Wawel Royal Castle, Krakow, Poland

Wawel Royal Castle stands on Wawel Hill, a limestone outcrop 228 metres above sea level on the bank of the Vistula at the southern edge of Kraków’s Old Town. It was the residence of Polish kings for five centuries, until the court moved to Warsaw around 1600, and the present Renaissance palace with its arcaded courtyard was built for King Sigismund I the Old in the early 16th century. Together with the historic centre of Kraków, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Strictly speaking, Wawel is not a single building but a whole complex on top of the hill. It includes:

• The Royal Castle
• Wawel Cathedral of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus, where Polish kings were crowned and buried
• Fortifications (walls, towers, gates)
• Churches, chapels, and administrative buildings
• The Royal Gardens

Entry to the hill and the castle courtyards is free; the hill is open daily from 6:00 until dusk. The castle exhibitions have separate timed tickets (2026): the royal rooms on the first and second floors cost 95 PLN (57 PLN for one floor), while the Crown Treasury, the Armoury and the castle basements cost 47 PLN each. On Mondays selected exhibitions are free, but places are limited.

The cathedral is run separately by the church: a ticket of about 25 PLN covers the royal tombs in the crypt, the climb to the Sigismund Bell and the Cathedral Museum. A statue of John Paul II, who was Archbishop of Kraków before becoming pope, stands nearby.

At the foot of the hill by the river is the Dragon’s Den (Smocza Jama), a cave linked to the legend of the Wawel Dragon, open until the end of October (15 PLN). Its exit leads to Bronisław Chromy’s bronze dragon, which breathes fire every few minutes.

From the hill it is a short walk along Kanonicza and Grodzka streets to the Main Market Square, and Kazimierz, the historic Jewish quarter, lies just to the south-east, so Wawel is a natural starting point for exploring the city.