Wawel Castle and for teens

Welcome! For your first time, are you familiar with jet lag? When you land at 10 AM, your body will think it is whatever time it is at your home (2-5 AM) so it's not used to being up and about. It's a good idea to stay outside in the sunlight and fresh air, to help adjust, and it's difficult to concentrate on anything "educational" like a museum. If it were me, I'd settle for walking around the beautiful market square, and save museums for another day.

Expect to have your meal schedule thrown off as well. If its lunch time in Krakow, its breakfast time at home, and your body is still on home time for the first couple of days.

This will be my first experience with jet lag, and yes we want to keep walking outside. That is why I was thinking castle might be good mix of structured activity plus some outdoor time? I think we need to "plan" something to keep the kids engaged, or they will just beg to go lay down.

I welcome any suggestions for a plan for our landing day as I know we will be too out of it to make decisions on the ground!

I have been to Krakow and Wawel twice.

I recommend against visiting Wawel on the day you land: You'll probably be jet lagged, but it's your decision. You have to climb up to the site, which is amazing and quite large. Though the exhibits within are minimal, the site itself is fabulous and worth visiting, including for teens.

For engaging low-effort activity, I'd visit the Jagiellionian University site or perhaps St. Mary's Basilica on the first day. There's also Pope John Paul II's first church to see. Maybe take a walk in the green space that circles the entirety of the old town. I saw a classical music concert in an ancient church on the old, original square (not the stunning, large modern square), though teens might not go for this. Look for posters. There's also a jazz club near St. Mary's Basilica that might appeal to teens more.

The Rynek Underground site is worth visiting, but probably not on the first day. It takes a couple hours to see the whole thing.

In general, I strongly recommend a visit to Oskar Schindler's factory, Ghetto Heroes Square, Kazimierz, the Wieliczka salt mine and Auschwitz (sobering; about 1 hour, 15 minutes west of Krakow; tickets can be booked in Krakow, look for the signs). Some also visit Plaszow, the local concentration camp.

I'd suggest doing a walking tour from the Rick Steves guidebook on your first day. There is one for the old town area and one for the Jewish quarter (Kazimierz). The cemetery by the Jewish quarter also makes for an interesting stop.

I do recommend the castle, we enjoyed it. But, I wouldn't recommend for the first day.

Auschwitz is easy to do on your own. Just make sure to purchase tickets online well before your trip.

I would make a list of your possible day trips and see if they can be done by train. Poland has an excellent train system, quite reasonably priced tickets.

Hi Jules, Looks like you're from the Twin Cities also! Greetings from St. Paul! With the Rick Steves walking tour, do you mean self guided? The kids will prob not want to do full tour that day.

We must live close to each other!

Yes, there are self guided walks in the Poland guidebook. I don't currently have a Poland guidebook, but I know there was a self guided walk for the old town area, and another for the Jewish quarter. We took a bus from the old town area to get to the Jewish quarter. We did walk back to the old town, but its not that interesting of a walk.

Auschwitz and Schindler Factory may already be fully booked. I would not pick Poland as my first European car rental. Expect delays on highways.

I found the Castle complex to be a bit underwhelming as well, but as this appears to be your first European venture, the novelty factor may enhance a visit. I only bought a ticket for the cathedral - after standing in a very slow-moving line - it was worth a visit, but in retrospect not a must-see.

You could easily spend your first day doing the RS walking tour of the Old Town - your teens should find the main square interesting - you could assign them the task of finding an appealing place to eat. For a Polish experience that's not quite a milk bar, take a look at Bar Grodzki.

Although most people you encounter will speak some English, you may find riding public transport a bit of a challenge, as the destinations and stops will be Polish. So riding a tram to get some experience would be another good first day task.

The Rynek museum is definitely worthwhile, but requires alertness, so save it for a subsequent day. You could, however, locate the ticket booth, which is on the other side of the Cloth Hall from the entrance, Rick doesn't mention the Krakow Eye Ferris wheel - it is relatively close to the Castle complex and would be something for the teens to look forward to.

For the first day, check out the Market Square, see the interior of St. Mary's Basilica, the market at Cloth Hall, walk to the nearby Barbican and City Walls. Then, enjoy a sit down dinner. That's about how much you could expect to take in after a long flight. Nothing that requires a lot of attention.

We were at Wawel yesterday. Both of us felt it was substantially oversold. I think it would be significantly more meaningful for Poles. Expensive, even with the various options for packages covering different options so that you can leave out what doesn’t interest you. Unless your kids love Renaissance (and other) art, tapestries and furniture and have never been to a castle, honestly I’d skip it. As far as castles go, however, it is very well decorated . Nary a blank wall anywhere. The cathedral is relatively small, lacks the often-seen spectacular stained glass windows and no photos are allowed. However, Kazimierz the Great lies there and considering his importance, that might be a draw. The garden was very small and not particularly well done. The roses were about 75% done blooming, and other than some nice boxwood that was about it. If you go, look at their website or pick up an informative brochure in the lobby before you step up to buy your tickets — there are a lot of choices. We arrived there at 10am and there were no lines. The outdoor seating at the cafes was lovely and shaded, but we didn’t eat there. Use the barcode on your tickets (rather than your credit card) to gain entrance to the restrooms. They are multi-use rather than one entry only for the duration of your visit. All in all, while there some positives, you and your kids might be better served by taking the RS walking tour if your goal is primarily to keep moving.

PS If it's not too late re the car, you might want to wait until you are leaving town to pick it up unless your apartment has parking. There is street parking but we have seen few garages. Driving in town isn't as scary as Paris, Rome or London, though.

The OP left for Poland a week ago, but hopefully they’ll come back and tell us how it went, especially whether they enjoyed touring Krakow by rental car on their first European trip.