The Museum of Kraków has set the 2026 szopki programme, and the city has given the market's dates and hours. Christmas closing days and the stage programme come later.
Be on Kraków's main square on Thursday 3 December, when the city's makers set out their szopki, nativity scenes in foil and sequins built as copies of Kraków's own churches, and carry them round the square at noon. The rest of the winter the same square is a Christmas market, and the salt mine at Wieliczka is half an hour away.
Five stops on one square, Thursday 3 December. All of them are free, and all of them sit on or beside the Rynek Główny.
The makers bring their szopki to the foot of the monument, in the middle of the square, and set them out on its steps. Walk round them slowly and look closely at the foil, the beads and the tiny figures at the centre. Come at ten, while the square is still quiet.
A trumpeter plays the hejnał, the city's bugle call, from the tower of St Mary's Basilica every hour. On szopki day the noon call is the cue: last year the procession moved off just after it. Stay by the monument, because the szopki leave from there.
The szopki are carried round the Rynek Główny. Last year a folk band from Bronowice, a Kraków district, led the way. Walk alongside it instead of waiting at one corner, so you see the whole line go past.
The Museum of Kraków's palace stands on the square itself, at Rynek Główny 35. The results are announced in its Sala Miedziana, the Copper Hall: the adult and youth categories on 6 December, the school, children's and family categories on 13 December.
Walk across to the stalls round the Cloth Hall for lunch. Try grilled oscypek, a smoked sheep's cheese served with cranberry, or a pajda, a thick slice of bread with toppings. Expect a queue at the pajda stall.
The stalls go up round the Cloth Hall on the Rynek Główny.
Come any day you like for the market alone. For the szopki, the date that matters is a week later.
Drop your bags and walk straight to the square. Walk the stalls once tonight: an hour or two covers them, and it leaves tomorrow morning free for the szopki.
Before you leave, find the Mickiewicz monument in the middle of the square, where the szopki are set out from ten tomorrow.
Eat breakfast early and be on the square by ten. The makers arrive through the morning and set the szopki out on the steps of the monument until noon.
Two hours of standing on cold stone is the hard part of the day. Wear your warmest boots and gloves.
Listen for the bugle from St Mary's tower. When it stops, the szopki are lifted off the steps and carried round the square.
Follow the line for a full circuit of the square, then peel off to the stalls for lunch.
Spend the afternoon at the market. Hot beer is sold at the drinks stalls, and grzaniec, hot spiced red wine, comes in a plain paper cup, so there is no mug to return.
For gifts, look for amber, carved wooden toys and hand-painted glass baubles. Most stalls take cards.
Wieliczka is about half an hour from central Kraków by train or car. The standard route underground takes two to three hours, so allow four to five for the whole trip. Book ahead.
Allow the most time at St Kinga's Chapel, an underground church about 100 metres below the surface.
Spend Saturday south of the Old Town in Kazimierz. Its Christmas market is on Plac Wolnica, near the trams back to the centre.
Give Kazimierz the daylight hours and walk its streets end to end.
On your last day, walk to Krzysztofory Palace on the square. The first results are announced at 14:00 in its Sala Miedziana.
Ask your hotel to hold your bag until after the announcement, and take the evening train.
Come after the competition and you can still see the szopki. The post-competition exhibition opens on 9 December and runs to the end of February, and on 26 December it stays open until seven in the evening.
The rest of the results follow on Sunday 13 December at two in the afternoon, again in the Sala Miedziana.
The market's last day on the square. If you come over Christmas, check the market's holiday closing days before you plan a day around the stalls.
Some food stalls keep serving after the rest have shut, so a late supper on the square is still possible.
The stage on the Rynek Główny has live performances through the season, so walk past it after supper and see what is on.
Stay in the Old Town, a short walk from the square, so you can be at the monument by ten and back at the stalls after dark. Kazimierz, south of the Old Town, is the other easy base, with trams to the centre.
Walk in from Kraków Główny station. You pass a Christmas market at Galeria Krakowska, the shopping centre beside the station, on the way, and the Rynek Główny is the main square of the Old Town beyond it.
Dress warmer than you think you need: gloves, layers and warm, waterproof shoes with a good grip. Carry some złoty, because not every small seller has a card terminal.
The pavements can turn to black ice in a cold spell. Weekends are much busier than weekdays, and Fridays fill as weekend visitors arrive. In the thickest crowds, keep your phone and wallet in a zipped inside pocket.
Check Wieliczka's Christmas opening hours before you plan a trip there over the holiday.
