Krakow for Budget-Conscious Travelers

Tickets to Krakow’s attractions, museums, theaters and concerts are usually cheap and their price seldom exceeds an equivalent of 2.5 euro. And reduced rates are available to schoolchildren. Plus there is no lack of free amusement in the city. 

Open-air events with free admission, such as music concerts and theater shows, are a staple in Krakow during the summer season, i.e. from May through October, and often they feature accomplished artists. Also some indoor performances are free of charge, which not always promote aspiring local talents. The city’s clubs seldom charge anything for entry on Friday and Saturday nights with DJ-spun music even as the selection scrutiny at the gate is a rule. 

Most of Krakow museums allow free admittance to their permanent exhibitions on one day of the week although the number of complimentary tickets is often limited. Most notably some of the Wawel Royal Castle’s shows are accessible gratis on Mondays in the season and on Sundays off season, the Krakow National Museum’s ones and The Czartoryskis’ Museum on Sundays, the Archeology Museum and the Ethnography Museum on also Sundays, the City of Krakow History Museum on Wednesdays, the Old Synagogue on Mondays, the Museum of Photography on Sundays, and the Museum of Municipal Engineering on Tuesdays. All week round entry is free charge to the museum of martyrdom at 2 Pomorska street (former jail of Gestapo in the WWII). 

A myriad of the city’s downtown fast food restaurants, snack bars, burger joints, kebab bistros, salad bars, pizzerias, and the like are the obvious choice for diners with limited budget. At the same time it’s good to remember that Krakow is the capital of Poland’s gastronomy and a good deal of its numerous restaurants prove truly affordable. A three-course meal of the ‘dishes of the day’ priced at an equivalent of 8 euro or so in an out-of-the-way diner is pretty common (look for ‘obiad firmowy’). As a last resort there remain the dirt-cheap eateries called ‘bar mleczny’ (milk bar), once profuse throughout Poland and nearing extinction nowadays, that serve simple but healthy food at low prices subsidized by the Krakow municipality.