Flash Trip: 3 Historic Days in Kraków, Poland
- Trevor Lawrence
- Jun 10
- 12 min read
Updated: Jun 21
Love Prague but don’t swoon over swarming tourists?
You’ll be captivated by a visit to Kraków. The gorgeous Polish city’s history—equal parts inspiring and heart‑wrenching—makes it purely can’t‑miss.
And while swaths of Europe’s historic cityscapes were tragically lost to aerial bombardment, Kraków’s administrative importance (for better and worse) spared most of its Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. Every street feels like a stroll through the pages of history.
Over three days, we think you’ll be as enchanted as we were. A $70 flight from numerous European cities, Kraków is the perfect introduction to majestic Poland. So, change your Ws to Vs and join us on an excellent Flash Trip: 3 Days in Kraków.
A Special Note to Parents
Completely blown away. That's the best way we can describe how kid-friendly Poland is.
It's virtually a given that no matter where you're standing, there's a kid-centric play area close by. We found them in museums (shout out to the awesome Bunkier Museum!), hotels, department stores, even restaurants.
They're clean, well-maintained, often as educational as they are immersive, and they're perfect after a long day spent baby-wearing and the little one needs to stretch those legs or wind down the batteries.
The added benefit of all these places to play is that you can sort of reset those jet laggy little trekkers by getting that late-afternoon energy out!
FLASH TRIP KRAKÓW INDEX:
When to Go to Kraków
More than ever, it’s a real challenge to recommend the ideal season when crowds are smaller and prices are cheaper. But if any unforgettable city fits the description of a shoulder season destination, it’s Kraków. We’ve had great luck in late April to early May. The weather is still chilly in the mornings, but by noon you’re shedding layers. Crowds are a bit smaller, with only one notable exception.
September and the first half of October are great choices on the other shoulder. Temps have started cooling off and there's far less chance of a rainstorm to take you off the path.
Kraków famously celebrates students from all over Poland (and Europe) by offering big venue discounts. The city’s numerous museums re-open by night, and the lamp lit streets are full of college students on holiday. Especially with kids in tow, the Kraków vibe is so wonderful.
Layers are key in Kraków. And an umbrella or thin, lightweight rain jacket is always great to have on hand. When storms do roll through, they’re typically brief. I always recommend having a weather radar app on your phone for a quick peek throughout your day. I won’t lie, there’s something oh-so satisfying about being able to schedule your midday coffee/tea break just ahead of that sudden cloudburst.
In addition to the light rain jacket and umbrella, you will be doing plenty of exploring on the grounds of Wawel Royal Castle of Kraków. Perched on a sun-drenched hill overlooking the city, there is plenty of opportunity for sun so hat and sunblock are musts. You’ll also be grateful for good, warm layers that can be shed and stowed in a pack by noontime. Public restrooms are plentiful, so sip freely at those water bottles and stay hydrated.
Getting to & Arriving in Kraków
Flying into Kraków from destinations around Europe is generally very reasonable. (sub-$100). Polish airline LOT makes the 1-hr flight from Warsaw numerous times a day. The airport is named after Poland's favorite son John Paul II (seriously, he's everywhere!) and located about 11 km outside the city. Take the Koleje Małopolskie (KML) train, located near the arrivals hall, on a 17-minute journey into town. Tickets will run you about $5 and can be purchased from machines at the arrivals hall or in the train station. Ubers and taxis are also good options if you're carting a bunch of stuff.
Getting to Kraków by rail is also straightforward from all major hubs throughout Europe. Tickets (always make an advance reservation) range from $25 to a max of $55. Rail is a great way to see some of Europe's most colorful terrain. Poland is a major exporter of oil seed, and its mustard-yellow flowers cover meadows from horizon to horizon. The Kraków Główny train station is located in the city center.
Roadtripping?
The drive through Poland is outstanding. The roads (even the super speedy expressways) are scenic and chock-full of historical artifacts that date from as far back as the 11th century. Keep your eyes open for some truly breathtaking war memorials -- commemorating a fascinating history of royal houses, conquest and re-conquest, holy wars, and everything in between.
Virtually every town is home to a structure with a fascinating history and unforgettable artistry, from the few surviving and truly mind-boggling wooden churches and baroque temples built in the1600s, to the awe-inspiring sculptures and statues that seem to adorn every street corner and building facade.
Poland has taken its emergence from oppressive regime after oppressive regime and made the most of it. The country is absolutely thriving, taking a thoughtful approach to preserving its cultural heritage even as it makes great economic leaps forward. This is evidenced by the incredible care to re-purpose and restore its heralded architecture instead of bull-dozing and paving over great swaths of history. So, yeah, drive if you can! The 86mph roadtrip is a thing!
Where to Stay in Kraków
You’ll likely focus the bulk of your explorations around Kraków’s Old Town. The charming enclave was the city’s political center as far back as 1038. What was once a 3km encircling perimeter wall has since been transformed into a green space (locally called the Planty), replete with tree-covered walking paths, lazy eateries, and plenty of fantastic people-watching. The sidewalks within this area are the most stroller-friendly. Streets and walkways across the remainder of the city are grouted stone like you’d find in most European cities.
There is no shortage of decent accommodations throughout Kraków. No, I’m serious. There are hundreds of them, and there are really no areas to avoid. The entire city is very walkable, with the majority of its sights tightly packed in and around Old Town.
Indeed, it’s because of that excellent walkability that you can avoid paying a premium to stay right inside Old Town.
WS&T Hotel Tip: An important consideration when booking your stay in Kraków is proximity to tram lines. Passing trams reverberate through even the thickest stone walls. We’ve stayed near one busy intersection, and let me just say, thank God for the baby’s sound machine. You can see where the tram lines are before booking by toggling the overlay on Google or Apple Maps.
OUR HOTEL RECOMMENDATIONS IN KRAKÓW
Wawel Queen: Remember to swap your Ws for Vs in Poland and you’ll adore your stay at this ultra-conveniently located and reasonably priced 4-star accommodation. Steps from the castle.
Polonia Hotel: Great deals can be found for this booking throughout the year. Be sure to request a room away from the tram side of the hotel. Most overlook the interior courtyard, which is lovely. The restaurant is excellent.
Hotel Bogoria: Enjoy a quiet stay in this 15-century building, excellently priced with some surprisingly large rooms. If you’re planning a trip to the Jewish Quarter, this is the most conveniently located of our picks.
How to eat Kraków? One Bite at a Time!
The city’s restaurants offer a wide array of richly adorned Polish classics executed wonderfully, but it’s Kraków’s street food scene that we adore. Whether you’re strollering with children or just a big fan of finding all your decadent Eastern European comfort foods in one place, look no farther than Old Town’s Main Market Square.
Several dozen booths promise the best of Polish assorted (and colored!) pierogi, foot-long grilled kielbasa, mulled wine and cider, pastries, desserts, and so much more. Be sure to try a zapiekanka—Poland’s famous open-faced baguette slathered in sauteed goodies and melted cheese. If you hear someone mention Polish pizza, it’s the zapiekanka they’re talking about.
Speaking of cheese, it’s along the aisles and rows of food stands both inside and outside in the Main Market Square where you can find some of Poland’s most delicious, cultured dairy from Earth’s sixth largest cheese producer and exporter. Try Oscypek, the gorgeously smoked sheep’s milk offering for a real taste of Poland’s rich cheese-making/mongering history.
A few favorite eateries:
Gossip Café for wonderful breakfasts and excellent coffee: here you’ll find a traditional Polish breakfast occupying the same menu as some French and American classics.
Artisan Strudel for savory to sweet: this unassuming strudel shop uses local ingredients and old recipes. Try cinnamon and raisins or baked salmon with spinach topped with vanilla or garlic sauce. (I’ll leave you to decide which sauce goes with which.)
Once Upon a Time in Kazimierz (aka Dawnu Temo Na Kazimierzu) for a culinary immersion into the past: With its weathered floorboards, rustic wood furnishings and authentic Kraków artifacts, this restaurant honors the rich blend of Polish and Jewish heritage. Outside, its peeling signs, aged shutters and vintage shopfront display capture the charm of bygone days—making it as visually captivating as its menu. That also makes it a bit tricky to find the entrance. The exteriors are meant to capture the street as it was before World War II, but the shops are just a front for the dark, sultry restaurant and its outstanding fare.
Camelot Café & Camelot LULU for a pre-lunch snack or a cozy liquid nightcap: The city’s most famous apple cake, homemade baked goods, meads, liqueurs and wines served with dried fruits and nuts, rich hot chocolates, and decadent pasta dishes. The little sister spot nearby features bagels and freshly baked challahs, soufflés and omelets. Try the lemon, truffle and pumpkin pierogi made piping hot at midday.
Hedwig’s for Upscale Cocktails & Big Night Vibes: Located in a desacralized chapel built in the XIV Century, Hedwig’s melds heritage and old-world elegance with visionary design. It results in an unrivaled atmosphere in an exceptional venue. The club interiors are outrageously Insta-worthy, with day & night dining, a cocktail bar with signature cocktails and classy spirits, and a wine cellar. At night, it metamorphoses into an exclusive nightlife scene for an eclectic and cosmopolitan clientele with DJ every Friday and Saturday.
Flash Trip Itinerary: 3 Days in Kraków, Poland
Day 1 – Old‑Town Essentials
Start your exploration of Kraków with a Sunrise Lap of the Planty. Okay, maybe not so early (unless your kid's been wide-eyed since 5AM). But few tree-lined strolls are as feasty for the eyes as the 3km greenspace encircling Old Town.
Next up, you have to explore the castle complex on Wawel Hill. These cities in Europe are chock full of castles, each more weird and enchanting than the last. Wawel was a treat. We actually ended up splititng our visit in two because there was so much to see, so we returned on day 2 to finish our tour.
Pre‑book combo tickets for the Royal State Rooms and Cathedral, or purchase on-site if you're visiting during low season. There is plenty to see on the castle grounds, especially the memorable exhibit of elaborate Ottoman tents, captured by the Poles when King Sobieski won the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Yes, there is a quiz. When you’re ready, brave the wonderfully claustrophobic bell‑tower stairs inside Wawel Cathedral (separate ticket) to see the 12‑ton Sigismund Bell. You’ll have to duck several other impressive bells on your way to the top. A bit nerve-wracking but so worth it.
Back in the main town square, where you'll be passing through several times a day, grab lunch at the very traditional and delicious Pod Gruszka restaurant. Then, explore the medieval Rynek Główny. Hear the trumpeter’s hejnał from St Mary’s every hour, and duck beneath the square into the brilliant Rynek Underground Museum, and souvenir‑shop the Cloth Hall after grabbing some delicious street fare.
Collegium Maius. Every two hours, wooden scholars parade out of a 15th‑century clock—Kraków’s mini‑cuckoo show. It’s not quite the spectacle of Prague’s Astronomical Clock, but it’s worth a peek.
There are tons of churches and museums spiraling around the main square, and beyond - we wandered into several, the weirder the better! When the crowd was too big at the National Museum, we ended up at the Hutten-Czapski Museum of coins and botanical books. What can I say, my wife is obsessed with museums... We also used the kids' play area at the modern Bunkier Museum more than once.
For dinner, check out our food recs or consider hanging in the central square to enjoy Kraków's street food options!
Day 2 – Kazimierz & Podgórze
We highly recommend touring Schindler’s Factory & Ghetto Trail. Cross the Bernatek footbridge (check the acrobatic love‑lock sculptures!) into Podgórze. If a visit to Auschwitz sounds a bit too emotionally taxing, a guided tour of Schindler’s Enamel Factory offers an alternative, which still lays bare the period's complex horrors and pockets of unbreakable humanity. Deeply moving, the exhibits are wholly immersive, and our guide was passionate and knowlegable. It's a very popular site so definitely book ahead.
Before or after the tour, have a Jewish Quarter roam. Every Jewish landmark in this part of Europe is indelibly marked by the destruction and loss of the Holocaust, but like the more famed Jewish Quarter in Prague, Kraków's is still well worth a visit. Grab a cappucino at Hamsa, browse the stalls on Plac Nowy, pop into the Old Synagogue, and let your mind wander through history at the Remuh Cemetery.
Dive deeper into the vibrant Jewish culture that once existed in Kraków at the Galicia Jewish Museum.
You'll love a meal at Once Upon a Time in Kazimierz (aka Dawnu Temo Na Kazimierzu see above for deets); Evie's Ashkenazi heart was swooning over the "Jewish caviar" and many other delectibles.
The Kazimierz is also the top nightlife spot in Kraków. Depending on your interests, you can find dive bars and pub crawls (Evie definitely did one of these in her backpacking days, and it was great), cocktail lounges, and live music.
Day 3 – Hidden Kraków
There are plenty of day-trips around the city of Kraków for the adventuresome traveler - see below! But if you'd like to keep things closer to the urban center, continue exploring some of Kraków's many cultural offerings. You can also just circle the Planty, taking in the numerous outdoor sculptures and views.
A few other highlighs within the city:
• Czartoryski Museum. Arrive at opening to admire da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine minus the crowd.
• Milk‑bar brunch. Bar Mleczny Pod Temidą: pierogi ruskie, dill‑kissed beet soup and bottomless kompot.
• Nowa Huta adventure. Tram #4 gets you to a socialist‑realist “model city.”
• MOCAK (contemporary art) & Cricoteka (Kantor’s avant‑garde theatre) for the pulse of Polish culture.
• Ethnographic Museum (Kazimierz town hall)—excellent folk‑costume dress‑up station.
• Tyniec Abbey boat cruise: 1.5 h round‑trip for monk‑brewed mead and honey.
WS&T Bratpacker Tip: Buy a 48‑hour Kraków Card if you’ll hit 3+ paid attractions—it covers most museums and transit.
• Hands‑on evening. Book a pierogi‑making class or join a family‑friendly vodka‑and‑pickle tasting—yes, there's juice for under‑agers and non-imbibers!
Feeling a bit more ambitious for Day 3?
Optional (Trevor says, "No, not optional") Side Trip from Krakow!
I am scared of being underground. At one time, I might have also asked, "What's the big deal?" After having visited and toured Slovenia's Postojna Cave Park and now the Wieliczka Salt Mine (not to mention Carlsbad and San Antonio's Natural Bridge Caverns), I am still scared of being underground. But I push those nerves way down because WOW.
The Wielicka Mine outside Kraków offer not just a glimpse into 700(!) years of near-incomprehensible work beneath the Earth's surface. They also provide a fascinating peek into what I can only describe as another world, a world inhabited by some truly extraordinary people -- miners, sculptors, religious and political figures.
The Mines would be better described as a subterranean Atlantis, a veritable hidden city replete in churches, chapels, cathedrals (all ancient), and even malls, meetings halls, and concert venues (all modern-adorned).
It's not that you ever really get past the fact that you're several hundred feet below ground, but that you're standing in a massive mineral-carved cathedral staring up at chandelier with thousands of twinkling salt crystals throwing prisms of light in every direction. Innumerable alcoves containing richly detailed sculptures hewn right from the Earth, hollowed and glowing with amber light. Even for the non-spiritual, it's a powerful experience.
I should't post too many pics, because they won't do justice. But more simply, you've got to see it for yourself. I simply can't recommend the Wieliczka Salt Mine enough.
BEST DAY TRIPS FROM KRAKÓW
Destination | Travel Time (one‑way) | Why Go | Need‑to‑Know |
Wieliczka Salt Mine | 30 min train | Cathedrals, plaza-sized chambers, saline lakes, salt crystal chandeliers cut from salt. | Tours ≈ 2 .5h; climate-controlled 14 °C year‑round—pack a sweater & grippy shoes. |
Auschwitz‑Birkenau Memorial | 1 h 30 m bus | A sobering, essential history lesson. | Pre‑book timed entry; allow 3.5 h on site. Older kids (12+) only. |
Ojców National Park & Pieskowa Skała Castle | 45 min drive / 60 min bus #210 | Jurassic limestone cliffs, “Hercules’ Club” rock, fairytale castle courtyard. | Easy family hike; picnic on local smoked trout. |
Zakopane & the Tatras | 2 h bus | Funicular panoramas, high‑lander culture, and smoked oscypek with cranberry jam. | Weather shifts fast—carry layers. Long but doable side-flash trip if you depart by 7:00 a.m. |
Bochnia Salt Mine | 45 min train | Older than Wieliczka; underground ferry and 140 m slide! | Slightly less crowded, English tours 10:30 & 15:30. |
WS&T Money Tip: Stay far, far away from the ever-present Euronet ATM. Fees are extortionate. Even checking your balance has been known to incur a charge. Better yet, get an ATM-friendly card from an issuer who offers refunds of ATM transaction fees.
Kraków’s cultural and historical layers will linger long after you leave. Just like most places nowadays, there is Instagram overkill at certain touristy spots. But if you're into cultural immersion, you still can escape the crowds and get your history on. Poland has given the world some of Earth's finest artists, designers, musicians, and thinkers. So, there is more than enough culture to get well and truly lost in this special country.
One final confession: Even after living in New York and eating my fair share of pierogi, I'm embarrassed to admit that I packed my travel-sized hot sauce for the trip to Poland. Rich, the food is. Bland, it is not. Consider this an apology. I won't make that mistake again.
So many flash trips, so little time. Thankfully, we've curated our 3-day getaways to captivate your adventuresome spirit. Check out more trips and get inspired to go with or without the kids in tow!
Wanna Make Your Flash Trip Even Better? Click below to check out some curated picks for making life easier when traveling with (and without) small children.
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