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| Home > City Guide - Cracow - Sightseeing | ||
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Sightseeing Sightseeing Overview Cracow is very easy to navigate on foot as most of the main sights are located within the Planty, a leafy park that forms a green belt around the historic centre or Stare Miasto (Old Town). The epicentre of tourist Cracow is the Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square), one of Europe’s most impressive public spaces, which is overrun by tourists during the high season. Relaxing in a pavement café here is a good way to get acquainted with the city. Away from the main square busy Grodzka leads towards Wzgorze Wawelskie (Wawel Hill), the buttress where Cracow’s castle complex overlooks the city. It was here that the Polish Kings ruled from the 14th to 17th centuries and there is enough to see to occupy at least a day or two, including the Castle itself, the State Rooms, Treasury and Armoury, Royal Tombs and Wawel Cathedral. Ten minutes’ walk from Wawel is the district of Kazimierz, southeast of the Old Town, where the city’s sizeable Jewish population used to prosper before the Nazis arrived. There is little of sightseeing merit on the other bank of the sleepy Wisla River (Vistula River), apart from the old wartime Jewish ghetto of Podgorze, an area which has received an ever-growing number of visitors since the release of Schindler’s List. Tourist Information Krakowskie Centrum Informacji Turystycznej (Cracow Tourist Information Centre) ulica Pawia 8 Tel: (012) 422 6091. Fax: (012) 422 0471. Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1800, Sat 0900-1300 (May-Oct); Mon-Fri 0800-1600 (Nov-Apr). A cultural centre, offering a full tourist information service to Cracow and the Malopolska Region, is located in Rynek Glowny (tel: (012) 428 3600; fax: (012) 428 3036; e-mail: info@mcit.pl; website: www.mcit.pl). Dexter, Rynek Glowny 1/3, and Jordan, ulica Slawkowska 12, also offer information and tours. Passes There are currently no tourist passes. |
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