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Pauline Church of SS Michael & Stanislaus
If you begin at the base of Wawel Hill and walk south along the river bank, just past the Grundwald Bridge you'll see the Pauline Church of SS Michael & Stanislaus, commonly known to Poles as the Skałka (Rock) due to its location; it was built on a rocky promontory, which is no longer pronounced. Today's mid-18th-century Baroque church is the third building on the site, previously occupied by a Romanesque rotunda and later a Gothic church. It is associated with Bishop Stanisław (Stanislaus) Szczepanowski, canonised in 1253 and now patron saint of Poland. You can even see the tree trunk (on the altar to the left and encased in glass), believed to be the same one on which King Bolesław Śmiały (Boleslaus the Bold) beheaded the bishop in 1079.
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Pharmacy Under the Eagle
On the south side of Plac Bohaterów Getta in Podgórze is the Pharmacy Under the Eagle run by the non-Jew Tadeusz Pankiewicz during the occupation and now a museum.
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Piłsudski Mound
About 1km north of the Zoological Gardens in the Las Wolski (Wolski Forest) is the Piłsudski Mound, the youngest and, at 35m, the tallest of the four city mounds. It was erected in honour of the marshal after his death in 1935 and was formed from soil taken from WWI Polish battle sites. Bus 134 from the zoo will bring you back to the city. You can also reach the Piłsudski Mound from the Kościuszko Mound on foot via a well-marked trail in about 2½ hours.
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Plac Mariacki
To the south of the Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady is the small, charming Plac Mariacki , which until the early 19th century was a churchyard.
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Podgórze
The working-class suburb of Podgórze would pique few travellers' curiosities if it wasn't for the notorious role it played during WWII. It was here that the Nazis herded some 15,000 Jews into a ghetto and continued to empty it by way of deportations to the concentration camps, including one a short distance to the southwest in Płaszów.
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Princes Czartoryski Museum
The Princes Czartoryski Museum is one of the richest collections in town, and is itself something of a museum of a museum. Originally established in 1800 in Puławy by Princess Izabela Czartoryska as the first historical museum in Poland, the collection was secretly moved to Paris after the November Insurrection of 1830 (in which the family was implicated) and in the 1870s brought to Kraków.
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Remuh Cemetery
The Remuh Cemetery is just behind the Remuh Synagogue in tyhe Jewish quarter of Kazimierz. Founded in the mid-16th century, it was closed for burials in the late 18th century, when a new and larger graveyard was established. During WWII Nazis vandalised and razed the tombstones, but during postwar conservation work, some 700 gravestones, many of them outstanding Renaissance examples and dating back four centuries, were uncovered.
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Remuh Synagogue
Near the northern end of ul Szeroka is the Remuh Synagogue, the Jewish quarter's smallest synagogue and the only one regularly used for religious services. The synagogue was established in 1558 by a rich merchant, Israel Isserles, but is associated with his son Rabbi Moses Isserles, a philosopher and scholar.
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Royal Chambers
Wawel Royal Castle is now a museum containing five separate sections, each requiring a different ticket that is valid for a specific time. There's a limited daily quota of tickets for some parts, so arrive early if you want to see everything or phone ahead to reserve. You will need a ticket even on 'free' days.
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Royal Private Apartments
Wawel Royal Castle is now a museum containing five separate sections, each requiring a different ticket that is valid for a specific time. There's a limited daily quota of tickets for some parts, so arrive early if you want to see everything or phone ahead to reserve. You will need a ticket even on 'free' days.
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Rynek Główny
Measuring 200m by 200m, Kraków's Rynek Główny is the largest medieval town square in Europe and one of the finest urban designs of its kind. Its layout, based on that of a castrum (Roman military camp), was drawn up in 1257 and has been retained to this day, though the buildings have changed substantially over the centuries.
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Salt Mine
Just outside the administrative boundaries of Kraków, some 14km southeast of the city centre, Wieliczka (vyeh- leech -kah) is famous for its ultra-deep Salt Mine, which has been in continuous operation for 700 years and can be visited. It's an eerie world of pits and chambers and everything has been carved by hand from salt blocks. The mine was included on Unesco's World Heritage List in 1978.
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St Mary's Church
Rising over the northeastern corner of Rynek Główny, St Mary's is Kraków's most important church, after Wawel Cathedral. The original church, built in the 1220s, was destroyed during the Tatar raids, and the edifice you see today is a 15th-century creation. From the outside, the most striking feature of the church is its two towers, of unequal height.
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Town Hall Tower
The Town Hall Tower, on Rynek Główny (the Main Market Square) southwest of the Cloth Hall, is all that is left of the 15th-century town hall that was dismantled in the 1820s. The 70m-tall tower can be climbed in summer.
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Ul Szeroka
From the Galicia Museum in Kazimierz, walk north along ul Dajwór to ul Szeroka, traditionally the centre of the Jewish quarter. Short and wide, it looks more like an elongated square than a street and is often packed with tourists and coaches.
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Wawel
The very symbol of the nation, the hilltop Wawel, pronounced vah -vel; is more steeped in Polish history than any other place in the country. It was the seat of the kings for over 500 years from the early days of the Polish state, and even after the centre of power moved to Warsaw in the late 16th century it retained much of its symbolic power. Today it is the silent guardian of a millennium of Polish history and the most visited site in the country.
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Wawel Castle
The political and cultural centre of Poland until the end of the 16th century, Wawel Royal Castle is, like Wawel Cathedral, the very symbol of Poland's national identity.
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Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral has witnessed most of the coronations, funerals and entombments of Poland's monarchs and strongmen over the centuries, and wandering around the grandiose funerary monuments and royal sarcophagi is like a fast-forward tour through Polish history. Many outstanding artists have left behind a wealth of magnificent works of art. The cathedral is both an extraordinary artistic achievement and Poland's spiritual sanctuary.
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Wawel Cathedral Museum
Diagonally opposite Wawel Cathedral is the Wawel Cathedral Museum, a treasury of historical and religious objects from the cathedral. There are plenty of exhibits, including church plate and royal funerary regalia, but not a single crown. They were all stolen from the treasury by the Prussians in 1795 and reputedly melted down.
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World of Senses
Aside from the fascinating university collection inside the Collegium Maius, there is also an exhibition called World of Senses, which has 40 interactive models that teach visitors how the five senses function (and can deceive us).
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Wyspiański Museum
Dedicated to one of Kraków's most beloved sons and the key figure of the Młoda Polska (Young Poland) movement, the Wyspiański Museum, on the 1st and 2nd floors of Szołayski House, reveals how many branches of art Stanisław Wyspiański explored. A painter, poet and playwright, he was also a designer particularly renowned for his stained-glass designs, some of which are in the exhibition.
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Zoological Gardens
After visiting the Monastery of the Camaldolese Monks you can walk north for about 1km through the Las Wolski (Wolski Forest) to the 20-hectare Zoological Gardens, which is home to about 2000 animals representing 300 species from around the world.
