Wawel Castle
Krakow's royal castle sells no single combined ticket — each exhibition is separately priced at 35–57 PLN with a fixed arrival time and capped daily capacity, open Tuesday–Sunday 9:00–17:00.
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Krakow Attractions: 14 Landmark Visitor Guides with Tickets & Hours (2026)
14 Krakow landmark visitor guides with verified 2026 tickets, opening hours, free-day schedules and worth-it advice — Wawel Castle, St Mary's Basilica, Wieliczka, Auschwitz-Birkenau and more.
5 min readBy Elena Marchetti
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Krakow packs an improbable amount into a compact medieval core: Europe's largest medieval market square, a royal castle complex on Wawel hill, a Gothic basilica whose carved altarpiece is the largest of its kind in Europe, and — within an hour of the city — a UNESCO-listed salt mine and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. This hub collects our 14 visitor guides to Krakow's landmarks, each verified against official sources for 2026: current ticket prices in złoty, real opening hours (including the Monday closures that catch so many visitors), how long each visit actually takes, and a straight answer on whether it's worth your time.
The pattern worth knowing before you book anything: Krakow's sights split almost evenly into free and ticketed. Main Market Square, Planty Park, the Kazimierz district and Zakrzówek's quarry lake cost nothing, and even the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial issues free entry passes — the catch is the guide-educator tour requirement for most of the day. The ticketed half runs from 17 PLN for a self-guided Collegium Maius visit to roughly 130–150 PLN for a guided Wieliczka Salt Mine tour, and nearly every museum keeps one free day a week: Tuesdays at the Rynek Underground and Nowa Huta's bunker, Wednesday afternoons at Collegium Maius, Thursdays for MOCAK's Collection, Mondays at Schindler's Factory.
Each card below links to a dedicated guide with the verified numbers, transport directions, and the booking mistakes that leave people stuck outside a gate — Wawel's timed-entry caps, the basilica's separate seasonal tower ticket, sold-out Auschwitz tour slots. At the bottom of the page you'll find our broader Krakow trip-planning guides for itineraries, day trips, and whether the city's tourist card pays for itself.
Krakow landmark visitor guides
Main Market Square (Rynek Główny)
The heart of the Old Town is a free public square open 24 hours — the paid parts are built into and under it, led by the 45 PLN Rynek Underground Museum beneath the cobblestones (free on Tuesdays).
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St Mary's Basilica
The Gothic basilica on the Main Market Square charges 20 PLN, open to visitors Monday–Saturday 11:30–18:00 — the separate Bugle Tower ticket is only sold May through October, in guided groups of 15.
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Cloth Hall (Sukiennice)
The ground-floor market inside the Renaissance trading hall is free to walk any time — the ticket is for the Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art upstairs, 35 PLN and closed on Mondays.
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Krakow Barbican
The circular Gothic fortress guarding the old royal route costs 22 PLN (family ticket 44 PLN for four), open Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–16:00 and closed Mondays and August 15.
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Collegium Maius
The Jagiellonian University's oldest building only admits visitors on a tour schedule — self-guided from 17 PLN, guided from 26 PLN, closed Sundays, and free on Wednesday afternoons (a detail most visitors miss).
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Planty Park
A free 21-hectare green ring tracing the exact line of Krakow's demolished medieval walls around the Old Town — 4 km end to end, open 24 hours with no gate to lock.
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Kazimierz
Krakow's former Jewish quarter is a free, open district — the paid sights inside it start at 22 PLN for the Old Synagogue and 35 PLN for the Galicia Jewish Museum, with the Remuh Synagogue closed Saturdays.
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Schindler's Factory
Oskar Schindler's enamel factory turned WWII museum charges 60 PLN, open Tuesday–Sunday 9:00–20:00 — Monday entry is free but limited to same-day tickets that can't be booked in advance.
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MOCAK
Krakow's contemporary art museum in Zabłocie, next door to Schindler's Factory — around 20 PLN, closed Mondays, and the permanent Collection on Level -1 is free every Thursday.
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Nowa Huta
The socialist-realist planned district's open sight in 2026 is the Nowa Huta Underground Cold War bunker (18 PLN, free Tuesdays) — the flagship museum building on Plac Centralny is closed for renovation until 2027–2028.
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Zakrzówek
Krakow's flooded limestone quarry turned turquoise swimming lake is free, with a June 1–September 30 season — the swimming platforms cap at 300 people at a time, so hot weekends mean queues at the gate.
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Wieliczka Salt Mine
The UNESCO-listed mine's guided Tourist Route runs 130–150 PLN in English and takes 2–3 hours — a descent of around 800 steps to chambers 64–135 meters underground, and a genuine half-day out of Krakow.
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Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial
Entry to the memorial grounds is free on a timed pass system, but from 7:30 a.m. until early-to-mid afternoon access is guide-educator tours only — and summer slots regularly sell out days in advance.
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The visitor guides above cover the landmarks one by one; for sequencing them into a trip, our companion city guides do the planning work. Start with the 2 days in Krakow itinerary for a day-by-day route through the Old Town, Wawel and Kazimierz, then check whether the Krakow Pass is worth it before buying individual tickets. Budget travelers should read the free things to do in Krakow round-up — as the cards above show, a surprising share of the city's best sights cost nothing. For Wieliczka, Auschwitz-Birkenau and beyond, see day trips from Krakow; for corners the guidebooks skip, try the hidden gems in Krakow guide; and families can lean on Krakow with kids for stroller-friendly routes and attraction picks.