Krakow Christmas Market: Some Legit Holiday Cheer

At the Krakow Christmas Market in Poland, you won’t find any Black Friday sales. No human stampedes through department store front doors. What you will find are carolers, folk dancing, hot mulled wine, waffles, roasted chestnuts, handmade crafts, hot cider, and a truly white Christmas.

The Krakow Christmas Market goes back to basics, spreading Christmas cheer from late November to early January each year.

An opportunity to share some holiday tunes on the street

History of the Krakow Christmas Market

The market dates back before World War II, but was halted during the communist rule in Poland from 1945-1989. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the market flourished again when people were allowed to buy and possess personal items. The market takes up almost half of the Main Square, one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe, and the historical center of commerce and culture in Krakow since the 13^th century.

Early view of the Christmas Market in the Main Square

Traditional Christmas music fills the streets

Market Goodies and Festivities

Enjoy the Krakow Christmas Market while listening to traditional Polish folk songs and dancers performing on the stage. Peruse the wooden stalls selling things like traditional Polish folk art, Christmas ornaments, candies, knitwear, jewelry, pottery, gingerbread, chocolate, nuts and soaps. Watch artisans such as glass blowers, welders and metal workers craft their art right in front of your eyes.

Grab some good eats from food vendors, hawking their traditional dishes in makeshift kitchens, and share a picnic table with other hungry patrons. I recommend the waffles and oscypki (smoked sheep’s cheese). Sip on some hot mulled wine (grzaniec) dispensed directly from enormous wooden barrels.

Welders doing their thing at the market. Lots of artisans make their goods at the market and talk with customers

Storefront at the market. This one was selling delicious waffles with all the toppings

Me munching on those previously mentioned delicious waffles

Another typical food stall at the market

Nothing breeds Christmas cheer like barrels of mulled wine!

On stage at the Krakow Christmas Market: singers and dancers

Krakow Christmas Market, after dark - the best time to go

While at the Main Square, be sure to check out Cloth Hall in the center of the square. A market place originally designed in the 14^th century as a center for cloth trade, and currently filled with stalls selling higher end goods. Adjacent to the Main Square is the Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven (also known as St. Mary’s Church), a 14^th century church where you can hear a trumpet playing at the top of the taller tower on the hour, every hour. The tune breaks off mid-song to commemorate a famous trumpeter who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before the Mongol attack on the city in the 13^th century. Fun fact.

Other Krakow sights

Wawel Dragon

On the bank of the Vistula River, you can find the fire breathing Wawel Dragon. The dragon statue is at the foot of the Wawel Hill, dedicated to the mythical dragon from Polish mythology who lived in a cave right behind where the statue is located.

In the legend, the dragon terrorizes local villagers by destroying their houses and eating their young daughters. King Krakus, Krakow’s mythical founder, set out to solve the problem by offering his daughter to the man who could kill the dragon. Skuba, an apparently lonely and desperate man, leaves a sulfur-stuffed lamb near the opening to the dragon cave. After devouring the lamb, the dragon begins to drink water from the Vistula River to relieve his unquenchable sulfuric thirst, eventually exploding from overconsumption. And Skuba marries the King’s daughter.

The dragon breaths fire sporadically, and you can climb up on the dragon for a closer look at the mythical beast.

The Krakow Dragon, in full fire breathing mode

Wawel Castle

Built in the 14^th century at the request of King Casimir III the Great, Wawel Castle was the home to all of Poland’s kings and now serves as one of the country’s top art museums. I didn’t go in, but spent a lot of time walking around the grounds, admiring the statues, architecture and views of the city.