Krakow City Pass – Should I Buy One?

Should I buy a Krakow City Pass? Our guide has the answer with honest insights on what the pass is good for and what it’s not.

The Krakow City Pass (also known as the Krakow Tourist Card or the Krakow Card) is an all-in-one pass that offers access to 38 of the city’s best museums and free use of public transport in Krakow.

You can buy one for a single day, two days, or a full three days, and even reserve yours online at a reduced price before you arrive in the city.

The idea is to make accessing the art galleries and museums of Krakow as easy as can be. But it’s also a great way to save money – you might spend £5 per museum if you paid for standard admission at each one, but a flat £25 (€30) gets you unlimited access to pretty much every exhibit in the city for a whole day.

Of course, there are some people who will really make the most of the Krakow City Pass and others not so much. It’s especially great if you’re looking to do loads of culture and art and history while you’re here.

This guide will run through everything you need to know about the Krakow City Pass. It’s got info on how to pre-book yours, what the prices are, and – most importantly – what museums are included in the pass itself.

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This is just one part of our complete guide to things to do and see in Krakow

What’s in this guide to the Krakow City Pass?

What is the Krakow City Pass?

The Krakow City Pass is a card that gets you free access to 38 museums and art galleries around Krakow, along with free use of buses and trams in the city.

You can choose between 1-day, 2-day, and 3-day passes and you get all the benefits for the whole duration, meaning you can visit any museum included in the price without having to pay, and use transport in the city without having to pay.

What museums and attractions are included in the Krakow City Pass?

Pretty much every museum, art gallery, landmark or church that first-time visitors to the city will have on their bucket list is included in the Krakow City Pass.

To put it another way: Don’t worry about what the pass includes!

Everything from the mainstay museums like Schindler’s Factory to more off-beat historic draws like the preserved 18^th-century Eagle Pharmacy are included in the cost of your ticket.

We’ll get to them more in detail below but that should offer a clue as to just how good value this card is. Not even counting the fact that you get unlimited use of Krakow’s trams and buses, it’s sure to save you money on admission if you visit around 3-4 museums.

Here’s a closer look at ALL of the museums included in the Krakow City Pass:

1. Krakow Underground – Probably our favorite museum in the city, the Krakow Underground takes you below the Main Square to an excavated medieval marketplace. There are houses down there that are more than eight centuries old. It’s got interactive exhibits for the kids and it’s seriously fascinating.
2. Schindlers Factory – The biggest draw in the district of Podgorze is the old factory complex of Oscar Schindler (you know, from the film). It’s got a whole section dedicated to the Second World War and what happened then but also loads about the history of Krakow over the millennia.
3. City Defence Walls Krakow – It’s pretty cool to walk the only remaining section of the 15^th century defensive walls of Krakow’s Old Town. Their preserved on the north side of the district at this museum. Access lets you see where the lookouts and archers would once have been placed and cross the beautiful Florian Gate.
4. The Barbican – A round castle that dominates the northern part of the Planty Park, the Barbican is fascinating for its well-preserved defensive structures from the 1400s. You can walk the bulwarks and then cross to visit the Old Town Defensive Walls.
5. The Princes Czartoryski Museum – The piece de resistance here has to be the Lady with Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, the only da Vinci in Poland. Now housed in this refurbished museum that reopened in 2019.
6. St. Adalberts Church Underground – The oldest church in Krakow is a focal point on the south side of the Main Square. There’s a spooky crypt underground that reveals things about the Krakow’s pre-history. This church was here before there was even a city here!
7. MOCAK – Cutting-edge modern art museum that showcases some of the edgiest and most experimental work in the city. It’s housed in an amazing brutalist building next to Schindler’s Factory.
8. The Jan Matejko House – Visit the family home of probably Poland’s most famous artist, Jan Matejko. The exhibits inside include blunderbusses, a lifesized horse, and some of his earliest sketch works.
9. Kosciuszko Mound – Our second-fav of Krakow’s famous mounds (Krakus Mound is our top), Kosciuszko Mound is a spot that commemorates the life and battles of the general that gave the hill its name. Also, there’s an AMAZING view of the whole city to be had from the top.
10. The Old Synagogue – Just as the name implies, this is the oldest synagogue in the city. It’s in Kazimierz and it’s got some wonderful architectural features and a sombre interior.
11. Town Hall Tower – The only bit of the medieval town hall to remain in Krakow’s main square is best for the views you can get up top. It’s 110 stairs and the building dates back nearly 1,00 years!
12. Benedictine Abbey in Tyniec – Located six miles out of Krakow along the river, this abbey can be reached on a gorgeous cycling path. Inside, you’ll see ancient churches and monk’s quarters. It’s a fantastic day out if the sun is shining.
13. Polish Aviation Museum
14. Archaeological Museum
15. Archaeological Museum (Underground of the Church of Saint Adalbert)
16. Archaeological Museum (Nowa Huta Branice)
17. The Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum
18. The Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art in the Sukiennice
19. The Stanisław Wyspiański Museum
20. The Zwierzyniec House
21. The Jozef Mehoffer House
22. History of Photography Museum
23. Centre for documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor Cricoteka, Archives. Office
24. The Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace
25. The Archdiocese Museum
26. The Szolayski House
27. The Hipolit House
28. The Main Building of the National Museum
29. The Emeryk Hutten-Czapski Museum
30. Pomorska Street
31. Celestat
32. Exhibition in Nowa Huta District Branice
33. Galicja Jewish Museum
34. The Eagle Pharmacy
35. The Krzysztofory Palace
36. Museum of the Home Army dedicated Gen Emil Fieldorf Nil
37. Nowa Huta Museum
38. Legends of Cracow

Anyhow – there’s shed loads included in this pass.

Is the Krakow City Pass worth it?

Here’s what you really wanna’ know! Is the Krakow City Pass worth the money?

Well…it depends.

If you’re the sort of person that loves museums, history and culture, then we can say with almost complete certainty that it’s worth buying one of these before you travel to Krakow.

That’s down to two reasons: The price and – here’s the real kicker – the simplicity.

We reckon you’ll break even on the cost of a card if you visit between 3-4 museums each day. That’s an average based on calculating what you’ll pay per museum compared to the £25 ish for the card.

However, there’s something to be said for not having to worry about queuing for admission at EVERY. SINGLE. KIOSK. That can save lots of time, which we know can be precious on a 3-day city break.

On top of that, let’s not forget that the Krakow City Pass gives you unlimited use of trams and buses throughout its duration. That’s a real gift, helping you save even more on the cost of getting from museum to museum.

What’s great is that many of the included exhibits and things are really close to each other, and they aren’t massive, either. If you plan it right, you can sometimes visit three or four in just two hours.

For example, the Barbican, the Old City Walls, and the Jan Matejko House are all within 150 meters of each other and don’t really need more than 45 minutes each.

But the main attraction to the card has to be how easy it makes everything. To be honest, we’d struggle to do the 12-15 museums in three days needed to make the card worth it financially. However, we’d pay a premium for the simplicity of never having to jostle at a tram ticket machine, never having to queue at museums hoping they aren’t sold out, and just hopping from one place to the next without too much planning. It’s a cinch. That’s the real value here, folks!

There’s one glaring downside for us: The Wawel Castle and the Wawel Cathedral, two of Krakow’s major historic attractions, are NOT included in the pass.

That’s a bummer but it’s not the end of the world. We don’t think the Wawel is as good as the Underground Museum or Schindler’s Factory anyhow, and we’d definitely pick those two – which are included – over the Wawel any day!

How much does a Krakow City Pass cost?

The cost of the Krakow City Pass depends on what pass you want and how long you want it to last for. Here’s a breakdown of all your options and what they’ll set you back:

• 3-day Krakow City Pass WITHOUT use of public transport – £33.15
• 1-day Krakow City Pass WITH use of public transport – £33.37
• 2-day Krakow City Pass WITH use of public transport –£51.43
• 3-day Krakow City Pass WITH use of public transport – £56.46

As you can see, there are great reductions on offer when you book for longer, and you can grab the pass cheaper if you don’t want the transport addition (which might be a good choice if you like walking and intend to mainly base yourself around the Old Town, as first-time visitors often do).

There are sometimes nice reductions on the cost of the card, but you can check up to date prices here.

Where to buy a Krakow City Pass?

We would always recommend buying your Krakow City Pass online before you arrive. Again, that’s down to simplicity.

All you’ll have to do the morning you arrive is go collect your card and bingo: You’re ready to go. Think of it as a sunk cost like a hotel.

You pay that 50 quid ish now and then when you get to Krakow you can chill out knowing that all your public transport and museum access is already taken care of. Future you will thank you!