Krakow tours

Start your tour of Krakow with its magnificent Old Town. Full of medieval splendour, the Old Town Square (Rynek Glowny) was laid out in 1257, and battles for supremacy with the neighbouring twin-towered St Mary’s Basilica, with its 14th-century Gothic exterior and colourful interior. Move onto the Renaissance-styled Cloth Hall with its market, gallery, museum and cafe; east of here stands the Adam Mickiewicz Monument, one of the most famous statues in the country (even though this 19th-century romantic poet never actually visited Krakow).

Great cities aren’t just all about museums, art galleries and castles, you know. One of the best ways to navigate your way around Krakow is with a food tour - and is one of the most unforgettable experiences you could hope to have. Ditch the tourist-riddled streets and find out where (and what) the locals love to eat: try kielbasa, a thickly rolled sausage; pierogi, a quintessential Eastern European snack of dumplings; and wash it down with some vodka tasting. That’s not all - there are pastries to try, Polish ciders to glug and rye-bread soups to slurp; you won’t be going home hungry from this tour.

A sombre visit to the Auschwitz and Birkenau Museum Auschwitz and Birkenau Museum can be taken as part of a day trip from Krakow; tickets cover both sites. A guided tour will help you best get to grips with what everyday life was like as you take in the two largest concentration camps. Some of the blocks house displays of photographs, utensils and even human hair, while reconstructed rooms piece together what life was like for the masses of prisoners brought here. You start your visit by walking through the black gates with the infamous slogan, ‘Arbeit macht Frei’ (work sets you free), above you.

Another worthy day trip from Krakow is to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Guided tours will show you around this amazing feat of human labour and creativity, where miners once carved solid salt into beautifully ornamented chapels. It’s all set hundreds of metres below the ground, which makes it all the more unique visit. You’ll need around three hours to take in the maze of tunnels that have been carved here over the centuries.

Pedal your way around Krakow on two wheels with a sightseeing bike tour. This is a great way to get your bearings in the space of a couple of hours - and besides, who doesn’t enjoy ringing their bell at slow-walking tourists? While most tours focus on one particular part of the town, a sightseeing bike tour will see you zip through the Old Town, the Kazimierz Jewish District and over the Vistula river, taking in all the sights as you pass by - with stop-offs at the most significant places for your guide to explain a little more. Searching for Krakow holidays? The city centre has plenty of choices, but to save on your budget (and for somewhere with style), head for Kazimierz.

To explore the heart of Jewish heritage in Krakow, take a tour around the former Jewish district of Kazimierz, founded in 1335. First, stroll down to ul. Szeroka, once the centre of Kazimierz, where you can take in the Old Synagogue, the oldest surviving one of its kind in Poland; also along here are the Remuh Synagogue and the touching Galicia Jewish Museum. Move onto Plac Nowy, the centre of Kazimierz (until World War II) where you can see the remnants of the former market with the likes of the ritual slaughterhouse rotunda; today, this edgy neighbourhood is filled with boho bars and chic cafes.