Krakow - the former capital of Poland and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe - $ .In the Old Town, located in the ring of the Planty parks, several hundred of the most valuable architectural monuments were preserved .In 1978, Krakow was included in the list of cities protected by UNESCO .No wonder: it is here that the famous Royal Castle on Wawel - the residence of Polish rulers and kings (10-16th centuries) is .Located on a hill above the Vistula, which for centuries has been reconstructed and redeveloped many times, this castle has become today a model of the diversity of European architectural traditions, a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles with the Renaissance style .
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Office of information
In November 2010, the Tourist Information Office was opened on the Wawel Hill in Krakow. It is located at the foot of the Wawel Hill and is almost completely drowned in it. Here you can find out about the main attractions of Krakow, book a hotel, buy tickets for city events. The building also houses rooms for guides, toilets, 13 counters with souvenirs and a cafe.
Christmas and New Year tours. Rest in Zakopane.
Winter camps for schoolchildren. Tours for school groups.
Treatment in sanatoria. Excursions in the cities. Hotels online.
Districts of Krakow
Krakow consists of 18 districts, the historical part of the city lies in the 1st, which is called Stare Miasto. It is there that the castle and Wawel Hill are located, the Christian and Jewish quarters, the Nowe Miasto, Nowy Świat, Kleparz, Okół, Piasek, Stradom and Warsaw Warszawskie districts. In 1978 this part of the city was taken by UNESCO under protection.
Tourists visiting Cracow, as a rule, walk only along its streets and lanes, including swallowing in such areas as:
- Nowa Huta - Stalin's skyscrapers, the architecture of constructivism, beloved by the leader, inherited by Krakow from the time of communism
- Zwierzyniec is the greenest part of the city, which is located to the west of the center. Here is the forest (Las Wolski) and Kopiec Kościuszki
- Debniki (Debniki) - green area in the south-west of Krakow, including the monastery of Tyniec
- Bronowice - north of the city
- Podgórze - the area where the Jewish ghetto was located during the Nazi occupation
How to get
On buses
The modern bus terminal is located opposite the main railway station Kraków - Kraków Główny - northeast of the center of the old town. From here you can drive to Zakopane (20 zł, 2, 5 hours), buses depart every half hour and reach destination much faster than trains. Two private companies, Trans Frej and Szwagropol also organize flights to Zakopane, which are even cheaper and faster - around 15 zł and 1 hour 45 minutes en route. They also send flights to Nowy Sącz (16 zł) and Nowy Targ (14 zł).
In addition, about 6 buses of the state company PKS are sent every day to Częstochowa (15zł, 3 hours) and every hour to Auschwitz (8-10zł, 1, 5 hours), 5 departures a day to Lublin (35zł, 4, 5 hours ) and, of course, to Warsaw (40-45zł, 5-5, 5 hours).
Krakow also hosts many international flights of the company Eurolines: from Amsterdam (270zł, 20, 5 hours), Budapest (100zł, 7, 5 hours), London (350zł, 27 hours), Munich (240zł, 19 hours), Paris (350zł, 24 hours), Prague (115zł, 10 hours), Riga (200zł, 20 hours), Rome (350zł, 25 hours) and Vienna (130zł, 10, 5 hours). Information and tickets can be found at Waweltur, Jordan and at the bus station.
On trains
Krakow-Main railway station accepts almost all international and domestic trains, a small part of them are at the station Kraków Płaszów, which is located 4 km southeast of the center. Between them, trains run every 15-20 minutes.
On trains you can get to Warsaw (high-speed trains, 70-100 zł, 2 hours and 45 minutes) and Wroclaw (35zł, 4, 5 hours), Poznan (50zł, 5-6 hours), Lublin (40-115zł, 5 hours) , Gdynia and Gdansk (105zł, 7, 5 hours), Katowice (20zł, 1, 5 hours), Auschwitz (11zł, 1, 5 hours), as well as abroad: to Berlin, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Hamburg, Odessa, Prague and Vienna.
On planes
John Paul II International Airport in Balice is located 11 km west of Krakow. There planes land from Warsaw and Gdansk (2 per day). From other countries fly flights from Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Chicago and New York.
Search airfares to Krakow
On auto
A car in Krakow is not the best idea: parking in the center is small, most of the historic center is pedestrian .The main road that leads to the city is A4 (entry and exit to Krakow 5zł) .The nearest to Stare Mesto parking is in Plac Szczepański squares (it is likely that soon it will close) and at Plac Św Ducha .If there are no places there, welcome to the outskirts of the city: ul Karmelicka near the hostel Stranger, ul Powiśle northeast of Wawel .Street parking outside the old town is possible in the so-called 'Zone C' .It is worthwhile to take care of the ticket in advance (karta postojowa), which can be bought at the kiosks, then mark the desired month-day-hour and leave it on the windshield .Cost - 3zł for one hour from 10 to 18 mon-fri .
Transport
Krakow's public transport is represented by buses and trams that run from 5am to 11pm. There are several night routes ending their work a little later (as a rule, their numbers start with "6").
The fare is 2.5zł, ticket for one hour 3.1zł and travel for 1/2/3 days - 10.4 / 18.2 / 25zł. They can be bought at street kiosks, and must be punished when planted. The fare on night buses - 5zł.
The climate of Krakow is
Clearly +10 ° С in the day +2 ° С at night ° С water |
Cloudy, rain ±$ +8 ° С in the day +5 ° С at night ° С water |
Partly cloudy, light rain +5 ° С in the afternoon +1 ° C at night ° С water |
| Krakow weather forecast for 10 days | ||
| Average monthly temperature, ° C | ||||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| in the daytime | + 0 | + 2 | + 7 | + 13 | + 18 | + 21 | + 23 | + 22 | + 18 | + 13 | + 6 | + 1 |
| night | -6 | -4 | -1 | + 3 | + 7 | + 10 | + 12 | + 11 | + 8 | + 4 | + 0 | -4 |
Shopping and shopping
In the old town of Krakow - a lot of opportunities for excellent shopping, including clothing, jewelry and works of art. For example, in the Kazimierz area, where a lot of ±$$ is located - of antique shops.
The epicenter of shopping is Rynek Glowny, which despite its name (market) sheltered the best shops of the city. In the center of the Main Market are the clothing ranks of Sukiennice - the center of Krakow trade for hundreds of years. The ground floor has been given to local craftsmen and farmers - this is where the real expanse for shopping souvenirs. Special attention should be paid to products made of amber.
Continues Rynek Glowny the so-called Royal Route, which includes two more must-shop places - Florianska and Grodzka. Finally, quite tireless shopaholics can be advised to wander along the streets near Plac Nowy Square in the Kazimierz area.
- How the shopping centers and restaurants of Krakow work at Christmas
Kitchen and restaurants
In Cracow, there are a lot of authentic restaurants where they cook both traditional dishes and cuisines of the peoples of the world. It is worth to look into one of the oldest institutions of the city - Wentzl, which dates back to 1792 (look for it near the market square). No less popular is Singer Café, with its charming interior, filled with antique pieces and a wonderful aroma of cappuccino. In the evenings this place turns into a fashion club where you can listen to quality music.
Good restaurants can be found in the Kazimierz area. Here, in addition to Polish cuisine, they offer Jewish kosher food, which is definitely worth a try at least once in a lifetime. The best is Dawno Temu na Kazimierzu. Finally, you can look in the cafe Nostalgia - a traditional Polish tavern, where they prepare national dishes.
Book popular Krakow hotels at the best prices
| Hotel Dwór Kościuszko from 2 692 rubles Kraków Ul. Papiernicza 3 | Hotel Gródek from 5 533 rubles Kraków Na Gródku 4 | Sheraton Kraków Hotel from 8 175 rubles Kraków Powiśle 7 |
| Queen Boutique Hotel from 5 085 rubles Kraków ul. Józefa Dietla 60 | Hotel Amber Design from 4 055 rubles Kraków ul. Garbarska 8-10 | Qubus Hotel Kraków from 3,672 rubles Kraków ul. Nadwiślańska 6 |
| Hotel Europejski from 2 626 rubles Kraków ul. Lubicz 5 | Hotel Rezydent from 3,224 rubles Kraków 9 Grodzka Street | Hotel Floryan Old Town from 3 539 rubles Kraków ul. Floriańska 38 |
| Dom Duszpasterski Sanktuarium Bożego Miłosierdzia from 1 944 rubles Kraków S.Faustyny 3 | Panorama Hotel from 1 695 rubles Kraków Lipinskiego 3/1 | Hotel Monika from 1 645 rubles Kraków ul. Langiewicza 6 |
Entertainment, Excursions and Attractions in Kraków
To see the city completely, it's enough to climb to any viewing platform, for example, on the mounds. The most accessible for visiting - a mound of Kosciuski (entrance paid). From it are visible the towers of the castle in Tyniec, and the Pilsudski mound, and the whole Old Town, and New Hut, and on a clear day - even the Tatras. The foot climb will take no more than half an hour, but you can climb to the mound in the bus. If desired, you can make a walk through the Volsky Forest to the zoo, and then to the monastery of Kamedulov.
The forest of Volsk is a real forest right in the city. He is so great that it is better to walk around with a map: there is a possibility of getting lost. The natural landmark of the forest is "Panenský rocks", on one of them stands a figurine of the Mother of God. These rocks have their own interesting legend, and to know it, it's worth to visit Krakow at least once.
The church and the monastery of Kameduli are interesting because women are allowed to enter only into his church and only twenty times a year, on other days only men can get here, and only at certain hours.
All Krakow roads lead to the Market - the main square of the city and the largest market square in Europe, surrounded by stone houses and palaces. In the center of the square are the former shopping arcades of the Sukennice, merged into one building in (on the top floor there is an art gallery of the National Museum of Krakow), and on the southeast corner of the City Street - the Church of St. Wojciech, which now houses the exposition of the Archaeological Museum.
The market also dominates the church of St. Barbara, the tower of the Town Hall, where now there is a branch of the city's historical museum and a theater in the basement. And also the Gothic Mary Church (the Church of the Virgin Mary), known all over the country made of a lime tree by the altar of Vita Stvos, which is considered the most valuable gothic altar in Europe.
- Is the Church in Krakow allowed to enter the Church of Mary?
Photo of Krakow (49)