Museums in Kraków: prices, hours and free days for the National Museum, the Museum of Kraków and the rest, with Nowa Huta and the Kościuszko Mound

💡 The Short Version: Kraków’s museums run on three operators. The National Museum charges 65 PLN for the Czartoryski Museum, 45 PLN for the Main Building and 35 PLN for the Cloth Hall gallery, and its permanent exhibitions are free on Tuesdays. The Museum of Kraków runs the Rynek Underground, Schindler’s Factory, the Eagle Pharmacy and the Old Synagogue at 22 to 60 PLN. The Polish Aviation Museum, MOCAK and Collegium Maius are separate. Nowa Huta’s museum building is closed for renovation, and its two shelters are open. The Kościuszko Mound is 34 PLN, open daily. Most branches are closed on Mondays. Or book a tour: the Nowa Huta steelworks and shelters tourad (from £21, 1.5 to 2 hours) is the guided way into the district.

The museums, compared

Prices are the adult rate in złoty from each operator, at about 5.15 PLN to the pound. Free days are for permanent exhibitions.

• The National Museum’s combined ticket: a Czartoryski, Cloth Hall or Main Building ticket also admits you once to the Matejko, Mehoffer, Szołayski, Ciołek and Czapski branches and “Arms and Colours” at the Arsenal, valid for 3 months from purchase.
• The 12-month pass is 300 PLN (200 PLN reduced), and covers every branch except the Czartoryski Museum.
• Buy from the operators: mnk.pl for the National Museum and muzeumkrakowa.pl for the Museum of Kraków’s branches.
• Closed: most branches close on 1 and 11 November and on 24 and 25 December. The Rynek Underground is also closed on the second Monday of the month.
• Free days: free museum days in Kraków has the week.

Tours worth paying for

Most museums need no booking and sell no tour on GetYourGuide. Nowa Huta is the exception, since the district is spread out and its sights are easier with a guide. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

Nowa Huta’s steelworks buildings and shelters

From £21 · 4.9 stars from 374 reviews · 1.5 to 2 hours

Nowa Huta: Steelworks Administration Buildings/Shelters Tourad visits the steelworks’ communist-era offices and a bomb shelter with a guide.

Nowa Huta in a vintage car

From £68 · 4.9 stars from 307 reviews · 2.5 to 4.5 hours

Krakow: Nowa Huta Guided Tour in Vintage Carad shows the district’s socialist realist architecture by retro car with a local guide.

Nowa Huta by golf cart

£9.50 to £10 · 4.6 stars from 163 reviews · 2 hours

Krakow: Communism City Sightseeing Tour Eco Buggy Golf Cartad is a 2-hour electric golf cart tour of the district.

What to see

The art museums and the history museums divide by operator, so choose by what you want.

1. The Czartoryski Museum. Leonardo’s Lady with an Ermine and Rembrandt’s Landscape with the Good Samaritan, with Western paintings, crafts and arms. See the Czartoryski guide.
2. The Cloth Hall gallery. The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art, in rooms named for Bacciarelli, Michałowski, Siemiradzki and Chełmoński. See the Main Market Square guide.
3. The Main Building. The twentieth and twenty-first century Polish art gallery, at al. 3 Maja 1.
4. The Ciołek branch. The Art of Old Poland, from the 12th to the 18th century.
5. The Rynek Underground, Schindler’s Factory and the Eagle Pharmacy. The city’s history from the 10th century to the occupation, covered in their own guides.
6. The Polish Aviation Museum. At al. Jana Pawła II 39, with the entrance on Markowskiego Street, and free parking. Its hours change by month: 09:00 to 17:00 from March to May and in October, 09:00 to 18:00 from June to September, and 09:00 to 16:00 in November, December, January and February. Ticket sales end 45 minutes before closing.
7. MOCAK. The Museum of Contemporary Art at ul. Lipowa 4, beside Schindler’s Factory. On Wednesdays from 16:00 to 19:00 it runs Hush Time, with no tours and quieter works.
8. Collegium Maius. The Jagiellonian University museum at Jagiellońska 15. Guided tours run on weekday mornings, and a self-guided visit is open on Wednesdays from 13:30 to 16:00 free of charge.

The National Museum’s Main Building at al. 3 Maja 1. Photo: Igor123121, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What to skip: the Barbican and the City Defence Walls on a short stay, since each is 22 PLN and the Town Hall Tower gives the view. The Museum of Kraków’s Medieval Kraków route ticket covers the Rynek Underground, the Town Hall Tower, the Barbican and the walls together.

Nowa Huta

Nowa Huta is the planned communist-era district. The Museum of Kraków’s Nowa Huta Museum is in the former Światowid cinema, which is closed for renovation, and the museum continues to run from os. Szkolne 22.

• Nowa Huta Underground: the branch is a shelter under the school complex at os. Szkolne 37, with a second shelter at os. Szkolne 22. Both are open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, and are in the Kraków Card. A family ticket is 44 PLN.
• Plac Centralny: the central square of the district has no ticket.
• Private tours: the Fundacja Promocji Nowej Huty sells a 2-hour tour of the Central Square and the steelworks at 150 PLN for one person, 300 PLN for two, 450 PLN for three and 600 PLN for four. Its tour page lists the longer ones.

Plac Centralny in Nowa Huta, from the air. Photo: Piotr Tomaszewski-Guillon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Kościuszko Mound

The Kościuszko Mound is open every day from 9:00 to 18:00, and its ticket covers the exhibitions in the historic interior of Fort 2 “Kościuszko”.

The Kościuszko Mound, seen along the brick walls of the fort around it. Photo: Kgbo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Free: on 4 February (Kościuszko’s birthday), 24 March (his oath of 1794) and 15 October (his death). 15 October 2026 is a Thursday.
• Paying: the ticket office is to the right of the car park entrance, and it takes cash and cards, contactless included.
• No animals are allowed.
• The Kraków Card covers the Mound once.

Prices have been valid since 1 April 2026. The Kraków Card covers the Mound, the Underground, the Cloth Hall gallery and most of the Museum of Kraków’s branches, and what to book before you go to Kraków has the bookings that need a date. 3 days in Kraków and Kraków in one day fit the museums round their closed days. Wawel Castle and St Mary’s Basilica are the other tickets. To sleep nearby, where to stay in Kraków compares the areas, and where to eat in Kraków lists places to eat. Kraków walking tours cover the Old Town on foot.