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Crowned with an impressive royal castle and dotted with church spires and world-class museums, 碍谤补办贸飞 combines the historic with the cosmopolitan.

The streets of former Jewish quarter Kazimierz and nearby Auschwitz are sobering reminders of 20th-century tragedy, while the crowds thronging 碍谤补办贸飞鈥檚 main square and the restaurants lining photogenic Old Town lanes buzz with 21st-century joie de vivre. Alongside heavy-hitting attractions exist simpler local pleasures: strolling alongside the Vistula River; dining on hearty home-style cooking in a retro bar mleczny (cafeteria); catching a local band at a legendary dive bar; enjoying a coffee in hipster enclave Tytano; gawping at the art nouveau architecture.

Here are the best things to do in 碍谤补办贸飞.

Wawel Cathedral in Krakow shot from below during summer day
Wawel Cathedral holds the tombs of many of Poland's kings and queens 漏 iStockphoto / Getty Images

1. Wawel Royal Castle and Wawel Cathedral

Overlooking Old Town from its Wawel Hill perch, what was once the seat of Polish royalty for centuries is the city鈥檚 most impressive sight, not to mention the symbol of Poland and a source of local pride. Red-roofed, turreted and ringed by a red-brick wall, this 16th-century Renaissance palace is merely the latest incarnation: royal residences on this very spot have come and gone (burned down, extended, vandalized by Swedish and Prussian armies鈥) since the 11th-century.

Highlights include the 16th-century tapestries and carved wooden heads in the grand state rooms, the royal private apartments that give you an intimate glimpse into the monarchs鈥 private lives, the crown jewels in the treasury, and the Szczerbiec (jagged sword) that鈥檚 played an essential role in Polish coronations from 1320 onwards 鈥 find it inside the vaulted Gothic armory.

Give yourself plenty of time to visit the adjoining Wawel Cathedral, where many of Poland鈥檚 kings and queens are seeing out eternity in elaborate tombs, alongside the bones allegedly belonging to the legendary Wawel dragon. The grounds are free to visit, but it鈥檚 a really good idea to book tickets for exhibits you want to see at least two weeks ahead due to their enormous popularity.

'The Head' sculpture in Market Square, Krakow with pedestrians in the background
Explore Glowny Rynek (The Old Market Square), and see 'The Head' sculpture 漏 Adrienne Pitts / 香港六合彩即时开奖

2. G艂贸wny Rynek (Main Market Square)

Surrounded by restaurants and overlooked by handsome centuries-old buildings, G艂贸wny Rynek (Main Market Square) is the focal point of Old Town, as well as Europe鈥檚 largest medieval town square. After you鈥檙e done browsing the wares inside the market building, go back to the Middle Ages by descending to the beneath the square.

Clever multimedia displays, holograms and animated puppets show you medieval market stalls and teach you about vampire prevention burials. Buy your timed ticket online in advance. Free entry on Tuesdays; closed second Monday of each month.

The entrance of the notorious Auschwitz, a former Nazi extermination camp and now a museum. Above the gate are the words arbeit macht frei ('Work sets you free')
Visiting Auschwitz is a very moving experience 漏 Getty Images

3. Auschwitz-Birkenau

You don鈥檛 know what will touch you particularly deeply until you get there. For some, it鈥檚 the "Death Block" with its torture cells and its crematorium. For others, it鈥檚 the gas chambers and the endless rows of crematoria chimneys at Birkenau, where most of the mass killings occurred. For others still, it鈥檚 the mountains of eyeglasses and prosthetic limbs, the mass of human hair collected from victims to be used in textile production, and piles of battered suitcases with home addresses written on them by those for whom this Nazi extermination camp became their final destination.

In any case, Auschwitz is unlikely to leave you unmoved. More than a million Jews, as well as numerous Poles and Roma, were systematically killed here between 1940 and 1945, and the death camps have been preserved as a brutal, essential history lesson.

Auschwitz is reachable by bus, train and organized day tour from 碍谤补办贸飞. While solo travelers can visit the site without a guide, it鈥檚 well worth joining a tour to get the most out of it, from the screening of the graphic 1945 documentary film by the Soviet liberators to the exhibitions in the barracks.

:Jewish restaurant and cafe pub on Szeroka street in Kazimierz district in Krakow, Poland. Krakow is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland
A Jewish restaurant and cafe-pub in Krakow's Kazimierz district 漏 ewg3D / Getty Images

4. Explore Kazimierz

Southeast of Old Town, the Kazimierz neighborhood had been Poland鈥檚 most important center of Jewish culture for 500 years until mass deportation and extermination of 碍谤补办贸飞鈥檚 Jews by the Nazis destroyed it. Largely rundown during the Communist era, Kazimierz has bounced back in recent years.

A stroll through its streets is a wonderful way to get to know its historic sights, from the restored Old Synagogue and a 19th-century Jewish cemetery with surviving tombstones to the Moorish-style Temple Synagogue and the sobering Galicia Jewish Museum that traces the history of Jews in 碍谤补办贸飞. Browse the flea markets on Plac Nowy on the weekends, or attend a film screening or concert at Cheder during the Jewish Culture Festival.

Wooden stairways and pillars in a passageway in a salt mine
Visitors have been coming to Wieliczka Salt Mine for over 300 years 漏 iStockphoto / Getty Images

5. Wieliczka Salt Mine

Another massively popular attraction that鈥檚 not actually in 碍谤补办贸飞 proper but is easily reachable from the city, this UNESCO-certified subterranean labyrinth of passages and chambers has been drawing visitors since the 1720s. It鈥檚 not for the claustrophobic: as part of a "tourist" tour, first-timers descend at least 125m (410ft) below the ground and spend two hours in the depths of the former mine, while return visitors can opt for a more immersive miners鈥 tour.

Highlights include an underground lake, chapels adorned with statues carved from the white stuff, and a salt cathedral with chandeliers. And yes, everything around you is carved from salt; we licked the wall so that you wouldn鈥檛 have to. Wieliczka Salt Mine is easily reached from 碍谤补办贸飞 by bus, train or tour. Pack a sweater.

The gray exterior of Oskar Schindlers Enamel Factory in Krakow, Poland
Oskar Schindler's enamel factory in 碍谤补办贸飞 is now a museum 漏 diegograndi / Getty Images

6. Schindler鈥檚 Factory museum

You鈥檙e likely to have heard of Oscar Schindler, the German industrialist immortalized in Steven Spielberg鈥檚 1993 film Schindler鈥檚 List. During WWII, Schindler saved more than a thousand Jewish inhabitants of the Podgorz茅 ghetto from deportation to the death camps by employing them at his enamel factory. Schindler's Factory museum, which was part of the Schindler鈥檚 List film set, was given a major facelift in 2010 and became one of 碍谤补办贸飞鈥檚 must-visit museums. Book your timed slot online at least three days in advance (it鈥檚 hugely popular!), and don鈥檛 miss the superb permanent exhibition, 碍谤补办贸飞 During Nazi Occupation 1939-1945, that tells the story of everyday life, underground resistance and anti-Semitic repressions in the city during WWII.

Chefs cooking and serving traditional Polish hot food at a market in Krakow
Try some signature Polish sausage 漏 Getty Images

7. Eat street food

Many cities have signature street food. Paris has its croissants, Hanoi has its b谩nh m矛, Vienna has its 办盲蝉别办谤补颈苍别谤, and 碍谤补办贸飞 has its obwarzanek. Chewy, moreish and topped either with poppy seeds or sesame seeds, 碍谤补办贸飞鈥檚 bagels are found at stalls on every corner in Old Town, and locals will tell you which stall is likely to have the fresher lot.

But there鈥檚 more to 碍谤补办贸飞鈥檚 street dining than bagels. For the best kielbasa (signature Polish sausage) in town, head for the van in front of the Hala Targowa market on ul. Grzegorzecka. Then there鈥檚 zapiekanka 鈥 half a baguette topped with melted cheese, mushrooms and a squirt of ketchup. Poland鈥檚 answer to pizza was invented in the 1970s when basic ingredients were all you could get, but now versions with fancier toppings are ubiquitous at fast food stands. For numerous zapiekanka sellers under one roof, try the Okr膮glak food court at Plac Nowy in Kazimierz.

Nowa Huta (literally The New Steel Mill) in Krakow, is an example of socialist realist settlement. It was built as a utopian ideal city, with an high abundance of parks and green areas.
The tower blocks of Nowa Huta in 碍谤补办贸飞 漏 by Andrea Pucci / Getty Images

8. Nowa Huta

If you want to see how steelworkers lived in the 1950s, catch tram 4 or 10 from central 碍谤补办贸飞 to this masterpiece of socialist-realist urban planning and Communist architecture in the east of the city. If wandering around the uniformly grey, identical blocks of flats isn't enough of a draw, take a tour of Nowa Huta in a vintage, Communist-era Trabant with , who鈥檒l take you down into the old nuclear fallout shelters and ply you with vodka.

9. Klub Awaria

is the kind of dingy dive bar that your mother warned you about: a sticky-floored, vaulted-ceilinged saloon where the carpe-diem clientele will gladly press a drink into a sober stranger鈥檚 hand to help them participate in the mildly anarchic nightly revelry. Up-and-coming local blues and rock bands perform on the little stage most nights and after the band is done, there鈥檚 occasional dancing on the tables and on the bar itself by regulars to Tina Turner classics.

A shot of the cruise ships on the Vistula River, Krakow
Cruise along the Vistula River in Krakow 漏 pkazmierczak / Getty Images

10. Cruise along the Vistula

The slow-flowing Vistula River bisects the city. Join locals during their morning runs along the footpaths that run alongside the river banks for several kilometers from near Wawel Royal Castle to the city鈥檚 eastern suburbs, skirting Kazimierz on the way. Alternatively, if you have local friends, you might be invited aboard a party boat with a full bar and music system; these are available for hire by groups and are essentially floating nightclubs. More easily accessible are hour-long cruises that depart below Wawel Castle Hill, showing off the city鈥檚 important landmarks, such as the D臋bnicki Bridge, the Norbertine Monastery, the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology and the Pi艂sudski Bridge.

People relax around the edges of a lagoon with some swimmers in it
Zakrzowek is a former quarry turned swim spot 漏 Getty Images

11. Swim in Zakrzowek

Tall limestone cliffs and dense pine forest surround this lagoon with its clear, turquoise waters that feel a million miles away from urban life, even though it鈥檚 only a short tram ride (on route 1 or 4) to Kapelanka, southwest of Old Town. The lagoon began its life as a limestone quarry but it was deliberately flooded in 1990 after falling into disuse. It then became a popular swimming and picnicking spot for locals. It's currently undergoing renovations that won't be complete until 2023, so you can't swim or dive here at the moment, but it's perfect for a scenic picnic and some lovely out-of-town hiking.

The lettering of a bar mleczny in 碍谤补办贸飞 on the side of the restaurant
Make sure you eat at a bar mleczny in 碍谤补办贸飞 漏 Claudia Schmidt / Getty Images

12. Dine at a bar mleczny

Cheap, cheerful, and with seriously retro decor, a bar mleczny is a time-warp step behind the Iron Curtain into 1980s Poland 鈥 in a good way. Dotted around the city, bar melczny are dirt-cheap cafeterias, where you鈥檒l be rubbing shoulders with locals while you load up your tray with soup, pierogi (filled dumplings), placki ziemniaczane (potato pancakes) and other hearty, belly-warming staples 鈥 all without dropping more than 10zl (around US$2). There鈥檚 a branch at Grodzka 43 in Old Town and another at Starowi艣lna 29 in Kazimierz.

Young girl having a relax moment on top of the 碍谤补办贸飞 Mounds, looking out at the 碍谤补办贸飞 skyline at dusk
碍谤补办贸飞 as seen from the 碍谤补办贸飞 Mounds 漏 martin-dm / Getty Images

13. Summit Kopiec Ko艣ciuszki

When you鈥檙e standing on Wawel Hill, you may notice lump-like green hills surrounding 碍谤补办贸飞. The origins of 碍谤补办贸飞 Mounds are lost in the mists of time, but it鈥檚 believed that the oldest 鈥 Kopiec Krakusa and Wandy 鈥 were built by pagan tribes several millennia ago as part of some solar calendar: during the summer solstice, the sun rises at Wandy and sets at Krakusa. Kopiec Ko艣ciuszki is a newer mound, completed in 1823 to commemorate a fallen Polish general. Catch bus 100 to the mound for fantastic views of Wawel Castle, St Mary鈥檚 Basilica and G艂贸wny Rynek.

14. Spend your night out finding a 鈥渓ost bar鈥

Other cities have speakeasies, while 碍谤补办贸飞 has its 鈥渓ost bars鈥. It鈥檚 the same idea, even though 碍谤补办贸飞鈥檚 hidden drinking dens are a recent development. Head to the Smakolyki restaurant on Floriana Straszewskiego, find your way to the cloakroom and pass through to a hidden courtyard from which you enter Mercy Brown. It鈥檚 1920s 碍谤补办贸飞 鈥 all velvet couches, mood lighting, chandeliers, and cocktails from a bygone era (gin with jasmine tea cordial, anyone?). Entertainment includes burlesque shows.

A woman on a smartphone sits in the window of a darkly lit cafe on her smartphone
Tytano is where the hipsters hang in 碍谤补办贸飞 漏 martin-dm / Getty Images

15. Hang out in Tytano

Just west of Old Town, a decrepit former tobacco factory has been transformed into a pocket of hipsterdom, complete with art studios, exhibition spaces, beer gardens and brunch cafes that attract 碍谤补办贸飞鈥檚 young and cool contingent. Check out the latest photography exhibition or fashion event, then grab a coffee from 碍谤补办贸飞鈥檚 specialty roasters at Bonjour Cava.

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