What to do in Krakow

What to buy

City shopping

The Old Town district offers excellent shopping, especially for clothes, jewelry, and art. You can wander all around the Old Town and Kazimierz, where antique stores abound. The center of this all is the Rynek Główny (“Rynek” also means “market”), where you will find some of the city’s top stores.

In the middle of the Rynek Główny stands Sukiennice (Cloth Hall), a center of trade in Krakow for hundreds of years. The entire ground floor is a market, where local artists sell their wares. Look for amber jewelry and sheep skin rugs. It is a great place to check out if you want to bring an authentic piece of Krakow back home.

If you’re addicted to shopping, be sure to check out the Royal Way (Floriańska – Rynek Główny – Grodzka) and the streets surrounding Plac Nowy in the Kazimierz district.

Luckily you can still get basic food supplies in the centre in independent and chain grocery stores but they start to give way to luxury hotels and bank agencies. Alcohol can be easily found in groceries and common 24/7 shops.

Shopping malls

There are two shopping malls in the central area, which include vast array of clothes shopping and eateries.

Galeria Krakowska, immediately next to the Main Train Station and a 5-minute walk from the Main Square.

Galeria Kazimierz (ul. Podgórska 34) located at the southern tip of Kazimierz, on the Vistula River bank offers 36,000m2 of stores and an Alma gourmet supermarket.

Plenty of other international chains (Carrefour, Real, Tesco, Lidl) are located in the outskirts/suburbs Krakow, i.e: Bonarka (ul. Kamienskiego 11)  the biggest but quite far from centre.

Krakow Plaza  (al. Pokoju 44).

What to eat

In Poland one typically eats pretty large breakfast, large dinner (at around 3-4 pm) and a light supper (at around 7-8 pm). Many people do eat “lunches” etc but these are not native.

Kraków’s cuisine has been influenced by the cultures that have inhabited central Europe, as well as the Austro-Hungarian empire.

The most important dish from Kraków is obwarzanek (bagel). You can buy it in many stall on the streets. Another local specialité is oscypek – cheese from Tatra Mountains.

If you want to try Polish cuisine for outstandingly good-value prices (a big lunch for one person for about 8PLN) then find a ‘Bar Mleczny’ (a milk bar – a kind of cafeteria very prevalent in Communist times so called because it serves no alcohol). You can find one on the right side of Ul. Grodzka (if you are going from Rynek Glowny). They offer classic Polish food such as ‘kroketka’. An English-Polish dictionary is recommended when ordering. Quality of service is very basic, though sufficient. The low price is the goal, so the interior may be old, and very busy with all sorts of people including university and high-school students, unemployed, homeless.

Slightly more expensive are restauratns such as “U babci maliny”, there for PLN12-20 one can try various options for a big lunches.

For people with fat wallets there is a restaurant “Wierzynek” on the Main Square. They also serve Polish dishes.

There are many restaurants which serve French meals – mainly in large hotels such as Restaurant Percheron or Restaurant Anromeda. They are freely accessible also to non-guests (of course only the access is free, the dinner is not). Dinner in this option costs as much as in Wierzynek Restaurant.

Dishes:

Żurek is a soup based on fermented rye – it’s sour and creamy and often has slices of kielbasa sausage or a hard-boiled egg added.

Barszcz is a soup made with beetroot — very savory.

Chłodnik is another beetroot soup, served cold as a refreshing summer dish. It makes use of the beetroot greens as well as the roots, and is flavoured with gherkins, dill and sour cream.

Pierogi are polish dumplings (a bit like ravioli)that come with a variety of fillings. Most popular are “ruskie” (Ruthenian), filled with curd cheese and potato, others are filled with meat, cabbage and mushroom, and the sweet pierogi come with blueberries, apples, strawberries, cherries. The fruit pierogi are usually served with sour cream and sugar. Every year, in September, Krakow hosts the “Pierogi Festival”, where you can try many more varieties of this dish.

You won’t see this in most guides, but one of the true joys of a trip to Krakow is a visit to the kiełbasa van. Basically, it’s these two gruff Polish men who, every night from 8PM-3AM, set up a fire grill outside of their van (parked in front of the market east of the Old Town near the train bridge) and grill kielbasa. For 8 PLN, you get your sausage, roll and a squirt of mustard, stand at the perch nearby and chow down with the locals in-the-know. It is delicious, especially after a night of exploring Krakow’s bars. A fun experience free of the usual tourist crush and off the main path (ul. Grzegórzecka, opposite ul. Blich).

By far one of the most popular street foods in Krakow is the zapiekanka which is a large open-faced baguette with baked toppings (traditionally cheese, mushrooms, and a lot of condiments like ketchup or garlic sauce). The best, and most popular, location for zapiekanki is on the Plac Nowy market in Kazimierz. It is busiest at night on the weekends where you can purchase them until the early hours of the morning.

In Krakow, like other Polish cities, there is a fair number of “Chinese-Vietnamese” restaurants. Many have Polish employees who have never heard of Pho, none SERVE Pho, and ALMOST none serve even remotely decent Chinese and/or Vietnamese food. I know it’s tempting, but you’d do far better to look for decent Polish food. It is true, these so-called “Chinski” or Orientalny Bars have often awful food.

If you are not into Polish food, Krakow has a number of really good Italian restaurants, with pizzas, pastas, and the usual Italian cuisine. There are many other restaurants which serve Indian, French, Greek, Argentinian, Mexican, even Georgian cuisine, so you definitely won’t be stuck for something to eat while sightseeing.

If everything else fails, McDonalds and KFC are aplenty.

What to drink

Bars, pubs, and cafes in Krakow are one of its biggest attractions. Not just their number or quality, but close proximity. It has been said that there are more than 300 eating and drinking establishments in the Old Town alone.

Do not be tempted to drink in public places such as parks or you could be fined 100z

Local drinks

A tatanka is a unique (and delicious) Polish beverage made with apple juice and a special kind of vodka called żubrówka, which is flavored with bison grass. It is also often referred to as a Szarlotka, or apple cake. Tatanka is a Native American term for bison.

Wódka miodowa is a honey vodka, often served chilled in shots. Some of the better Polish-themed restaurants will have house brands.

Śliwowica, a plum brandy, is worth watching out for. There are two main variants: an 80-proof (40%) yellow tinged one and a 140-proof (70%) clear variety. While the 80-proof variety is often smooth and flavorful, some have compared the 140-proof to drinking gasoline. A good way to drink it is to deal with it like with an absinth. Take a small spoon with sugar, put some Sliwowica on it and fire it. Let the sugar melt down for a while (10-30 seconds). Then, mix the flaming sugar with the rest of the drink. Let it burn for 5-10 seconds, then blow it and drink it. Watch out and don’t burn your lips! You can also let it burn longer, but then use a straw to drink it to avoid burning your fingers or lips.

Grzaniec, a sort of heated wine with cloves and other spices, very popular around Christmas when sold on Market Square.

Bars

Thanks to their proximity to each other, Krakow’s watering holes are ideal for bar hopping. Many locals and tourists have spent nights partying from the Old Town all the way to Vistula River at the end of Kazimierz. Walk down ul. Szeroka or head over to plac Nowy for streets full of bars.

As most bars are hidden underground visitors often opt to join a pub crawl, travelling in groups between a number of bars with a guide ensuring they don’t fall victim to a scam bar.

In the warmer months, Kraków’s nightlife moves outdoors into hundreds of sidewalk cafes and beer gardens. When winter comes around, it moves underground into cellars all around the city.

Cafes

Krakow is not only full of cozy cafes, but is also said to be the place of the first cafe founded in Europe. Most cafes offer good espresso and something to nibble at a very reasonable price. As a rule, international-looking places are much more expensive.

Internet

It is common to have free Wi-Fi in bars and hostels.

PolishWiFi

PolishWiFi rents pocket WiFi routers which allow travellers to stay connected in Poland. Clients can book online and their hotspot can be delivered everywhere in Poland in 24 hours. Standard delivery in Poland to a post box is 3 €, to a private address, hotel or B&B is 4 €.

The 3G and 4G hotspots can be shared by up to 10 devices and battery lasts for 6 hours.

Stay safe

Like the rest of Poland, Krakow is generally a very safe city with a strong police presence.

Violent behavior is very rare and if it occurs it is most likely alcohol-related. While pubs and clubs are safe, the nearby streets may be scenes of brawls, especially late at night. Try to avoid confrontations. Women and girls are generally less likely to be confronted or harassed since the Polish code of conduct strictly prohibits any type of violence (physical or verbal) against women.

Follow standard city travel rules: don’t leave valuables in the car in plain sight; don’t display money or expensive things needlessly; know where you’re going; be suspicious of strangers asking for money or trying to sell you something. Pickpockets operate, pay attention to your belongings in crowds, at stations, in crowded trains/buses (especially to/from the airport), and clubs. In any case, do not be afraid to seek help or advice from the Police (Policja) or the Municipal Guards (Straz Miejska). They are generally helpful, polite and in most cases speak at least Basic English.

Places to visit near Krakow