Kraków was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596 and remained the coronation and burial place of its kings long afterwards. Its street plan dates from the town charter of 1257, and the old town together with Wawel and Kazimierz was inscribed on the very first UNESCO World Heritage list in 1978, one of the original twelve sites worldwide.
The Main Market Square
Two hundred metres square, the largest medieval town square in Europe. In the middle stands the Renaissance Cloth Hall, with an underground museum beneath it showing the layers of the trading city, and beside it the town hall tower, all that remains of a building demolished in the nineteenth century. From the tower of St Mary's Basilica a trumpet call sounds every hour and breaks off mid-phrase; legend has it the trumpeter was hit by a Tatar arrow. Inside is the Veit Stoss altarpiece, the largest Gothic winged altar in the world, opened daily at 11.50.
Wawel
The hill above the river holds the cathedral where kings were crowned and buried, and a castle with a Renaissance arcaded courtyard and the tapestry collection of Sigismund Augustus. The Sigismund Bell of 1520 weighs nearly 13 tonnes and takes twelve ringers to swing. Tickets for each section are sold separately and run out in season, so book online.
Kazimierz and Podgórze
Kazimierz was a separate town from 1335 and for five centuries the main Jewish centre of Poland, with seven surviving synagogues. After decades of decay it has become a district of cafes and bars without losing the synagogues or the Remuh cemetery. Across the river in Podgórze was the ghetto; a fragment of wall remains, along with the square of empty chairs and Schindler's Factory, now a museum of the occupation.
Wieliczka
A salt mine worked from the thirteenth century until 1996, with a tourist route 135 metres underground through chambers, underground lakes and the chapel of St Kinga carved entirely from salt, with chandeliers of salt crystal. A UNESCO site, half an hour from the city.
The university
The Kraków Academy was founded in 1364 and is the second oldest university in central Europe. Collegium Maius, with its Gothic arcaded courtyard, houses a museum containing the Jagiellonian Globe of about 1510, the first to show America. Copernicus studied here.
Practicalities
Kraków has an airport at Balice and fast trains to Warsaw, Katowice and Wrocław. The old town is closed to traffic and everything is walkable. The city receives well over ten million visitors a year and summer shows it; April, May and September are far more pleasant.