how to get to WCEU and move around Kraków
Planning your journey to WordCamp Europe 2026 in Kraków? You’re heading to one of Europe’s most welcoming and easy-to-navigate cities. Whether you’re flying in from across the continent or traveling from further abroad, getting here and getting around once you arrive is refreshingly simple.
9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Morning: Old Town foundations
1. Start at Main Market Square
Get there around 9:00 AM while it’s still relatively quiet. The square itself is the attraction. Sit on the steps by the monument, watch the pigeons scatter, feel the medieval proportions of the space. St. Mary’s Basilica costs money to enter, but you can hear the hourly trumpet call from outside. Stand near the tower at five minutes to the hour.
2. Walk the Cloth Hall perimeter
The building is spectacular from outside. Renaissance arcades, original proportions, people-watching opportunities. The market stalls inside are free to browse if you want to see amber jewelry and wooden chess sets, but you’re not here to shop.
3. Grodzka Street to Wawel
This was the Royal Route. Just walk it. The street itself tells the story, with Renaissance townhouses, hidden courtyards (peek inside the open doorways), and that gradual climb toward the castle. Stop at St. Peter and Paul Church to see the Baroque facade, one of Kraków’s most photographed buildings.
4. Wawel Castle courtyard
The castle charges for interior visits, but the courtyard is completely free. Renaissance arcades, architectural perfection, and the same views Polish kings had. Walk around slowly. The cathedral exterior is also free to admire, and the dragon statue down by the river breathes fire every few minutes if you’re lucky with timing.
5. Vistula riverbank
Head down to the river path. This is where locals run, bike, and hang out. The view back to Wawel is postcard perfect. If it’s warm, people gather on the grass near the Manggha Museum. Walk toward Kazimierz along the water.
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Midday break
6. Lunch at Plac Nowy
You need to eat something. Zapiekanka from the circular kiosk in Kazimierz’s Plac Nowy will cost you 12-18 PLN. It’s a baguette with mushrooms, cheese, and various toppings, invented here in the 1970s. Get one with everything. Eat it standing up like everyone else.
1:30 PM – 6:00 PM
Afternoon: Kazimierz and beyond
7. Kazimierz streets
This used to be a separate Jewish town. Now it’s Kraków’s artistic quarter. Walk Szeroka Street, the heart of the old Jewish district. The synagogues charge admission, but the atmosphere is free. Narrow streets, crumbling facades, street art, vintage shops you can browse without buying. Just wander.
8. New Jewish Cemetery
On Miodowa Street. Free to enter. Overgrown, atmospheric, historically significant. It’s survived because the Nazis used it as forced labor assembly point, which somehow protected it from destruction. Quiet and moving.
9. Ghetto Heroes Square
Walk north across the river into Podgórze. The square has 70 metal chairs, each representing 1,000 victims. The space is powerful in its restraint. From here you can see Schindler’s factory building across the way (the museum costs money, but you can see the structure).
10. Father Bernatek Bridge
Head back across this footbridge. It’s decorated with acrobat sculptures by Jerzy Kędziora. People love these. The bridge also gives you good views of both riverbanks and connects directly back into Kazimierz.
11. Planty Park circuit
If you still have energy, walk part or all of the Planty ring. This green belt replaced the medieval walls and circles the entire Old Town. Four kilometers total, gardens every few hundred meters, benches for resting, locals walking their dogs. In spring the magnolias bloom and it’s genuinely beautiful. The park connects to all the main gates around the old fortifications.
What you’re not seeing (and why it’s okay)
You’re skipping the major museum interiors: Schindler’s Factory, the Underground Market, Czartoryski Museum with its Leonardo. You’re not going inside Wawel’s state rooms or St. Mary’s Basilica. The salt mine is completely off this itinerary.
But here’s the thing: Kraków’s power isn’t locked behind admission fees. The city’s architecture, its layers of history, the way Jewish and Christian and Communist and contemporary spaces intersect, you can see all of that from the street. The scale of the market square, the weight of Wawel Hill, the texture of Kazimierz, these are free.
Practical notes
Getting around
Everything here is walkable. The route forms a rough loop. If your feet give out, take a tram, free tickets are included to your WordCamp Day passes are available but unnecessary for this route.
Free public toilets
Almost nonexistent. Cafés expect you to buy something. Budget 2-3 PLN for paid public toilets at major squares.
Free WiFi
Most cafés and restaurants will give you the password. Main Square has spotty public WiFi. McDonald’s near the train station is reliable if you’re desperate.
Free maps
Tourist information centers have free city maps. Grab one at the start.
Church visits
All churches on this route are free to enter. Just be respectful, cover your shoulders and knees, and don’t visit during services unless you’re participating.
Best free viewpoints
Wawel Hill, Father Bernatek Bridge, and the riverbanks all give you excellent views for nothing.
See You in Kraków
The city center is a UNESCO site, which means it’s protected but also means its value lies in simply existing. You can walk medieval streets, stand in Renaissance courtyards, cross Holocaust memorial spaces, and sit in baroque squares without anyone checking for a ticket.
The paid attractions add depth and context, sure. But if you’re choosing between an expensive day in Kraków or no day in Kraków at all, choose this one. You’ll understand why people keep coming back.
See you at WordCamp Europe 2026. Your conference badge gets you into the city. Everything else is already waiting.