Where to Stay in Kraków, Lesser Poland Voivodeship

What is Kraków known for?

Kraków is known as the old royal capital of Poland, a city on the Vistula in Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The Old Town wears the past in stone. Around the great market square stand the Sukiennice and the towers of the medieval city, while the royal hill of Wawel rises above the river as the seat that held the capital of Poland until 1596.

Its Old Town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

What are the main landmarks in Kraków?

Kraków gathers its landmarks on the royal hill of Wawel and around the great market square. The old stones stand close together. Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral crown the hill above the Vistula, while the Sukiennice and the Kraków Barbican mark the edges of the medieval core below.

The gates still stand. St. Florian's Gate opens the old road into the city, and Collegium Maius holds the old university at the edge of the Old Town.

What is the history of Kraków?

Kraków grew into the royal capital of Poland on the high ground of Wawel above the Vistula. The hill made the city. From the fortress and cathedral on Wawel, the kings of Poland ruled a growing realm, and the town below spread out around the market square that became the heart of the Old Town.

Trade and learning followed the crown. Merchants filled the market square and the Sukiennice, while scholars gathered at Collegium Maius, and the city on the Vistula rose as one of the oldest and leading cities of Poland. It was the capital of Poland until 1596.

The seat of power later moved north, yet Kraków kept its standing. The crown left, the stones stayed. Long after the court departed, the city on the Vistula held its cathedral, its castle, and its old university at Collegium Maius, remaining one of the oldest cities in Poland.

The Old Town endured. Its walls, gates, and churches came through the centuries largely intact, and the historic core became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The past still holds the ground here.

Where is Kraków?

Kraków lies on the Vistula in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in the south of Poland. The Vistula threads straight through the city. The city spreads along both banks of the Vistula below the royal hill of Wawel, its Old Town on the higher ground and its outer districts, among them Nowa Huta, reaching east across the valley of southern Poland.

What is the climate of Kraków?

Kraków has a temperate climate shaped by its place in the valley of the Vistula in southern Poland. Each season arrives with a clear edge. Cold snow-laden winters give way to warm summers over the city, and still air often settles in the river valley below Wawel, holding mist and haze over the Old Town on the colder days.

How do you get to Kraków?

Kraków is reached by air, by rail, and by road from across Poland. The lines meet in the centre. Trains run into the station beside the Old Town, flights land to the west of the city, and roads lead in through Lesser Poland Voivodeship, carrying travellers toward Wawel and the Vistula at the heart of Kraków.