My Kraków: on foot, by bike and with a legend in your pocket
I was born here, I live here and I have cycled these streets since I was a child. This is where I collect what I love most about Kraków: stories, legends, mounds and the routes worth walking or riding. I have also made two free apps that guide you through the city like a living guide.
MMagdalena · born in Kraków · in love with the city · cyclistWalking guide
Seven routes, 45 stops and a narrator who starts talking by herself when you reach the Barbican or the Lord's Ark church. No internet, no account, no charge.
Read moreCycling guide
Seven bike trips: the riverbanks to Tyniec, Zakrzówek lake, the mounds and Wolski Forest, Nowa Huta and Mogiła, Bagry beach, Ojców. The narrator speaks at the stops; between them an arrow leads the way.
Read moreLegends and mounds
Why the towers of St Mary's are unequal, who raised the Krakus Mound and what the cobbler Skuba did to the dragon. Twelve short tales.
Read moreA thousand years in one place
From the first mention by an Arab merchant to World Youth Day: a timeline that explains where today's city came from.
Read moreThe best way to see Kraków is from the saddle
Flat riverside boulevards, the Błonia meadow in the middle of town, Wolski Forest on the horizon and Tyniec Abbey an hour's ride from the Market Square. I ride around Kraków every day and I believe a bicycle is the best way to see the city beyond the Old Town. Here I gather routes, advice and the places where it is worth getting off.
From the magazine
The tune that has broken off for six hundred years
Every hour, day and night, a trumpeter plays from St Mary's tower. And he always stops in the same place.
Read more · 4 min readThe city four metres down
Beneath the Market Square lies a second Kraków: streets, stalls and a cemetery people walked over seven hundred years ago.
Read more · 4 min readThe obwarzanek, a ring that feeds the city
Sold from blue carts from dawn. Six hundred years of history, its own legal protection and one rule: eat it within a few hours.
Read more · 3 min readA park where the walls stood
The Planty circle the Old Town in a green ring. They came from demolition, compromise and one man's stubbornness.
Read more · 4 min readA Tatar on a wooden horse
Once a year a bearded rider in Tatar costume dances through Kraków and taps passers-by with a mace. Meet the city's strangest tradition.
Read more · 3 min read By bikeKraków by bike: how to ride the city and stay sane
The most important advice: ride out beyond the Planty. That is where the city that is truly made for bikes begins.
Read more · 5 min readThe stories Kraków tells about itself
The Wawel Dragon
A sheep, sulphur and a cobbler who was cleverer than the knights.
Read moreLegendThe two towers of St Mary's
Why one is taller than the other.
Read moreLegendMaster Twardowski
A nobleman who signed a pact with the devil and ended up on the Moon.
Read moreMoundKrakus Mound
16 metres, Podgórze. Older than Poland.
Read moreEnjoying the stories?
The site and both apps are free and ad-free. If you would like more routes and articles to appear, buy me a coffee.