7 Places to escape the crowds in Krakow
21.07.2023 - 08:03
/ roughguides.com
Chocolate box old town Kraków is a jumble of narrow cobbled streets, elaborate churches and grand medieval sights like the main square and Wawel Royal Castle. However, in the summer months, Kraków struggles to cope with overtourism. In 2017, 13 million visitors (and the horse-drawn carriages that carry them) thronged the old town, as well as nearby Auschwitz and Wieliczka Salt Mine. Rachel Mills suggests hitting the highlights fast and then exploring places with a little more local flavour at a more leisurely pace.
Where a defensive wall once ringed old town Kraków, there’s now just leafy Planty Gardens, home to more than two thousand trees. The throngs of tourists tend to stick to St Florian’s Gate at the entrance to the old town, which leaves the rest of the park free for a quiet stroll. In the evenings, local families head to its playgrounds and you feel a thousand miles from the old town circus.
Poland’s “Queen of Rivers” passes Kraków on its 1,000km-long meander to the Baltic Sea and her banks are a much-loved public space. You’ll see local people zipping about on bikes as well as tourists setting out on the south bank to cycle to Tyniec Abbey 12km away. Water trams ply the same route if you’re not feeling too energetic. And if you just fancy splashing about, you can hire a kayak near Pilsudski Bridge.
Szeroka Street by night, a restored pre-war street in Kazimierz © IgorXIII/Shutterstock
Kazimierz is the Jewish district of Kraków, or it was until the Nazis forcefully moved surviving members of the community to a sealed ghetto across the river in Podgórze. A devastated neighbourhood after the war, Kazimierz’s low rents eventually enticed artists and bohemians to move there, and by the 1990s it had developed into the coolest part of Kraków. It kept an authentic feel, with synagogues and a Jewish cemetery, and you can give tour groups the slip by exploring the tangle of backstreets. Bernatek footbridge opened in 2010 to create a link to Podgórze – a district that started to regenerate after the movie Schindler’s List was filmed here (Oskar Schindler’s factory is now a museum). Today, the neighbourhood is all start-ups, coffee shops and industrial chic.
A man-made limestone quarry that's now piercing blue lagoon, Zakrzówek is a secret(ish) wild spot not far from central Kraków. Hike in on a trail to be greeted by a vast reservoir ringed by sheer limestone cliffs and trees. There’s an entrance fee these days and locals grumble about swimming being prohibited (not everyone follows the rules), but it can’t be beaten as a picnic spot.
continued below
It’s not everywhere that you can visit an entire district that was bankrolled by Stalin. Nowa Huta (“New Steelworks”) was a post-war experiment in Social