Cracow is beautiful, historic and fun, a city that has it all. The 13th-century Rynek, the largest medieval market square in Europe, forms the heart of the Old Town. It is linked to Wawel Cathedral by the Royal Road, travelled by the kings of Poland en route to their coronations for 1,000 years.
During the Soviet era, the city was poor and sad, with long food queues and cheap clothes unsuited to a cold climate. After Lech Walesa’s Solidarity campaign triggered the collapse of communism in 1990, Cracow was transformed into a contemporary honeypot with all the trimmings in less than a decade.
Smart restaurants and brightly lit shops with global brand names do a brisk trade. Derelict cellars under the red brick palaces that surround the Rynek have become bars, clubs and Irish pubs. Dusty town houses in the Old Town have been transformed into boutique hotels.
Whatever your tastes, Cracow has plenty to amuse and distract for at least a week. Start in the Rynek, dominated by the tower of St Mary’s — the Catholic Church, in one form or another, is rarely out of sight in Poland. The focus is the huge Renaissance Cloth Hall, built in 1555 and topped by a parapet decorated with carved masks. Today it offers the gallery of the National Museum and a range of shops and caf?s, the perfect stop-off when history becomes too overwhelming.
Wawel Hill, site of the cathedral and the castle, has expansive views over the city. Built in a solid defensive position in the 11th century, the castle has evolved into a handsome Renaissance building surrounding an arcaded courtyard. Now known as the Royal Castle Museum, it houses the State Art Collection, with magnificent tapestries and paintings.
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Cracow offers some unmissable day trips. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, to the southeast of the city, has been worked for 900 years, labour that has produced 200km (124 miles) of passages and more than 2,000 caves. Visitors stroll for 2km through a labyrinth of underground lakes, huge caverns and chapels with sculptures cut from crystalline salt rock, ending in the world’s largest mining museum.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, 60km to the west of Cracow, does not make for easy viewing, but anyone who knows its significance in 20th-century history should make the effort. The largest and most notorious of the concentration camps set up in the Third Reich, it retains the fortified walls, barbed wire, gallows and gas chambers that played their part in the murder of 1.5 million people.
Need to know
Currency Zloty (4.5 to £1)
Population 756,267
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Area 327 sq km. Cracow is the capital of Malopolskie, one of Poland’s 16 provinces. Located in the south of the country, with Ukraine to the east
Top attractions The Old Town where history, shopping and entertainment meet
Wieliczka Salt Mines A Unesco World Heritage Site 10km southeast of Cracow city centre and easily reached by commuter train or bus
Short Breaks Cracow is by far the most popular Polish tourist destination and the Old Town gets very crowded in high season. A spring weekend is the perfect time to appreciate the historic sites while a winter one offers the chance to ski the High Tatras
Offer Four nights, 3* B&B, includes one free night, from £219pp. Phone 0844 879 8036