Kraków

Florian's Gate, Kazimierz and Wieliczka over three days

Three days suit Kraków. Follow the Royal Way on day one from St Florian's Gate down Floriańska to the Rynek, St Mary's Basilica and Wawel. Give day two to Kazimierz and Podgórze, starting on Szeroka Street, and use day three for the Wieliczka Salt Mine or Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Enter the Old Town through St Florian's Gate, walk Floriańska to the Rynek and step inside St Mary's Basilica to see the carved altarpiece. Wait on the square for the hejnał on the hour, then browse the stalls under the Cloth Hall. In the afternoon, walk down Grodzka to Wawel and choose one or two of the castle exhibitions plus the cathedral. Come back to the Rynek after dark, when the Cloth Hall is lit and the cellar bars open.

Day two belongs to Kazimierz and Podgórze. Start on Szeroka Street with the Remuh Synagogue and its cemetery, cross the river after lunch for the Schindler Factory museum (booked ahead), and return to Plac Nowy for dinner and drinks.

Use day three for the Wieliczka Salt Mine in the morning, or for the National Museum's Czartoryski collection and a slow loop of the Planty if you would rather not leave town. Auschwitz-Birkenau needs a separate day.

Obwarzanek mornings and zapiekanka nights

Kraków's street food runs from morning to night. Breakfast is an obwarzanek, a boiled and baked ring of dough sold from carts, plain or with poppy or sesame seeds. In the evening, eat a zapiekanka, half a baguette toasted with mushrooms and cheese, and look for maczanka, pulled pork in a dipped bun.

The obwarzanek, a boiled and baked ring of dough somewhere between a bagel and a pretzel, is sold on street corners all over the centre, plain or with poppy or sesame seeds. Buy one in the morning while it is still soft.

The zapiekanka is the evening equivalent: half a baguette toasted with mushrooms and cheese, then loaded with sauces and toppings. The place to eat one is the Okrąglak, the round market building in the middle of Plac Nowy in Kazimierz, where hatches serve queues late into the night.

Restaurants and food stands also sell maczanka, slow-cooked pulled pork in a bun dipped in its own gravy, and pan-fried oscypek, the smoked sheep's cheese from the Tatra foothills, usually with cranberry. Pierogi and żurek are on most traditional menus. For produce, the Stary Kleparz market just north of the Old Town is a working market used by locals. Bars are the other local institution, and the Old Town alone holds hundreds of them, many down in brick cellars.

The Lajkonik, szopki and winter fog

Kraków's weather swings widely, from January highs near 2°C to July and August highs of about 25°C, with July the wettest month. Late spring and September are best for walking. June brings the Lajkonik parade, and on the first Thursday of December makers bring their szopki, glittering nativity scenes, to the Rynek.

January highs hover around 2°C with lows near -5°C, while July and August reach about 25°C. July is the wettest month, with close to 100 mm of rain, often in thunderstorms. Late spring and September give the best walking weather, before and after the summer crowds.

June is busy with tradition. The Lajkonik, a rider in a Tatar costume on a hobby horse, parades from Zwierzyniec to the Rynek a week after Corpus Christi, tapping onlookers with his mace for luck. Around the turn of June and July, the Jewish Culture Festival fills Kazimierz with concerts, workshops and a big closing open-air show on Szeroka Street.

Winter has its own reasons to come. On the first Thursday of December, makers of szopki, the glittering Kraków nativity cribs, bring their work to the Mickiewicz statue on the Rynek for a competition, and the best are later shown at the city museum. The Christmas market fills the square through December. Fog is the catch: it often disrupts flights at Balice from late autumn into winter.