Ninety seconds on Main Square
Before the tour groups arrive, you can have one of the largest medieval market squares in Europe almost to yourself, with the Cloth Hall, a leaning Gothic tower and the little Church of St Wojciech, all in a single view.
Each side of the square runs about 200 metres, and each repeats one pattern: three evenly spaced streets leaving at right angles. The plan was drawn in 1257, when the town was rebuilt after the Mongol invasion, and the streets around you still follow it.
Look for the two things that break it. Grodzka leaves the south-east corner on a diagonal, and the small Church of St Wojciech sits askew on the paving, slightly below today's surface. Both were there before the grid was laid out.
The Cloth Hall fills the middle, a long Renaissance market hall known for the carved mascarons, grotesque stone faces, along its walls. Its ground-floor arcade is still a covered market, and the first floor holds a gallery of 19th-century Polish painting with works by Matejko and Chełmoński.
On the west side, a lone Gothic tower of stone and brick is all that stands of the old town hall. It is 70 metres tall and leans about 55 centimetres off true, and its top floor is an observation deck.
In front of the Cloth Hall stands the bronze monument to Adam Mickiewicz, Poland's national poet, which the people of Kraków call Adaś.
Walk a full lap first, about twelve minutes, keeping close to the house fronts so you see each side's three streets open off the square. Then cut through the Cloth Hall's ground-floor arcade, which is free, past the stalls of amber, jewellery, leather and souvenirs.
Choose one or two of the ticketed sights on and under the paving. Climb the Town Hall Tower for the view from its deck, see the painting gallery upstairs in the Cloth Hall, or go below to the Rynek Underground, entered from the square, a museum of daily life in medieval Kraków built among the old market's foundations.
Tour groups fill the square and the streets around it for most of the day, so do the lap first thing and keep the indoor sights for the crowded middle hours.
The horse-drawn cabs lined up on the square run rides round the Old Town and out to Wawel Royal Castle. Agree the fare and the whole route with the driver before you board, including whether the ride goes as far as Wawel.
Read the outdoor menu before you sit at a terrace café on the square. The front-row view carries a premium, so walk past any menu that shows no clear prices, and eat in Kazimierz or the side streets instead.
When a card terminal offers a choice of currency, always choose Polish złoty. If your dates are flexible, the Town Hall Tower is free on Mondays and the Cloth Hall gallery on Tuesdays. On the Rynek Underground's free-admission day, you can collect up to five free tickets per person at its box office.
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