Kraków's Kazimierz and Podgórze: a self-guided walk from Plac Nowy to Schindler's Factory, with what is open each day

One of 2 self-guided walks in Kraków. See every walk.

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Start at Plac Nowy and finish at Schindler’s Factory: 3.1 km, about 40 minutes of walking and most of a day with the museums. Go on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. The Tempel and Remuh synagogues are closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, the Eagle Pharmacy is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and Schindler’s Factory is closed on the first Tuesday of the month. Book the factory before you fly: its 60 PLN ticket is named, checked against an original ID and on sale 90 days ahead. Or book a tour: the Jewish Quarter and Former Ghetto tourad (from £13.57, 2½ hours) walks Kazimierz and the ghetto with a guide.

The route

Map of the walk numbered stops in walking order

Open the whole route in Google Maps - all the stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone.

The walk crosses the Vistula on a footbridge from Kazimierz, where Kraków’s Jews lived until the war, to Podgórze, where the Germans made the ghetto in 1941. The ghetto sites are places of remembrance. Prices are the adult rate in złoty (PLN) from each operator, at about 5.15 PLN to the pound.

Walk it with a guide

A guide tells you who lived where, and none of these tours includes an entry ticket. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

• Krakow: Jewish Quarter and Former Ghetto Tourad: from £13.57, 4.8 stars from 1,911 reviews, 2½ hours. A guided walk through Kazimierz and the former ghetto, the same ground as this page.
• Krakow: Schindler’s Story Guided Tour of Kazimierz & Ghettoad: from £21.25, 4.7 stars from 463 reviews, 2 hours. It starts outside Schindler’s Factory, goes through the ghetto and ends in Kazimierz, so it runs this walk in reverse.
• Krakow: Kazimierz Jewish Quarter Walking Tourad: from £19.55, 4.8 stars from 624 reviews, 1½ to 2 hours, Kazimierz only.

1. Plac Nowy

Free · the square is always open · the zapiekanka stalls round the Okrąglak stay open late

The Okrąglak on Plac Nowy. Photo: Fred Romero, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The rotunda in the middle, the Okrąglak, was built in 1900 as a market pavilion. In 1927 it was leased to the Jewish Community, which ran a kosher poultry slaughterhouse in it. Today its ring of small units holds food shops, butchers and stalls selling zapiekanki, a halved baguette baked with mushrooms and cheese. The square is the start because it is a few steps from the Tempel Synagogue and has somewhere to eat before the walk.

• To the start from Wawel: it is 1.2 km, about 15 minutes’ walk, from Wawel Hill, where the Royal Route walk ends.
• By tram: trams 3, 9, 19, 24 and 50 stop at Miodowa, a few minutes from here. Kraków public transport has the tickets.
• Where to eat: see where to eat.

2. The Tempel Synagogue

Donation of 10 PLN (about £1.95), or 15 PLN · summer 10:00 to 18:00, winter 10:00 to 16:00 · closed Saturdays and Jewish holidays · Miodowa 24

The Tempel Synagogue on Miodowa Street. Photo: Igor123121, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Tempel Synagogue stands on Ozjasz Thon Square at the corner of Miodowa and Podbrzezie. It was built from 1860 to 1862 in an eclectic neo-Renaissance style with Moorish elements, and black marble tablets of the Ten Commandments sit above the main entrance. The Jewish Community, which looks after it, opens it to visitors for a donation.

• Closed: every Saturday and on Jewish holidays.
• The Isaac Synagogue is round the corner at Kupa 18. It is open from 11:00 to 19:00 in summer and 11:00 to 16:00 in winter, and closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.

3. The Remuh Synagogue and cemetery

Donation of 10 PLN, or 20 PLN · summer 10:00 to 18:00, winter 10:00 to 16:00 · closed Saturdays and Jewish holidays · Szeroka 40

The Remuh cemetery. Photo: Zygmunt Put, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Remuh is the main synagogue of Kraków’s Jewish Community, and daily prayers are held in it, with Shacharit, the morning service, at 08:30: visit after it. It was built about 1558 in the Renaissance style, founded by the merchant and royal banker Izrael Isserles Auerbach for his son, the Talmud scholar and rabbi Moses Isserles, known as the Remuh. The Hebrew inscription on the gate reads: “This is the Gate to the New Synagogue of Blessed Memory - the Remuh”. Next to it is a Jewish cemetery founded in the middle of the 16th century, one of the oldest in Europe.

4. Szeroka Street and the Old Synagogue

Street free · Old Synagogue 22 PLN (about £4.25), 16 PLN reduced · Tuesday to Sunday 09:00 to 17:00, Monday 10:00 to 15:00 (free) · Szeroka 24

The Old Synagogue on Szeroka Street. Photo: Igor123121, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Szeroka, “wide” in Polish, is a long open square at the heart of the Jewish Quarter. The Old Synagogue at No. 24, a Museum of Kraków branch, dates from 1407 and is associated with the Jews who came from Prague after the pogrom of 1389. A typical two-nave Gothic synagogue, it served as the central synagogue of Kraków’s Jews until the Second World War, and the museum inside shows the history and culture of Jews in the city.

• Saturdays: open, unlike the community’s synagogues.
• Free on Mondays: a ticket can be reserved in advance on a free day, or collected at the box office on the day.
• Last entry is 30 minutes before closing.
• Closed on 8 October, 1, 11 and 12 November, 10, 24, 25 and 31 December 2026.
• The Galicia Jewish Museum at Dajwór 18 is a few minutes’ walk away: 35 PLN, open every day from 10:00 to 18:00.

5. The Father Bernatek footbridge

Free · always open · for pedestrians and cyclists

The Father Bernatek footbridge. Photo: Panoramer360, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

From Szeroka, walk west along Józefa to Plac Wolnica, the square at the heart of Kazimierz, then down Mostowa to the river. The footbridge, opened on 30 September 2010, links Kazimierz and Podgórze on the abutments of the old Podgórski Bridge. Its steel arch is 145 m long, with two decks hung from it, one for pedestrians and one for cyclists. Balancing acrobats by the sculptor Jerzy Kędziora, a series called Between Heaven and Earth, stand on the decks. It is named after Father Laetus Bernatek, a monk who had the Brothers Hospitallers’ hospital buildings built in Kraków at the turn of the 20th century.

• On the far bank, Kazimierza Brodzińskiego leads to the Podgórze Market Square, the old route from Plac Wolnica.

6. Ghetto Heroes Square and the Eagle Pharmacy

Square free · pharmacy 22 PLN (about £4.25), 16 PLN reduced, free on Wednesdays · Wednesday to Sunday 09:00 to 17:00 · plac Bohaterów Getta 18

The empty chairs on Ghetto Heroes Square. Photo: Ingo Mehling, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Kraków ghetto was set up on 3 March 1941 by Otto Wächter, the governor of the district, and this square was its centre and the place where people were gathered before being sent to the camps. The memorial is 70 empty chairs, by Piotr Lewicki and Kazimierz Łatak, put up when the square was rebuilt in 2005. The idea came from Tadeusz Pankiewicz’s account of furniture carried out onto the square when the ghetto’s houses were emptied.

The Eagle Pharmacy at plac Bohaterów Getta 18. Photo: Yair Haklai, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Eagle Pharmacy at No. 18 was Pankiewicz’s: the only pharmacy that worked in the ghetto, and he was the only non-Jewish person allowed to live there. Its exhibition, “Tadeusz Pankiewicz’s Pharmacy in the Kraków Ghetto”, is a Museum of Kraków branch.

• Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, on 1 and 11 November, and on 24, 25, 26 and 31 December 2026.
• A Schindler’s Factory ticket, stop 8, admits you here within 7 days, during opening hours.
• No timed ticket is needed. The ghetto guide covers the pharmacy, Pomorska Street and the Podgórze Museum.

7. The ghetto wall on Lwowska Street

Free · always

The ghetto wall. Photo: Andrzej Otrębski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

From April 1941 Polish bricklayers built a wall round the ghetto, with semicircular tops shaped like matzevot, Jewish gravestones. A fragment survives at Lwowska 27, and another on the back of the school building at Limanowskiego 62.

8. Schindler’s Factory

60 PLN (about £11.65), 45 PLN reduced, 120 PLN family · Tuesday to Sunday 09:00 to 20:00, Monday 10:00 to 15:00 (free) · closed on the first Tuesday of the month · Lipowa 4

Schindler’s Factory on Lipowa Street. Photo: Adrian Grycuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl.

The museum is in the former administrative building of Oskar Schindler’s enamel factory in Zabłocie. The permanent exhibition, “Kraków under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945”, follows the city through the occupation. The halls beside it house MOCAK, the Museum of Contemporary Art.

• Book first. Online tickets are named, go on sale 90 days ahead from 09:00 for individuals, and need an original ID on the day. Schindler’s Factory tickets has the booking steps.
• Monday is free, 10:00 to 15:00, by desk ticket only, with no advance booking and a limited number.
• The English tour is 90 PLN (75 PLN reduced), at 10:00, 12:00 and 16:00 from Tuesday to Sunday.
• Last entrance is 1½ hours before closing.
• Closed on 6 October, 3 November and 1 December 2026, the first Tuesdays of the month, and on 1 and 11 November, 24 and 25 December. It opens 10:00 to 18:00 on 26 December and 10:00 to 15:00 on 31 December.

Where to eat

Bazaar Bistro

Plac Nowy 6 · Monday to Thursday and Sunday 09:00 to 22:00, Friday and Saturday 09:00 to 24:00

A small corner bistro, bakery and wine bar on Plac Nowy, with its own sourdough bread and more than 100 wines on the list. It suits a breakfast before the synagogues.

Kolanko Nº 6

Józefa 17 · Sunday to Tuesday 08:00 to 22:00, Wednesday to Saturday 08:00 to 23:00

A restaurant and café on Józefa, on the way from Szeroka to Plac Wolnica. It serves breakfast from 08:00 to 12:00 every day, and lunch from 12:00 on weekdays until it sells out.

Euskadi

Kazimierza Brodzińskiego 4 · Sunday to Thursday 12:00 to 22:00, Friday and Saturday 12:00 to 22:30

A Basque restaurant, just across the footbridge, that says it is the only one in Poland. Order the pintxos, small bites on bread. See where to eat in Kraków for more.

The best day to go

The timing that works, Wednesday to Friday: start at Plac Nowy by 10:00, see the Tempel and the Remuh, then the Old Synagogue, and be across the footbridge by lunch. Reach Ghetto Heroes Square and the pharmacy early in the afternoon, and arrive at the factory with a booked slot at least 1½ hours before it closes at 20:00.

What closes:

• Every Saturday and Jewish holidays: the Tempel and Remuh synagogues. The Old Synagogue also closes on 8 October, 1, 11 and 12 November and 10 December 2026.
• 1 and 11 November: the Old Synagogue, the Eagle Pharmacy and Schindler’s Factory are closed.
• 24 and 25 December: all three museums are closed, and the pharmacy is also closed on 26 December.
• First Tuesday of the month: Schindler’s Factory.

What does not close: the streets, Plac Nowy, the footbridge, Ghetto Heroes Square and the wall on Lwowska Street. A Saturday still makes a walk: the three museums are open, and you see the outside of the two synagogues that are closed.

Getting there and back

• To the start: Plac Nowy is 1.2 km from Wawel Hill and 2.2 km, about 30 minutes’ walk, from Kraków Główny station; trams 3, 9, 19, 24 and 50 stop at Miodowa. See Kraków airport to the city centre.
• From the end: Schindler’s Factory is on Lipowa in Zabłocie, across the river from Kazimierz; Kraków public transport has the tram tickets.
• Next: the Royal Route walk ends on Wawel Hill, 1.2 km from Plac Nowy, and this walk begins there; walk the Royal Route first and Kazimierz second, or the reverse.

What to do with the rest of the day

• More on each stop: Kazimierz and the Jewish Quarter covers the synagogues and the Galicia Jewish Museum, and the Kraków ghetto and Podgórze the pharmacy, Pomorska Street and the Podgórze Museum.
• The factory: Schindler’s Factory tickets.
• Without walking: Kraków golf cart tours compares the electric carts that drive through Kazimierz and stop at Ghetto Heroes Square, and Kraków walking tours covers the Old Town walks.
• A river cruise: Vistula river cruises leave from the pier below Wawel Hill.
• The whole trip: Kraków in one day and 3 days in Kraków build the days round the bookings, and free museum days in Kraków lists every free day. To sleep nearby, where to stay in Kraków compares the areas.

Common questions

How long is the Kazimierz and Podgórze walk?

3.1 km from Plac Nowy to Schindler's Factory, measured along the streets: about 40 minutes of walking. With the Old Synagogue, the Eagle Pharmacy and the factory it takes most of a day.

Is the Kazimierz and Podgórze walk free?

The streets, Plac Nowy, the footbridge, Ghetto Heroes Square and the wall on Lwowska Street cost nothing. The Tempel Synagogue asks a donation of 10 or 15 PLN and the Remuh 10 or 20 PLN. The Old Synagogue and the Eagle Pharmacy are 22 PLN each, and Schindler's Factory is 60 PLN.

Which day is best for the Kazimierz and Podgórze walk?

Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, when every stop is open and the Eagle Pharmacy is free on Wednesdays. The Tempel and Remuh synagogues are closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, the Eagle Pharmacy is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Schindler's Factory is closed on the first Tuesday of the month.

Do I need to book Schindler's Factory?

Yes, for the 60 PLN ticket. Online tickets are named, go on sale 90 days ahead from 09:00, and you bring the original ID on the day. On Mondays entry is free from 10:00 to 15:00 with a desk ticket, no booking, and the number is limited.

Are the Kazimierz synagogues open on Saturdays?

The Tempel and Remuh synagogues are closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays. The Old Synagogue, a Museum of Kraków branch, is open on Saturdays from 09:00 to 17:00, and so are the Eagle Pharmacy and Schindler's Factory.

How do I get from Wawel to Plac Nowy?

On foot it is 1.2 km, about 15 minutes. The Royal Route walk ends on Wawel Hill, and this walk starts at Plac Nowy in Kazimierz.