Poland · Self-guided walk
Kraków in one walk 8 sights, 50 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Kraków Old Town: 8 sights on one 3.3 km loop, about 50 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 3.3 km, a loop
- Time
- about 50 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Zamek Królewski na Wawelu
- Steps
- on Zamek Wawel, Rynek Główny, Zamek Królewski na Wawelu
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Kraków walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Kraków, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Zamek Królewski na Wawelu
the start
The rock, and everything anybody ever put on it. Take the ramp rather than the stair if your legs are being honest with you. Then find the way down into the cave underneath: there is a hole in this lump of limestone, it has a name of its own, and something is supposed to have lived in it. Best texture on the board. I would know.
Next: Bazylika Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny, 1,050 m, about 16 min, along Zamek Wawel, Kanonicza, Grodzka, Plac Dominikański, Stolarska.
2. Bazylika Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny
about 16 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sat 11:30–18:00, Sun 14:00–18:00
Two towers, and they do not match. Stand on the small square along its east flank, wait for the hour, and listen to the taller one. Whatever comes out of it stops halfway. I know why. I am not telling you.
Next: Brama Floriańska, 490 m, about 7 min, along Plac Mariacki, Floriańska.
3. Brama Floriańska
about 23 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sun 00:00–24:00
The one place on this level where you go under the old defences rather than past them. A piece of wall is left standing on either hand, and on a dry day it is hung end to end with paintings for sale. A wall that has found itself a second job. Fine by me.
Next: Barbakan, 30 m, about 1 min.
4. Barbakan
about 24 minutes of walking from the start
It was put up to sit hard against the town, and now it does not: a road and a strip of park have opened up between them, so it stands by itself on the grass with nothing to hold on to. I know the feeling. Go all the way about the base. Nothing else here is that circular.
Next: Sukiennice, 550 m, about 8 min, along Pijarska, Świętego Jana, Sukiennice.
5. Sukiennice
about 32 minutes of walking from the start
A long hall sitting out in the open with the square all round it, which ought to be in the way and somehow is not. Go in at one end and out at the other. Inside it is a covered lane with counters down both sides, doing the job it was put there to do. A building I can eat lengthways. Very tidy.
Next: Wieża Ratuszowa, 40 m, about 1 min, along Rynek Główny.
6. Wieża Ratuszowa
about 33 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon 11:00–15:00, Tue–Sun 11:00–18:00
There was a town hall attached to this once. It came down in the nineteenth century and the tower was left standing where it was, alone in the open with nothing to lean against. It leans anyway, very slightly, and once you have seen that you cannot unsee it.
Next: Rynek Główny, 50 m, about 1 min.
7. Rynek Główny
about 33 minutes of walking from the start
The biggest empty thing on this level, and the reason every street here leans towards it. Find the small church at the south corner. It is sitting at the wrong angle to everything around it, because it was already standing when the rest was set out. One stubborn little building against an entire city plan, and the building won.
Next: Bazylika archikatedralna Świętych Stanisława i Wacława, 930 m, about 14 min, along Rynek Główny, Grodzka, Kanonicza.
8. Bazylika archikatedralna Świętych Stanisława i Wacława
about 47 minutes of walking from the start
Look up before you go in. Three large old bones hang on a chain over the entrance. What they came off, and why the city would very much like them to stay up there, the cathedral can tell you itself. Then push the door. The door alone is worth the walk up.
Back to the start: Zamek Królewski na Wawelu, 130 m, about 2 min, along Zamek Wawel.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Kraków.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 43 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Kraków Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.