Krakow is the old capital of Poland, and unlike Warsaw it came through the war standing. The old town is the biggest medieval square in Europe, ringed by a park where the walls used to be, with a castle on a hill at one end and a dragon in a cave underneath it. Children understand this city in about ten minutes.
The square first. The cloth hall in the middle, the horse carriages, the pigeons, and on every hour a trumpeter in the tower of St Mary’s plays a call that stops halfway, because in the legend an arrow stopped the trumpeter warning the city of the Tatars. The kids wait for the stop. Every hour.
Wawel castle on the hill. The cathedral with the bell you can touch for luck, the royal rooms with the tapestries, and then down the stairs into the dragon’s den, a cave that opens onto the river where a metal dragon breathes real fire every few minutes. That is the moment that makes Krakow for a six year old.
The rest of the list
The Rynek Underground museum beneath the square, where you walk on glass over the medieval streets. The Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, for dinner and the Sunday flea market. A boat on the Vistula. A pierogi making class, which is a cooking class kids can do because pierogi are just dumplings you pinch shut.
The Wieliczka salt mine is a half day, a few hundred steps down into chapels carved from salt and a lake underground. Kids of any age. Auschwitz is a full day for kids over twelve, with a guide, and it is why some families come.
Three or four nights. The old town is small, the hotels are good value, and the food, which I will get to, is the surprise.
Planning Poland with kids? Start with the full Poland family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.
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