Kraków

The largest medieval square in Europe, and still the beating heart of the city — pigeons, flower stalls, cafés and carriages under the twin towers of St Mary's. Sit with a coffee and watch Kraków go by; it's the whole city in one place.

The royal castle and coronation cathedral on the hill above the Vistula — a thousand years of Polish kings, crowns and crypts, with grand state rooms and a hilltop to wander for free. The spiritual centre of the nation; the grounds and views cost nothing.

The soaring brick church on the square, with a jaw-dropping blue-and-gold interior and the vast carved Veit Stoss altarpiece. Every hour a lone trumpeter plays the hejnał from the tower — and stops mid-note, as legend says a Tatar arrow once cut him off.

The Renaissance trading hall down the middle of the square, a covered arcade of stalls selling amber, lace and folk crafts as it has for 700 years. Touristy, yes — but a gorgeous place to browse, with a Polish art gallery upstairs and cellars below.

Oskar Schindler's enamel factory, now a powerful, immersive museum of Kraków under Nazi occupation — the ghetto, the resistance, the 1,200 Jews Schindler saved. Harrowing and superbly done; book ahead, it sells out. In Podgórze, over the river.

The best night out in Poland — a warren of candlelit, mismatched-furniture bars around Plac Nowy, cheap vodka and craft beer, klezmer and live music spilling into the courtyards. No dress code, no cover, and it goes till dawn. This is where the city drinks.

Before the war this was one of Europe's great Jewish centres, and its synagogues and cemeteries still stand — the Old Synagogue museum, the Remuh and its ancient graveyard, the memory thick in the quiet streets by day. Moving, essential context for the bars by night.

The 14th-century heart of the Jagiellonian University — one of Europe's oldest — around a beautiful arcaded Gothic courtyard where Copernicus once studied. A little museum of old globes and instruments, and a serene, storybook cloister to step into off the lanes.

The round red-brick fortress and the last surviving city gate, guarding the northern entrance to the Old Town — the start of the Royal Route the kings processed down to Wawel. Walk in through the gate down Floriańska for the grand old approach.

At the foot of the castle by the river crouches a bronze dragon that breathes real fire every few minutes — the beast of Kraków's founding legend, and a guaranteed hit with kids. A fun photo stop and the start of a lovely riverside walk under Wawel.

Poland's comfort food done properly and for pennies — plump pierogi dumplings stuffed with cheese and potato, cabbage rolls, żurek soup, at an old-school 'bar mleczny' milk bar where a full meal costs a few euros. Cheap, hearty, and gone before you know it.

The round old chicken-market rotunda in Kazimierz slings the city's favourite street food — the zapiekanka, a foot-long toasted baguette piled with mushrooms, cheese and whatever else, the perfect cheap fuel between bars. A late-night Kraków institution.

The green belt of park that rings the entire Old Town where the medieval walls once stood — a shady two-mile loop of benches, chestnut trees and statues, the locals' morning stroll. The nicest way to circle the centre and see it from the edges.

The square in Podgórze where the Jews of Kraków were gathered for deportation, now a stark memorial of 70 empty bronze chairs, each standing for a thousand lives. Quiet and devastating, with the surviving stretch of ghetto wall and the pharmacy museum nearby.

The 800-year-old covered market just north of the walls where Kraków really shops — farmers' stalls of pickles, cheese, bread, flowers and forest mushrooms, no souvenirs, all locals. Come hungry for a cheap, authentic breakfast among the traders.

The former death camp an hour west — a hard, essential day walking the barracks and the railway at Birkenau. Book a guided slot; give it the time it demands.

A 700-year-old salt mine you descend into — carved chapels, chandeliers and lakes, all hewn from rock salt. Weirdly magical, and a fine rainy-day escape.

Climb the grassy mound raised to Poland's freedom hero for a sweeping view over the city and, on a clear day, the Tatras. A quiet, breezy hour.

The model socialist town Stalin built on Kraków's edge — vast planned squares and steelworks, best seen from the back of a vintage Trabant tour. History's strangest suburb.

A thousand-year-old Benedictine abbey on a cliff over the Vistula — reachable by riverboat in summer, with monks' bread and beer at the end. A serene half-day.