10 Free Activities in Krakow, Poland
Krakow is great for those on a budget. Hotels are very affordable and with a little exploring, food and drinks are fairly cheap. You can spend the entire day wondering the cobble stone streets of the city or wandering around hidden paths or trails. Parking can be a little difficult the closer you get to the city square so those without cars, pick a hotel near "Old Town" to save time on walking. For those who missed it, I previously posted the top 7 things to do in Krakow - you can find it here.
1. Wawel Hill
Located on the bank of the Vistula River, Wawel Castle is a beautiful display of many different architectural styles: medieval, renaissance and the baroque periods. Although the exhibits require tickets, the castle grounds are free for tourists to roam everyday from 6 AM till dark.
If you missed it, I’ve done a more comprehensive overview on Wawel Castle - you can find it here.
2. Free Walking Tours
Krakow offers walking tours available in many different languages. You can explore the city on your own but if you’re a history buff, you may want to jump into one of these tours to get more information. One of the more popular ones is Cracowfreetours.com and they offer many different area tours: Old town, the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter, communist era & a Polish food tour. Be on the look out for tour guides holding umbrellas that say FREE on them.
3. Visit Local Churches
The churches in Krakow are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen and each one is very different from one another. The above photo is of St. Peter and Paul Cathedral which displays one of the oldest baroque architectures' in Poland. This church is one of my top picks and I highly recommoned visiting on a Thursday when the demonstrate the longest Foucault pendulum which shows the Earth's rotation.
4. Walk the Streets of Kazmierz
Kazimierz is south of Old Town on the other side of the Wisła River. For over 500 years, this was the center of life for Jews. During the German occupation of Poland, 3,000 Jews living in Kazimierz were forced to move into a ghetto set up in the Podgorze district. The Nazis chose Podgorze because of the high bluff overlooking the district. Kazimierz was used by Stephen Spielberg as the location for filming scenes of the Podgorze ghetto in Schindler's List. The streets of Kazimierz are filled with history and you can easily spend a day walking around discovering all there is to see.
Source: https://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/Kazimierz_70207f
5. Kazmierz Trail
Whenever I travel anywhere new, I always buy a travel guide. My absolute favorite are the travel guides by The Lonely Planet. They are informative, easy to read and are small enough to fit your pocket. While perusing through the book, I discovered a section called Podgórze's Quirkier Side. This section included a small map with 7 points of interest along the path's way. We decided to give this trail a try because it seemed like a great way to explore Kazmierz by wondering off the beaten path. Honestly, I was not prepared for how far off the beaten path this trail was. It was literally hiding in plain sight. We did have a little trouble finding exactly where to start, but once we found the trail it was easy to follow. After returning home, I was still surprised by this trail and wanted to do a little more research about it. But couldn't really find anything on it. Because of this, I've taken 2 photos of my travel guide which you can see below.
Interested in reading more about this very secretive trail known only by the locals?
You can read a more in-depth post highlighting 7 stops along this trail.
6. Visit the Main Square (Rynek Główny)
This market square is deemed as the largest in Europe. The landmark highlights of this place would be:
Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) – This was once a major center of international trade with a variety of exotic imports. Today, it is still used as a center of commerce but mainly for small stalls that sell trinkets and souvenirs.
Town Hall Tower (Wieża ratuszowa) – Built by the end of the 13th century, this is the only remaining part of the old Town Hall because it was demolished in 1820 when the city wanted to open up the Main Square.
Adam Mickiewicz Monument – This is a statue of Adam Mickiewicz who is the greatest Polish Romantic poet in the 19th centuty and one of the best known bronze monuments in Poland.
St. Mary’s Basilica (Kościół Mariacki) – An iconic Gothic structure in the Main Square which is famous for its wooden altarpiece carved by Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz) and for its trumpet signal called as Hegnal mariacki. This is a traditional five-note Polish anthem that is played every hour by a trumpeter (previously by the town guard; but, ever since the 19th century it is done by active members of the fire brigade).
7. Visit Krakow’s Parks and Squares
There is ample nature surrounding Krakow. Apart from the gardens that you will find in Wawel, you could also explore Planty. This is a large park that surrounds the entire Old Town (it’s the green space that you will see in the map that I mentioned in #1). Along with these gardens, you can also spend the day exploring the Fairy Mounds.
8. Take a Walk Around the River
The Wisla river passes through Krakow and the boulevards beside it are a perfect spot for lounging, strolling and taking a break from city life. Feel free to do a jog around the vicinity, or even hold a mini picnic as you escape the crowd in the city. You may even be lucky enough to catch an event being held here.
9. Enjoy One of the Free Museums
Take advantage of the free days in Krakow’s museums. Always check their website before you visit just in case this list has changed.
Schindler Factory Museum: to see not only Oskar Schindler, his workforce, and his factory but to also see a great exhibition of Krakow during the Nazi occupation
FREE every Monday except the first Monday of every month (but entry is limited to for safety reasons)Rynek Underground Museum: to see a multimedia recreation of Krakow 700 hundred years ago below the market square of the city
FREE on Tuesdays except first Tuesday of every monthWawel Hill: FREE entry everyday to Wawel Hill, and for Wawel Castle & Cathedral it is free on Mondays & Sundays on select exhibits in certain times/months
Old Synagogue (History Museum): (the one in Kazimierz)
FREE on MondaysThe National Museum in Krakow – Main Building: the main branch of Poland’s National Museum
FREE every SundaysArchaeological Museum of Krakow
FREE every Sundays
10. Visit Auschwitz-Birkenau
The Auschwitz concentration camp is the principal and most notorious network of German Nazi extermination camps. It consisted of Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II (Birkenau), and Auschwitz III (Monowitz) — in 1947, Poland put up a museum on Auschwitz I and II (the largest of the concentration camp complexes) and these have now become a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It is FREE to visit these sites. You have the opportunity to go on a guided tours (which we didn’t do because my husband’s cousin was our tour guide) but if you’re on a budget, it’s easy to drop in. You would only need to pay for the bus tickets to arrive in Auschwitz-Birkenau and the admissions will then be free-of-charge. Tip: I highly suggest coming early in the day. It’s a very popular place to visit and we had to wait almost 2 hours for our turn.
It’s a very emotional experience. The air had this heaviness to it and the lack of birds and guests whispering created a somber atmosphere.
Some quick details:
The place is open all year long except January 1, December 25 and Easter Sunday. There is NO admission fee, except during high season of April to October wherein it’s only free before 10 AM and after 3PM.
You can get to Auschwitz via bus or train:
If going by train, stop at Oświęcim railway station which is 2km away from Auschwitz I (it typically costs 15 PLN one way from Krakow for 1.5 hours). Afterwards, you can catch a bus from the railway station that goes to Auschwitz I or you can walk which will take 20-25 minutes.
If going by bus, it will cost around 10 PNL only, taking around 1 to 1.5 hours and it will already drop you near the entrance to Auschwitz I — so in my opinion, this is preferable as it’s not only cheaper but also more direct. (Just look for buses that head to Auschwitz or Oświęcim from the main Krakow bus station.)
To get to Auschwitz II (Birkenau) from Auschwitz I, there are FREE shuttle buses that leave twice every hour.
If you ever decide to pay for a guided tour to save yourself the hassle from getting to and fro Auschwitz, you can get one easily by searching the net or by asking your hotel for one. Typically, it would only cost around 130 PLN (or $32~ / Php 1,500~). If you only want to pay for the guided tour and prefer to transit to Auschwitz by yourself, the guided tours cost 40 PLN.
I know it might be a little difficult to visit with COVID-19 currently taking the World by storm. But once the pandemic is over, I’m sure it won’t be long before Krakow is crowded with people visiting their lovely city.
