A Krakow city break in winter

Krakow has the largest medieval square in Europe, Poland's best-preserved old city, and prices that make a long weekend feel like a mistake in your favour. It is also the base for two of the heaviest day trips in Europe, which is worth thinking about before you book.

No tourist tax — but that is about to change

Krakow currently charges no tourist tax. It had one until 2015, when air-quality rules made it unworkable, and the city has been lobbying to bring it back ever since.

Polish law changed in October 2026 to allow it, with collection permitted from 1 January 2027 at a maximum of 5 zł per person per night. Each council has to pass its own rate first, and Krakow has not yet done so. So a trip booked now is untaxed, and one next year may not be — worth checking the position before you travel in 2027.

Some short-term rentals do charge around €2 a night as a municipal infrastructure fee, which is a different thing and is not going away.

When to go

November to February. Visitor numbers are at their lowest and prices drop with them, and the Old Town and Wawel under snow is the version worth having. It is cold, properly, in a continental way.

April, May, September and October are the shoulder months if you want to be comfortable. June to August is peak, with July and August busiest and room rates well up.

Getting there

About 2h 25m from London — Ryanair from Stansted and Luton, Wizz Air from Gatwick, British Airways from Heathrow. easyJet and Ryanair also fly from Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester, so this is another one that works from outside London.

From the airport, the SKA1 train takes about 17 minutes to Kraków Główny and costs 17 zł, running twice an hour through the day. The bus is 8 zł and takes about 40 minutes. The official airport taxi is 69 zł; ordering a cab yourself is usually a good deal less. Take the train.

How long to give it

Three nights, and be realistic about what you are doing with them. Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Wieliczka Salt Mine are both substantial day trips from Krakow, and Auschwitz in particular is not something to slot in between lunch and a bar. One day trip, not two.

Entry to Auschwitz without a guide is free but must be reserved online, and passes go at least a week ahead.

Where to stay

Stare Miasto (Old Town)

Inside the Planty, around the Rynek. Most central, most convenient, and among the dearest — and a lot of the restaurants on the square are priced for people who will only eat there once.

Kazimierz

The old Jewish quarter, now the best bars and the most interesting eating, with the heritage sites alongside. About twenty minutes' walk from the main square. Genuinely noisy late at night, which the listings tend not to mention.

Kleparz

Just north of the Old Town, calmer, with a proper local market and an everyday feel. Few sights and little nightlife — which is rather the point.

Podgórze

Across the river. Residential, less crowded, and where Schindler's Factory and Ghetto Heroes Square are. Climb Krakus Mound at sunset.

What three nights costs

Budget around 350–500 zł per person per day including accommodation at the comfortable end, which is roughly £75–100. Sourcing on Krakow room rates is poor — most of what is published online converts at exchange rates years out of date — so check live prices rather than trusting a range, including ours.

What things cost: dinner in an Old Town restaurant 60–80 zł, a bar mleczny milk-bar meal 15–30 zł, a zapiekanka 20–35 zł, an obwarzanek from a street cart 3.50–5 zł, a craft beer in Kazimierz 15–25 zł.

The milk bars are the thing to know about. They are a holdover from the communist era, they are subsidised, the food is plain and good, and you can eat properly for the price of a coffee elsewhere.

Transport, from the operator's own tariff: 6 zł for a single, 8 zł for an hour, 20 zł for 24 hours in the central zone. Validate before you travel. The Wieliczka Salt Mine tourist route starts at 121 zł.