Kraków

So much of Kraków's sense of proportion and order flow directly from the symmetry and beauty of the Main Market Square (Rynek Główny), measuring a near-perfect 200m by 200m and surrounded on all sides by stately Renaissance and baroque town houses. But the square is no mere museum. It's a testament to the draughtsmen who originally laid it out all those centuries ago that the square still serves as the city's nerve centre, its place to gather and place to party.

Wawel Royal Castle is more than simply a collection of impressive buildings on a hill. For Poles, the elaborate grouping of state rooms, royal apartments, state treasury and cathedral constitute a symbol of national identity. During the century and a half preceding WWI, when Poland disappeared from world maps, Kraków's residents could still point to Wawel with pride. Whether or not you're up for touring all of the chambers, be sure at least to walk through the grounds, look over the Vistula and soak in some Polish history.

No matter where they've chosen to exhibit the Lady With an Ermine, Leonardo Da Vinci's 15th-century masterpiece, the crowds soon follow. The work has been on display at three different locations across the city over the past decade (most recently at the National Museum). The painting returns to its original home, the Czartoryski Museum, at the end of 2019. What to make of the work's enigmatic subject, Cecilia Gallerani, consort at the time of the Duke of Milan, and especially of the ermine she's so lovingly holding in her arms?

So much of the city's history is tied up between the two unequal towers of St Mary's Basilica. It was here where the trumpeter's call was cut mid-note in the 13th century by the advancing Tatars. It was here where master woodworker Veit Stoss carved his magnificent altarpiece. Fast forward to the 21st century: it was here in 2010 where the funeral mass took place for President Lech Kaczyński and his wife after they perished in a tragic plane crash near Smolensk, Russia.

Kraków's former Jewish quarter serves as a repository of cultural memory from the centuries leading up to WWII, when most of the area's Jewish residents were killed in the Holocaust. The poignancy of the place is amplified by the uneven streets and tumble-down, derelict buildings, some housing former synagogues. The excellent Galicia Jewish Museum uses photography to document Jewish life before the war and since. By night, Kazimierz flips a switch and effortlessly morphs into Kraków's liveliest hood for clubbing, drinking and dancing. You'll want to come back after dark.

Yes, this is Oskar Schindler's former enamel works, immortalised in the film Schindler's List and where Nazi Party member Schindler was able to save some of his Jewish workforce from the Holocaust. The Schindler's Factory museum, though, goes well beyond that story and takes on all aspects of Kraków's history during the German occupation in WWII. The immersive, interactive exhibitions overwhelm the senses at times but leave you with a fuller understanding of those bleak days. Book in advance over the website or be prepared to wait in long queues.

If your idea of an exciting city break doesn't automatically include a visit to a salt mine, well, think again. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, with its jaw-dropping labyrinth of tunnels (some 300km in all, built out over nine levels), chambers, chapels, salt lakes and intricate carvings, might just be the thing you talk about non-stop once you get back home. It's understandably popular, so it's always best to book in advance. Even if you're not a 'guided tour' person, you might consider a tour for this one. They'll help you sort out transport, tickets and guides.

The Main Market Square is not only impressive above ground, but as you descend into the depths below the square you realise it holds some surprises down under as well. The Rynek Underground is family-friendly fun, as guided tours take visitors along some old medieval routes and explore the forgotten nooks and crannies. Exhibits draw on high-tech gadgetry, ensuring there are lots of oohs! and aahs! along the way. An innovative ticketing scheme in the Cloth Hall above provides a quick and simple way to pre-book places on the tour.

The Renaissance was Kraków's high-water mark of European power and influence and a time of paradigm-shifting breakthroughs in science. The Collegium Maius, part of Jagiellonian University and Poland's oldest surviving university building, was the training ground for some of those budding scientists. Tours of the building take in not just the structure's fine 15th-century Gothic architecture, but also the instruments, globes and maps the young masterminds used in their work. You also get to see notes and works by the school's star pupil: astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus.

City authorities have woken up to the cultural, architectural and tourism possibilities presented by this suburb, created in the 1950s to celebrate the heroic status of industrial workers under communism. The solemn but stately buildings, constructed to a socialist-realism design, served to house workers employed in the nearby steel mills. The Museum of the People's Republic of Poland tells the story of the district through rotating photographic exhibitions. The tourist office hands out walking maps so that you can explore on your own.