Old Town
There is no better place to start than Krakow's old town (Stare Miasto in Polish)
Its centre is dominated by the Market Square, reputed to be the largest in all of Europe.
There, it is impossible to miss the Renaissance cloth hall known as Sukiennice which these days plays host to souvenir shops and restaurants. The National Gallery of Art is available to visit upstairs in this magnificent building. St Mary's Basilica stands on one side of the square and it is possible to climb the towers to get a bird's eye view of the Market Square and the town buildings beyond. From the square, cobbled streets and alleyways radiate off in every direction, with a host of bars, cafes and rental apartments waiting to be discovered. One of those places where wandering aimlessly without a map or guide book is a pleasure.
Nowa Huta
For a completely different Krakow experience, take the time to visit Nowa Huta. One of the most popular stops on one of the many "communist" tours available, this was a project started a couple of years after the end of World War 2 and aimed to be an ideal city representing a vision of a glorious Communist future, built for the working classes.
It was built to house 100,000 people and laid out in a grid like pattern with wide avenues and huge apartment blocks as well as one of the biggest steel mills in Europe at the time. Strangely enough, during the 1980s, this part of Krakow, designed as a testimony to communism became a centre point for the Solidarity Movement in Poland. These days it has become a popular place to purchase an apartment and even has its own museum.
Podgorze
Across the Vistula River from the old town, Podgorze is a sort of post industrial part of the city where many upmarket bars and restaurants can be found. It is also home to the Schindler’s Factory, where a tour is something not be missed, and the Eagle Pharmacy, which was located right in the centre of the Jewish ghetto during World War 2 and now also houses a small 5 room museum. A little further away from the river, Krakus Mound is one of two prehistoric monumental mounds to be found in the city. There are superb views to be had from the sixteen-metre high summit
Kazimierz
Lying to the south of the old town before crossing the river to Podgorze, Kazimierz was long the home to Krakow's Jewish population. Jews arrived here in the mid-14th century, and until the early 19th century they lived in a separate autonomous enclave governed by internal Jewish authorities. Prior to World War 2, 64,000 Jews are said to have lived, worked, played and prayed here. That made up approximately a quarter of the entire population of Krakow. After the war, those few who remained gradually emigrated and by the 1970s signs of Jewish life had all but disappeared and the suburb gained a reputation for danger and disrepair. However after the fall of communism in 1989, a slow regeneration began to take place. The filming of Schindler’s List put Kazimierz on the world map, and today it is a suburb full of cultural and artistic life, with many popular bars and cafes as well as art studios and galleries.
Travelcoup offers a range of tours in Krakow
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