Krakow was Poland's royal capital for five centuries, and walking its Old Town feels like the intervening years never happened. The vast Main Market Square — one of Europe's largest medieval plazas — is ringed by townhouses and churches that survived the Second World War intact, which puts Krakow in rare company on the continent. Wawel Castle looms over the river at the Old Town's southern edge, and the former Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, just a short walk away, has become one of the most atmospheric neighbourhoods in Central Europe.
Beyond the history, Krakow has a lively university-town energy — the cellars below the Old Town are full of bars and jazz clubs, the food scene is genuinely good, and the city is compact enough to explore entirely on foot. St. Mary's Basilica anchors the square with its hourly trumpet fanfare; Collegium Maius, Poland's oldest surviving university building, is a short walk away; and the Czartoryski Museum holds Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine — one of only four paintings by Leonardo in existence. The Schindler's Factory Museum in Kazimierz is one of the finest historical museums in Poland, and the Wieliczka Salt Mine and Auschwitz-Birkenau are both within easy day-trip distance.
