communist authorities. Throughout the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, he fought for the right to worship inside the communist state. The Church hierarchy was impressed, and in 1978 that humble Polish priest was elected Pope John Paul II.

The first non-Italian pope in centuries was made a saint in 2014. Although he's a controversial figure to some, many locals consider him "the greatest Pole."

Kraków's Franciscan church [St. Francis Basilica] was special to John Paul. He'd come here all alone to pray.

This was his favorite pew — way in the back. To people across the Eastern Bloc, and to Catholics worldwide, Pope John Paul II embodied the resistance fighting Soviet rule. And he inspired the Polish people with his soothing refrain: "Have no fear."

The church is also a fine introduction to Art Nouveau, Polish style. With its stained glass weaving together images of the favorite Franciscan saints, it employs the movement's characteristic organic swoops and floral motifs. Another window shows God in the Act of Creation — turning natural light into spiritual energy.

The Art Nouveau style flourished across Europe in the early 20th century. While Klimt was painting in Vienna, and Mucha was busy in Prague, Poland's Art Nouveau movement was led by Stanisław Wyspiański.

At the museum dedicated to the artist [the Wyspiański Museum] you see how the movement was playful, lyrical, and inspired by folklore. Wyspiański and his fellow artists mixed gloom and mysticism into beauty that came with a message: The spirit of Poland will live on.

To learn more about Polish culture, I'm joined by my friend and fellow tour guide, Tomasz Klimek.

Rick: Every time I travel in Poland, it seems vodka is quite important. What does vodka mean to Poland?
Tomasz: Vodka is definitely our national drink. We take it very seriously. We're very proud of it. Polish vodka is a brand that is renowned all over the world and we do take our vodka very seriously.
Rick: So Polish vodka, does that mean Polish ingredients?
Tomasz: Polish vodka has to be not only made in Poland but made from Polish local ingredients. And those could be either potatoes — so we have potato vodka — or grain.
Rick: So what's — is this potatoes or grain?
Tomasz: This one is grain vodka.
Rick: Which do you like better?
Tomasz: I like grain better. That's my favorite.
Rick: So is there a ritual for drinking it in a pub or a bar?
Tomasz: Yes, there is. When we celebrate, we drink it with our friends, and we do mainly the shots. And we don't sip it like this; we just do the bottoms up.
Rick: Is that right, no sipping?
Tomasz: No sipping.
Rick: What if I sip, what do people think?
Tomasz: Well, if you want to be really local, you better do the bottoms up.
Rick: OK, so really, just throw it right down.
Tomasz: Exactly.
Rick: And how do you say [a] toast?
Tomasz: Na zdrowie.
Rick: Na zdrowie. Good!
Tomasz: And bottoms up.
Rick: Ahhh!
Tomasz: Yes!

For dinner, Tomasz has promised to teach me how to make me a classic Polish dish at his house — a dish that all Polish grandmas make. I'm learning how to cook pierogi!

First you knead the potato dough to just the right texture…

Tomasz: It's very relaxing. It's like going to a spa for your body and soul.
Rick: Is Grandma looking down?
Tomasz: I hope she is.

Then you roll it out — flat as a Polish crepe.

Tomasz: You want it as thin as possible. Cause our dough is generally flavorless. What gives flavor to our dish is the filling and the topping…

And cut out small discs.

Tomasz: Beautiful!

Making cute little pockets, you tuck in the cheese, onion, and meat filling, then you seal it watertight around the edges.

Tomasz: Pinches…there you go. Has to be wat — your first pierogi! Congratulations!
Rick: So nice!
Tomasz: And we just wait for them to float.

After a short boiling bath, they're ready to eat. In true family style, we enjoy a little sunshine in the backyard and a classic Polish meal, just like Grandma — or Babcia — used to make.

Rick: Dziękuję, Babcia.
Tomasz: Dziękuję, Babcia, yes. I hope she's proud.

From Kraków's Old Town, a ramp leads up to the most hallowed ground in all of Poland.

Wawel Hill is sacred to the Polish people — a castle and royal residence since the 11th century. The park-like scene entices Poles to drop by and celebrate their nation's epic story. Everything is layered in history, including the venerable Wawel Cathedral.

Architecturally, it's a hodgepodge: a riot of towers and chapels. This national church, with its many tombs, is a Who's Who of the nation's most beloved figures: from saints, to generals, to kings and queens.

And if you're going to remember only one name, make it Kazimierz the Great. He ruled Poland from Kraków in the 14th century. The larger-than-life Kazimierz was a great warrior, diplomat, and patron of the arts.

His scribes bragged that "Kazimierz found Poland made of wood, and left it made of stone and brick." In fact, he even made it onto the 50-złoty note. Kazimierz provided refuge for Jews expelled from other lands. And he established the tradition that Poland would provide safe refuge for Europe's Jews. In fact, for centuries, an estimated one-third of the world's Jews lived right here in a land known as "the Jewish paradise."

While they still faced some persecution, Jews carved out a relatively vital niche in Polish society, as Poland became home to an estimated one-third of the world's Jews. Kraków's historic Jewish district is named for Kazimierz.

Until the 20th century, Jews made up a quarter of Kraków's population. Of the neighborhood's many historic synagogues, some are still places of worship. But today the economy is mostly tourism.

And touristy restaurants feature klezmer, a Jewish traditional folk music that stokes a nostalgia for their poignant story.

The Old Cemetery of Kazimierz also honors the Jewish past. This grave remembers a beloved 16th-century rabbi. Prayers are lovingly tucked into the cracks and crevices of his tombstone. And rocks stacked atop tombs — also representing prayers — recall the ancient Jewish tradition of covering sandy graves with stones to prevent them from being disturbed.

Jewish cemeteries — like the community of Kazimierz itself — were nearly destroyed after Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Gravestones, crushed under Nazi tank treads, were later assembled into memorial mosaic walls. During the Holocaust, the vast majority of Kraków's Jews ended up in concentration camps and fewer than one in ten survived World War II.

About an hour away is perhaps the most powerful Holocaust memorial in all of Europe: the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

This was the biggest and most notorious concentration camp in the vast Nazi system. After invading and occupying Poland in 1939, Nazi Germany built many such camps here — far from mainstream German society. Ultimately, they murdered an estimated 6 million people, mostly Jews — and about half of those came from Poland.

The Nazis turned this army base into a death camp. Over a million people — the vast majority of them Jews — were systematically exterminated here at Auschwitz.

The notorious gate welcomed inmates with a cruel lie: Arbeit Macht Frei — "Work will set you free."

The former cellblocks now display powerful museum exhibits that, while difficult to see, must — out of respect to its victims — be seen. People were told they'd be starting new lives and to bring luggage — clearly labeled with their names. After they were killed, everything of value was seized and sorted.

Crutches and prosthetic limbs remind us that the first people exterminated were the mentally and physically ill. Piles of glasses, a seemingly endless mountain of shoes…it's hard to comprehend the numbers. Even children — the Nazis spared no one.

Halls are lined with photographs of victims — men, and women, each marked with the date of arrival and the date of death. Inmates rarely survived more than a couple months.

The gas chamber and crematorium is marked by its chimney. Up to 700 people at a time could be gassed, but it required two days to burn that many bodies. The Nazis wanted an even higher death toll, so they built a far bigger camp nearby.

That camp, called Birkenau, was an efficient factory for the mass production of death designed to implement the Nazis' "Final Solution": genocide — the murder of all Jews. It could hold about 100,000 prisoners at a time.

People from all over Europe were loaded like animals into train cars like this. They'd pass under the infamous gatehouse, into the camp, and to the dividing platform.

A Nazi doctor stood here and evaluated each prisoner as they stepped off the train. If he pointed one way, that prisoner marched — unknowingly — directly to the gas chamber. If he pointed the other, that person was judged fit to work and would live a little while longer. It was here that countless families from across Europe were torn apart forever.

The gas chambers — where the mass killing was done — were disguised as showers. At Birkenau the Nazis gassed and cremated thousands of people per day.

The camp monument represents gravestones and the chimney of a crematorium. Plaques — in each of the languages spoken by camp victims — explain the mission of this memorial.

Back in Kraków, tourists can learn about the next chapter of Poland's story: becoming a Soviet satellite after World War II. One entertaining yet informative way to get a peek at that is by looking through the windows…

Rick: Hello!

…of tiny communist-era cars.

Kornelia: Hop in…

And we'll do the same, visiting the communist-planned workers' town of Nowa Huta.

Rick: Oh, I love this little car! Ha!
Kornelia: Don't get too comfortable.

And our guide is Kornelia [of Crazy Guides].

Rick: This is such a treat. Tell me about this little car.
Kornelia: So we are driving a famous Trabant from East Germany, a very popular family car in Poland. Also one of few to choose from, so people had no choice. And they were happy with what they got.
Rick: So tell me about this neighborhood. What is this?
Kornelia: We are in Nowa Huta district. It's a communist model city from the '50s — the only place like that in Poland, actually. So, it's supposed to be a showcase, kind of proving that communism works: People get jobs, apartments, and they're happy.

Nowa Huta was designed around a new enormous steel mill, the largest in Poland. Called the Lenin Steelworks, it employed nearly 40,000 workers, who worked in three shifts, 24 hours a day. It was intended as a high-production factory to show off the Soviet Bloc's industrial might.

Rick: How many people lived in Nowa Huta?
Kornelia: The design was for 100,000 people, but it was like a worker's paradise. So most men had a job in one factory over here — steelworks, and families — women — you had jobs like services, hospitals — so it was a self-sufficient town.
Rick: So why did Stalin want to give that plan to Kraków?
Kornelia: Well, one of the main reasons for sure were to punish the intelligentsia, to kind of contrabalance this society in Kraków, with a lot of churches, universities, with workers which before were farmers and had quite simple lives.
Rick: So punish Kraków for having culture, education, and churches — ?
Kornelia: Yeah.
Rick: What was it like to actually live here in the '50s?
Kornelia: So after the war, this was a very attractive place for people to come. So they had jobs, they had apartments for free, and shops were even better than the center. They wanted to show people in Kraków that it's working. So after the war, that was a good place to live.
Rick: What about now? What do people think of Nowa Huta now to live in?
Kornelia: It's getting way more popular than in the past. Now within 30 years' time, this is a pretty nice place to live in. People are happy, people have beautiful space to live in, and they definitely prefer it more than being in the busy center. Probably one of the best districts to live in Kraków.

And the central plaza, reflecting the transition from communism to democracy and capitalism, is called Ronald Reagan Square.

Let's enjoy one last slice of Kraków with an evening walk. The Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, has transformed into a thriving night spot, with trendy pubs and restaurants and an inviting energy. The round market hall [on Plac Nowy] is now a food circus popular with families and locals out on a cheap date — many munching zapiekanka, the local pizza.

And back at the Main Market Square, locals and visitors alike make the scene. Cafés are full, the horse carriages add to the genteel atmosphere, and it's all about another great travel tip: savoring the moment. As the sun sets and the lights come on, Kraków takes on a timeless and romantic aura.

Surrounded by the floodlit wonders of Kraków and having learned so much in this jewel of a city, I'm reminded how travel connects us: with the past, with rich cultures, and with inspiring people. I'm Rick Steves. Until next time, keep on travelin'.