Looking for interesting things to do in Krakow?
Here’s a list of top 10 attractions you cannot miss if you’re destination is sightseeing and nightlife adventure.
- Wawel Castle
Wawel Hill is one of the two very unique landmarks of the city. This Jurassic limestone rock, dominates over the horizon of Krakow located at about 228 m above see level. It was formed circa 150 million years ago. Wawel is situated on the bank of the Vistula river and surrounded by waters and marshes. The hill provided a safe haven for people who have settled here since the Paleolithic Age. Historicians suppose that the Slav people started living on Wawel hill around 7th century.
Early medieval legends tell stories about a dreadful dragon which lived in a Wawel Hill cave, about his slayer – Krakus, and about the latter’s daughter Wanda, who chose to drown herself in the Vistula instead of marrying a German knight.
- The Market Square
The main square of the Old Town of Krakow is the principal urban space located at the very center of the city. Dating back to the 13th century and being of the size of roughly 40,000 m2 (430,000 ft2) it is one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe. The main square is a rectangular space surrounded by historic townhouses and churches. The center of the square is dominated by the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) topped by a beautiful attic. On one side of the cloth hall is the Town Hall Tower on the other the 10th century Church of St. Adalbert and 1898 Monument of Adam Mickiewicz. There are the Gothic towers of St. Mary’s Basilica rising above the square. Krakow’s Market Square does not have a town hall, because it has not survived to the present day. - Jewish Quarter – Kazimierz
Kazimierz is a historical district of Krakow which since its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century was an independent city, a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, located south of Krakow Old Town and separated by Vistula river branch. For centuries, Kazimierz was a place of coexistence and interpenetration of Jewish and Christian cultures, its north-eastern part of the district was historic Jewish, whose Jewish inhabitants were relocated by force in 1941 by the German occupying forces into the Krakow ghetto which was just across the river in Podgórze. Today Kazimierz is one of the major tourist attractions of Krakow and an important center of cultural and nightlife part of the city.
