Kraków

Kazimierz

A separate royal town from 1335 until Austria merged it into Kraków in 1800, and for five centuries the home of one of Europe's great Jewish communities. That community was destroyed between 1941 and 1943. What stands now is the physical fabric — seven synagogues, two cemeteries, the street plan — occupied since the 1990s by the densest concentration of bars, cafés and small restaurants in Poland. The two facts sit on top of each other and the district has never fully resolved the tension. Walk it in daylight for what it was; come back after dark for what it is; and know which one you're doing.

Who it's for: Anyone serious about Jewish history in Poland, which is the reason the district matters. Eaters and drinkers — Kraków's best cooking is here, from a two-star restaurant to a zapiekanka hatch, within four streets of each other. Travellers who want to stay somewhere with a resident population rather than a hotel strip. Night people: this is where the city goes out.

Things to know

  • Two halves, one district. The area east of ul. Bożego Ciała around Szeroka Street was the Jewish quarter; the western half around Plac Wolnica was the Christian town of Kazimierz, with its own market square and town hall. Both are worth walking and they feel entirely different.
  • The synagogues are not interchangeable. The Old Synagogue and the Galicia museum are museums; the Remuh is an active house of worship with a functioning congregation; the Tempel and Izaak are somewhere in between and open to visitors for a donation or small fee.
  • Not every synagogue is visitable. The Izaak, Kupa and High synagogues are closed to visitors until further notice and can only be seen from the outside — plenty of guides and itineraries still list them as open. The Old Synagogue, the Remuh and the Tempel are the three you can actually go into.
  • Jewish sites close on Saturdays and Jewish holidays. If your only free day is a Saturday, plan Kazimierz around Plac Nowy, the Christian half and the food, and do the synagogues another day.
  • Cover your head in the Remuh synagogue and its cemetery — paper kippot are provided at the entrance for men who don't have one.
  • Plac Nowy is a working market before it is a nightlife square: a flea and produce market by day, with the zapiekanka hatches around the Okrąglak rotunda running until about 2am. Both versions are the real one.
  • Kraków's Jewish Culture Festival takes over the district for a week at the end of June and ends with a free open-air concert on Szeroka Street. Accommodation prices in Kazimierz move accordingly.
  • The 'Jewish-style' restaurants on Szeroka are Polish-run themed restaurants with klezmer bands, not kosher establishments and not community institutions. They are not a scandal, but know what you're buying. For actual kosher provision, ask the Jewish Community of Kraków.
  • Noise is real and it is concentrated. Plac Nowy, Estery, Józefa and Meiselsa are loud until very late every night of the week. One street back — Miodowa's eastern end, Bocheńska, Dajwór — is quiet.
  • It's a twenty-minute walk from the Main Square, or four stops on tram 3, 9, 19 or 24 to Plac Wolnica or Miodowa. The walk down ul. Stradomska and Krakowska is more interesting than the tram.