Welcome to Krakow
Welcome to Krakow - The city of Unesco historical centre
Krakow is a prehistoric city and one of the most anchient in Poland. From 1038 to 1596 Krakow was the capital of the country after the royal court moved to Warsaw. The history of Krakow is closely related to the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz-Birkenau that are near and a lot of people go there every year. Some places that need to be visited like the Oskar Schindler factory that became a myte for the thousend of jewish that he saved and ispired also a famous film. Krakow History is not linked only to the jewish history and there are a lot of artists places that need to be visited. Krakow is a Gothic city. One of the most beautiful Gothic churches is the St. Maria cathedral in which Karol Wojtyla carried out the functions of a bishop before traveling to Vatican City.
Information and facts
Night-life
There are a lot of pubs, bars, or gastro-pub that deserve to be visited, some of them are realized in anchient historical palces and became wineries. The most important place in which you can find the entertainments for night-life is in the center of the city in the area where once there was the market. The nightlife is amazing and totally unexpected even if there are a lot of places where you can also relax with other people and have a drink.
Shopping
The city centre, in the old marketplace, is a good place where you can buy all kinds of souvenirs like the amber jewils or polish vodka. You can start your shopping tour from the Cloth Hall market, in Rynek Glowny. The prices here are very good and a lot of different products are offered.
Sightseeting
The historical center is included in the World Heritage List of Unesco where there is the Gothic cathedral of St. Maria, the Wawel castle that is the symbol of Poland, the St. Martino church with the famous portrait of the "Lady with the Emire", the Planty park that is really beautiful and striking or the national museum. Is also possible to visit near places such as Kazimirz, Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, which certainly arouses strong feelings.
Time
Standard time zone: UTC/GMT +1 hour
Climate
Krakov weather is chacterized by harsh and long winter, during the spring or the autumn the weather is less cold and the place is more liveable and all attractions are opened. Krakow offers the ultimate in cultural programming and is not so crowed like what happen during summer months.
Public transport
Despite Krakow is well served by the public busses and tramway managed by the MPK, is recommended to walk along the streets that have wide and clean footpaths; another good way to visit the city is by bike beacuse attractions are quite near to the hisorical centre.