What is something fun to do in Krakow, Poland?

Answer 1

During tourist season? The Philharmonic will be away on vacation, so...

1) There's a nice wooded area called the Las Wolski. I believe the Kopiec Kościuszki is at the edge of it, from the Salwator tram terminal you can walk up to the top of Kościuszko Hill, get a nice view of basically the whole city from there, and then there are trails through the Las Wolski, leading to places like the Zoo or the Camedulite monastery in Bielany.

2) Or you can go restaurant hopping. There are good web sites with info about this, I give one that I rate pretty highly below, but offhand I can think of (and not all of these are listed on the web site):

Italian - the best, and probably also the cheapest, is La Strada, on ulica Stradom, a few steps from the castle, Polish chef trained in Italy; also possibly worth trying is Da Pietro, which is near the corner of ulica Grodzka and the Rynek;

Corsican - Paese, on ulica Poselska (a side street off Grodzka), the food is possibly the best of any restaurant in the entire city, including Cyrano de Bergerac, about which more later;

French - La Fontaine, never been there but a friend once recommended it to me, it's on ulica Sławkowska, on the corner with the Rynek (Main Market Square), apparently it's even better than Cyrano...

I have been to Cyrano de Bergerac, it is the most expensive place in the entire city and has some pretty exotic stuff, but the preparation is not always truly impeccable (meat done just so, etc.), so I will call it overrated and tell you not to go there for any reasons having to do with the food;

Japanese - there is a very nice and authentic sushi place on the Rynek next door to Wentzl's Ice Cream Place;

Mediterranean/Spanish - Farina is the 'big' restaurant, Farinella is the 'little' restaurant, I've only been to the latter (on ulica sw. Anny), it's really fantastic and has HEAVENLY chocolate mousse;

Mexican - on the other side of the sushi place, Susanna's I think it says it's a taco place, but it has a LOT more than just that and it's the only decent Mexican food in the entire city that I know of (the others are all part of a chain that is less-than-authentic);

Pizza - Pizzeria Dominium, the best in town, is a little further down the same side of the Rynek as the above places, in the direction of ulica sw. Anny and the Piwnica pod Baranami;

Indian - Indus, on Sławkowska; go in the evening and order from the 'main menu', not the specials; it's run by an Indian, all the Indians in town go there rather than to Bombay Tandoori, which is basically someone's fantasy of what Indian food really is, even if they have a real tandoori oven;

Brazilian - Ipanema, on Mikołajska - I've never been there, but it's considered to be pretty good;

Chinese - also on Mikołajska, across the street from Ipanema, I think it's called China Palace, never been there;

Chinese/Vietnamese - there are two places that seem pretty good to me: one on sw. Jana, the other on Karmelicka;

Hungarian - there's a place that looks pretty good on Poselska, half of the restaurant is Polish, the other half Hungarian, I think they even have two separate entrances, I don't go there because they don't have vegetarian food; Balaton, on Grodzka, is not the best Hungarian I've ever had (see below);

African - Kassumay, ulica Pilsudskiego, the food is pretty tasty but does not seem to be very authentic;

And then of course there's Wierzynek and Wentzl (the restaurant - their ice cream place is separate, located next door), which are on the corner of Grodzka and the Rynek, serve elegant Polish food and are quite expensive.

If you're vegetarian, there's also Vega on ulica sw. Gertrudy and ulica Krupnicza. Anatewka on ulica Szeroka in Kazmierz (Jewish Quarter) also has quite a bit of vegetarian food; other than that, La Strada and Paese both have very nice vegetarian dishes, and Indus has probably three pages of just vegetarian entrees alone in its menu!

And then in the side streets around the Rynek and down Grodzka, you will find all sorts of nice little cafes. My favorites are:

Prowincja (there are two of them, right next door to each other on Bracka, I normally go to the one closest to the Franciscan Church, which you will see straight ahead of you as you walk down Bracka away from the Rynek), which has wonderful cakes and this hot chocolate that is so thick you have to eat it rather than drink it (try it with a bit of cayenne pepper for something different, they may even propose that to you without your asking);

Wiśniowy Sad (i.e. The Cherry Orchard), a pretty little place on Grodzka which is furnished in a manner befitting its name (i.e. the world of Chekhov), with very nice cakes, tea and light, lunch-type munchies.

The best ice cream in town, with scoops twice the size of anywhere else (which accounts for their somewhat higher price per scoop) is at Wentzl - the place I mentioned before.

But the most memorable restaurant experience I've ever had in the area was in Zakopane. The place is really worth the two-hour trip from Krakow. It's a Hungarian restaurant named Czardasz, (link to web site below, gives the address and even a little map to help you find it, it's in Polish but you'll still be able to find all the important stuff). Absolutely fantastic, and they even have vegetarian food now!!!!

Answer 2

Check out the indoor market right in the town square, you can buy all sorts of jewelry, leather goods, etc there. Also In general Krakow was my favorite city when visiting Poland, it's full of history and an amazing city. Also, every hour on the hour you will hear the trumpet call so you can't miss it:



Among the most notable of the city's hundreds of historic buildings are: the Royal Castle and Cathedral on Wawel Hill, where King John III Sobieski is buried; the medieval Old Town with its beautiful square; Market Square (200 meters on a side); dozens of old churches and museums; the 14th century buildings of the Jagiellonian University; as well as Kazimierz, the historical centre of Kraków's Jewish religious and social life.

The Gothic St. Mary's Church (Kościół Mariacki, actually a basilica) stands by the market place. It was built in the 14th century and boasts a famous wooden altar carved by Wit Stwosz. Every hour, a trumpet call, the hejnał mariacki, is sounded from the church's main tower.

Answer 3

Sing and dance, my friend.