Krakow and its region in 1 week

Enjoy this city with a tour of Planty Park and/or a horse-drawn carriage ride. Discover the historic old town: Barbican, the St Florian Gate, the market square (Rynek), the cloth market (craft market), the belfry of the old town hall, the main shopping streets, the many churches. Take one or more of the marked paths in the historic city (the droga królewska, for example, the royal road, which leads from Barbacane to Wawel Hill). Walk along the Vistula River.

Visit Notre-Dame Basilica (on the Rynek) and witness the opening of its altarpiece and then climb into its highest tower to listen to the Hejnal. Lunch in a bar mleczny, a former communist canteen. Walk up and down Wawel Hill: the royal castle, the cathedral, its crypt and tower. Go to a hostel in Zakopane for dinner in the evening.

Take a hike in the Tatras. For example, Mount Giewont and its cross at 1 909 m above sea level offering beautiful walks, beautiful landscapes and a beautiful view or one of the many roads marked at the beginning of Mount Kasprowy Wierch, connected to the plain by a cable car. At the end of the afternoon, discover the city centre of Zakopane, its wooden houses, its very lively main artery (Kominiarski), which leads to its handicraft market. Dine again in a hostel in Zakopane, because you will never tire of it because you could not taste everything the day before...

Try rafting down the Dunajec gorges. Visit the medieval castle of Niedzica and/or the wooden church of Debno (inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List).

Go down to the salt mines of Wieliczka (inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List). Back in Krakow, you will learn at the ethnographic museum. Visit Kazimierz, the former Jewish quarter of Krakow, to discover synagogues. Spend the evening in Kazimierz enjoying Jewish cuisine to the sound of klezmer music.

By tramway, discover Nowa Huta, this industrial district, a communist dream all in concrete. By train, visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp (inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List). By car, in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, immerse yourself in the middle of the forest in a cultural landscape of great beauty and spiritual importance. Almost unchanged since the 17th century, it remains a place of pilgrimage to this day. By boat, enjoy the "cruise" on the Vistula: from Wawel to Tyniec Monastery.

Visit one or more museums according to your preferences: the Czartoryski Museum where you can find Leonardo da Vinci's Woman with Ermine and Rembrandt's Good Samaritan Landscape, the 19th century Polish Painting Museum, the 20th century Polish Painting Gallery, Matejko's House, the Szolajski House which houses religious paintings and sculptures from the 14th to 16th centuries, the historic Wyspianski Museum. Visit the collection of the Collegium Maius, the oldest building of the Jagiellonian University, former Academy of Krakow (established in 1364). Go up to the Kosciuszko mound to embrace the beautiful overview of Krakow one last time. Stroll through Krakow and get some last-minute deals under the bed linen market and at antique shops.