What to do in Kazimierz, Krakow: museums, markets and murals

Kazimierz rewards a whole day. It is part of the historic centre of Krakow that UNESCO listed in 1978, together with the Old Town, Wawel and Stradom.⁸ Wondering what to do in Kazimierz, Krakow, if you only have a day? Combine one museum, a stretch of Szeroka Street, one of the great churches, a market and a walk by the river, and leave the evening for music. Good walking shoes will serve you better than a packed plan: the best moments here come from wandering.

The district splits naturally into two halves. The north-east, around Szeroka, Józefa, Miodowa and Izaaka streets, is the old Jewish town, where the Polish tourist board says the streets tell the story of Polish Jews through architecture and tradition.⁹ The south and west, around Wolnica Square and Krakowska Street, is the old Christian town with its town hall and churches. Plac Nowy sits between them.

This page lists the things to see in Kazimierz, Krakow, by theme, with hours and prices where the official sources give them. The checklist on this page lets you tick off what you have done. For the synagogues, the cemeteries, the district's history, food and nightlife, this site has a page each, so here you get the overview and the places those pages do not cover. Mix and match: a few sights done slowly beat a long list done in a rush.

Szeroka Street in Kazimierz, Krakow is really an elongated square, the centre of the old Jewish town.³⁹ The city guide notes that four synagogues once stood on it, which it calls unheard of anywhere else in Europe.⁴⁰ Its cobbles date from the years of Austrian rule, and Schindler's List filmed it as a square of the ghetto.^41,42 Restaurants and cafes now fill the ground floors around it, with tables out on the cobbles in summer.

At its southern end, the Old Synagogue holds the Museum of Krakow's displays on Jewish life in the city; a normal ticket costs PLN 22, and Monday is a free day.^43,33,44 At the northern end, the Remuh is the community's main synagogue, with its old cemetery and the Wall of Tears behind it.^45,46 Between them, the Popper Synagogue now houses a bookstore.⁴⁷ They stand a few paces apart, and the square in front is free to walk.

Give Szeroka an hour, more if you go inside. The community's synagogues are closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays and close 2 hours early on Fridays, so a weekday morning is best.^35,48 Men should cover their heads inside; covers can be rented.⁴⁹ The site's page on the synagogues of Kazimierz describes each building in detail, including the ones you can only see from the street, so read it before you go.

Wolnica Square is a surviving slice of the market of medieval Kazimierz, half the size of the original.⁶⁰ Its name comes from a right of free trade granted to butchers, forum liberum in Latin.⁶¹ In its south-eastern corner stands The Three Musicians, a fountain and sculpture by the Krakow artist Bronisław Chromy.⁵⁰ A food tour on this site's restaurant page meets beside it. The square around it is busy with trams, cafes and market traders.

The tall town hall on the square is the only surviving proof that Kazimierz was once a town in its own right, and since the war it has housed the Museum of Ethnography.^62,63 Look for the plaque of 1996 on its east wall, which recalls the welcome given to Jewish refugees in the reign of Casimir the Great.⁶⁴ A branch of the museum also opens in Esterka House at Krakowska 46.⁶⁵ Tradition links the house to Esterka, said to be a Jewish mistress of the king, though the city guide doubts it.⁶⁶

Wolnica keeps its trading spirit through the year. It hosts the Bread Festival, the Krakow Honey Harvest and the Małopolska Festival of Taste.⁶⁷ If your visit matches one of those dates, the square is the best place in Kazimierz to taste regional produce. Otherwise, it is a pleasant place to sit on a bench and watch the district go by, between the town hall, the trams and the church towers.