Krakow is the kind of city that wins you over on day one. You get a huge medieval market square, the cafes and cellar bars of Kazimierz, Wawel Castle above the river, and prices that stretch a backpacker budget further than most European capitals. But first-timers often lose time and money on things that a bit of planning would fix: the wrong tram ticket, a sold-out salt mine tour, or a late-night shop that won’t sell them a beer.
This guide is your checklist before you go. It covers the currency and how to pay, getting in from the airport and around town, which day trips to book in advance, the local rules on drinking at night, and where to stay. Then you can book a bed on Hostelworld and spend your time enjoying the city.
How many days do you need in Krakow?
Three days covers the city plus one day trip. If you want to see both Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Wieliczka Salt Mine, stay four or five.
The two big day trips are very different in length. Wieliczka is just 10 km south-east of the city centre, and the Tourist Route takes 2 to 3 hours underground, according to the official mine site, so it fits into half a day. Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Oświęcim, is around 60 to 65 km away, and guided tours from Krakow take about 7 hours door to door, according to operators such as Musement. Give it a whole day, and don’t plan much for that evening.
A first-timer’s four days:
- Day 1: Old Town and the Main Market Square in the morning, Wawel Castle and the Vistula boulevards in the afternoon, a bar crawl in the evening.
- Day 2: Auschwitz-Birkenau, then a quiet dinner back in town.
- Day 3: Wieliczka Salt Mine in the morning, Kazimierz and its cafes in the afternoon, cellar bars at night.
- Day 4: Podgórze and the Schindler’s Factory museum, then a slow last evening by the river.
Is Krakow cheap, and do you need cash?
Yes, by European standards it’s cheap, and no, you barely need cash. Poland uses the Polish złoty (PLN), not the euro, at about 4.37 PLN to €1 in mid-October 2026, according to Exchange-Rates.org.
Contactless payment is standard and accepted by almost every vendor, according to Hello Cracow’s 2026 budget guide, but keep a little cash for market stalls and tips. When a card machine or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, say no and pay in PLN. That’s dynamic currency conversion, and the rate it uses generally isn’t favourable, as Wise explains.
What a cheap day out costs (checked October 2026, euro figures rough):
- Two milk bar meals: from 15 PLN each, about €6.90 for both.
- A pint in a Kazimierz pub: from 15 PLN, about €3.45.
- Two 20-minute tram tickets: 4 PLN each, about €1.85 for both, per Visit Krakow.
That’s about €12 to eat, drink and get around, with food taking more than half of it. Add your bed on top: you’ll find live dorm prices for Krakow on Hostelworld. For a looser budget, Hello Cracow puts an ultra-budget day, with a dorm, canteen meals and free sights, at 130 to 215 PLN (about €30 to €49).
How do you get around Krakow?
Mostly on foot. The Old Town, Wawel and Kazimierz sit close together, so you’ll only need trams for longer hops.
From the airport: the SKA1 train runs to Kraków Główny, the main station, in about 17 minutes for 20 PLN (about €4.60), according to Visit Krakow. Trains run roughly every 30 minutes. Buy at the terminal machine; the conductor only takes cash.
Tram and bus tickets (checked October 2026, per Visit Krakow):
- 20 minutes, 4 PLN: short hops, like the Old Town to Kazimierz.
- 60 minutes, 6 PLN: longer rides, and buses 208 or 209 to the airport.
- 24 hours, 17 PLN: a busy sightseeing day.
Validate a paper ticket in the yellow box as soon as you board. App tickets, like Jakdojade, get activated on board instead.
Renting a car? Krakow’s Clean Transport Zone has applied since 1 January 2026, and older cars pay a fee, Notes from Poland reports.
Which Krakow trips should you book in advance?
The two big day trips, Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Both have timed entry, and both can sell out. Book them on the official sites before you book anything else, and skip the tour-desk mark-ups.
Your booking checklist:
- Auschwitz-Birkenau: entry to the grounds is free, but you need a timed entry card reserved online at visit.auschwitz.org. There are no entry cards at the gate, according to the Memorial’s visitor page. You can visit on your own or with a paid guide-educator. If you want a guide, the Memorial suggests booking at least two months ahead. Bags can’t be bigger than 35 x 25 x 15 cm.
- Wieliczka Salt Mine: the Tourist Route in English costs about 143 PLN (about €33) in low season and 159 PLN (about €36) from May to September, according to 2026 guides such as Nomado Travel. Peak-season slots can sell out several days ahead, so buy on the mine’s official ticket site.
Got a spare day after that? Pick from our unmissable things to do in Krakow.
How should you visit Auschwitz-Birkenau respectfully?
Remember that this is a memorial and a cemetery as well as a museum. More than a million people were murdered here. Go in with that in mind, and the rest follows.
Give it time. A standard guided tour of both sites takes about three and a half hours, according to the Memorial’s visitor information. Don’t rush it to fit in something else that day.
Dress and act quietly. Wear modest clothes, keep your voice down and skip the selfies. The Memorial doesn’t recommend visits for children under 14.
Know the photo rules. Private photos are allowed in most areas, but not in the room holding victims’ hair (Block 4) or the basement of Block 11, and flash and tripods aren’t allowed inside buildings, the Memorial’s photography rules say.
Prepare yourself. It’s a heavy day. A guide-educator adds context that helps it make sense, and many visitors find it easier to talk it through afterwards.
Can you buy alcohol at night in Krakow?
Not from a shop after 10pm. Bars, pubs and restaurants keep serving as usual.
Krakow first banned night-time alcohol sales in shops and petrol stations in July 2023, from midnight to 5:30am, Notes from Poland reported. In July 2026, the city council voted to tighten it: from 1 September 2026, shops can’t sell alcohol between 10pm and 6am, RMF24 reports. So buy any drinks for the hostel before 10pm, or plan to get them at the bar.
Don’t drink in the street, either. Drinking in public places such as streets, parks, squares and on public transport is banned in Poland outside licensed bars and café gardens, and it’s punished with a fine of typically up to a few hundred PLN, according to TripBase.
The easy fix is a night out with others. Join a bar crawl through Linkups in the Hostelworld app, and find more nightlife ideas in our Krakow travel guides.
What can you do for free in Krakow?
A lot. Some of the best bits of Krakow cost nothing, so you can put the money you save towards the salt mine or a night in Kazimierz.
- Walk the Old Town and the Planty. Do a loop of the Main Market Square, the Cloth Hall arcades and the Planty, the park that rings the Old Town where the city walls once stood.
- Listen for the hejnał. A trumpeter plays this call from the tower of St Mary’s Basilica every hour, on the hour, and it breaks off mid-tune, according to Culture.pl. Stand in the square and wave back at the trumpeter.
- Explore Wawel Hill. You don’t need a ticket to wander the castle grounds and courtyard, and the city views are free. On the way down to the river, look for the bronze Wawel Dragon statue, which breathes gas-powered fire every few minutes.
- Get lost in Kazimierz and Podgórze. Wander the old Jewish quarter’s synagogues, street art and courtyards, then cross the footbridge to Ghetto Heroes Square.
- Sit by the Vistula. The riverside boulevards below Wawel are where locals gather on warm evenings.
- Climb Krakus Mound. This hill in Podgórze is free to climb, according to In Your Pocket, and at sunset you get one of the best views of the city.
- Time your museums. Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory is free on Mondays, 10am to 3pm. You can’t book free tickets ahead, and numbers are limited, so get there early, the Museum of Krakow says. Many other museums have their own free day each week, so check each one’s site before you go.
Want more ideas? Our full guide to free things to do in Krakow has the rest. For a longer trip, our Krakow city break ideas can help you plan.
Where should first-timers stay in Krakow?
Stay in or near the Old Town if it’s your first visit. You can walk to the Main Market Square, Wawel and most free sights, and you’re a short stroll from everything else. Pick Kazimierz if the bars, cafes and late nights matter more; it’s about 15 to 20 minutes on foot from the square. Most of the city’s party and social hostels are in these two areas.
Once you’ve booked, join the Krakow City Chat in the Hostelworld app to find people to share an Auschwitz or Wieliczka trip with, and check the Krakow Events page for what’s on while you’re there. Heading on afterwards? Our Poland travel guides cover the next stop.
Conclusion: Ready for your first trip to Krakow?
Krakow rewards a little planning more than most city breaks. The city itself is easy: compact, walkable and cheap, with a medieval square, a castle on the hill and Kazimierz’s bars all within a short stroll. What trips first-timers up is the stuff around it: day trips that sell out, transport tickets that need validating, and a shop alcohol ban that starts earlier than you’d expect.
So before you go, book Auschwitz-Birkenau and Wieliczka on the official sites, pay in złoty, validate your tram tickets and buy any hostel drinks before 10pm. Do that, and the rest of the trip takes care of itself.
Base yourself in the Old Town or Kazimierz, give yourself three or four days, and leave room for the evenings, too. Our guide to the best bars in Krakow picks up where this one leaves off. Get those few things sorted, and your first trip to Krakow will be one of the easiest, best-value city breaks in Europe, and very likely not your last.
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