Wawel Royal Castle
Wawel Royal Castle
4.5
Historic Sites • Historic Walking Areas • Castles
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Tuesday
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Wednesday
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Thursday
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Friday
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Saturday
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
About
Serving as a royal residence and the site where the country's rulers governed Poland for five centuries (1038-1596), this castle is a symbol of the independent Polish state and today contains a priceless collection of 16th-century Flemish tapestries, considered to be one of the largest in the world.
Suggested duration
More than 3 hours
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The area
Address
Neighborhood: Stare Miasto
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Restaurants
1,960 within 3 miles
Attractions
480 within 6 miles
See what other travelers are saying
- Jane2806Livingston, United Kingdom226 contributionsFairytale castleThe castle is just how I imagine a fairytale castle should look like, so pretty. We walked around the castle on our first day, then visited again the next during our walking tour. I would recommend visiting with a guide as we saw and learnt much more about the castle on our second visit, rather than just using a guide book. The reason I haven’t given the castle a 5star review was that you need to buy individual tickets to enter different parts of the castle interiors, which mean queuing for tickets, then waiting for your allocated time slot. Not ideal if your time is limited. Even though we didn’t get to see any of the interiors, just taking a walk around the castle was worth the visitVisited July 2022Written July 25, 2022
- pawel_hbgSopot, Poland9,993 contributionsPoland's national and cultural symbolWawel is a limestone hill in the centre of Krakow upon the Vistula River with a complex of impressive historical monuments of unique historical, artistic values and is Poland's national and cultural symbol. It is huge castle with many things to visit inside. You can visit Royal Private Apartments for 25 PLN adult ticket, Crown Treasury and Armoury for also 25 PLN. Moreover Royal Gardens for 5 PLN, Sandomierska Tower for 5 PLN, Dragon's Den for 7 PLN. Furthermore separately for 12 PLN The Royal Sigismund Bell with Royal Crypts, Cathedral Museum and Wawel Cathedral. Complicated? Even more if you cannot buy tickets online, on the place you need to stand in 2 different queues. It is complete lack of organisation. All complex is a must in Krakow, it is amazing but it can make you tired because of that.Visited June 2020Traveled as a coupleWritten June 16, 2020
- Lisonholmes3 contributionsMust-see in KrakowThe Wawel royal castle is a must-see if you are in Krakow. Not only it is a piece of art architecturally speaking. It is also a great witness of the time. Indeed, built between the 13th and 14th century, the castle has known many inhabitants through the centuries. When wondering around the castle one can learn the many legends regarding the building itself or its foundation. Hence the presence of the statue of a dragon spitting fire down Wawel hill. Nowadays one can visit the splendid rooms of the castle which has pretty much become an art museum. The castle overlooking the Vistula river, offers a great sunset at dusk.Visited December 2019Written November 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
4.5
10,577 reviews
Excellent
5,396
Very good
3,610
Average
1,201
Poor
251
Terrible
119
helenandpaul13
Worcester, UK1,614 contributions
Sep 2022
The castle is situated on the south side of the old town, about a ten minute walk from the city market and next to the river. You have to walk up some steps and a long ramp to get to the entrance, so for those with walking difficulties you will need to give yourself plenty of time to get up here. I bought my ticket at the ticket office which is about 100 yards down from the castle itself. At the office, you can't purchase one ticket for everything. You have to buy separate tickets for each display and there are at least 8 separate parts you can visit. I purchased mine to see the Armouries, the Crown Treasury, the Royal Apartments and the State Rooms. This cost me about 100 Zlotys in total, about £20. All the rooms are in close proximity to each other.
There are plenty of stairs involved in moving round the castle. For example when visiting the Armoury, you can go down into the basement to see the cannons. However, if you do, you have to walk up a flight of stairs to get out and there is a very heavy oak door which you have to push open to get out. When I say heavy, it is heavy.
I could have bought an audio guide or paid more to be part of a tour, but I wanted to make my own way around. From the ticket office you walk to the left and up the hill to a large Courtyard, where everything is well signposted. There are guides around the various areas, although many look bored and disinterested and you can observe them constantly looking at their phones. One guide kept walking up and down every few yards, like one of those animals you see in a zoo. I thought of asking her for some advice but then thought better of it as they showed no inclination to want to talk to anyone.
However, some of the objects there were beautiful. there are old masters, antique furniture and clocks, gold and silver and everything is labelled in Polish and English. One priceless object is a Coronation sword. In the state apartments there are examples of Dutch and Flemish art. One word of warning though, there is a significant amount of Black marble on the floor and it's easy to miss your step as there are no signs about advising visitors of this. I walked round in about 3 hours, although if I had paid for all of the areas on show I would have needed to pay another 100 Zlotys. For those who want to make a day of it there is a restaurant next to the ticket office.
There are plenty of stairs involved in moving round the castle. For example when visiting the Armoury, you can go down into the basement to see the cannons. However, if you do, you have to walk up a flight of stairs to get out and there is a very heavy oak door which you have to push open to get out. When I say heavy, it is heavy.
I could have bought an audio guide or paid more to be part of a tour, but I wanted to make my own way around. From the ticket office you walk to the left and up the hill to a large Courtyard, where everything is well signposted. There are guides around the various areas, although many look bored and disinterested and you can observe them constantly looking at their phones. One guide kept walking up and down every few yards, like one of those animals you see in a zoo. I thought of asking her for some advice but then thought better of it as they showed no inclination to want to talk to anyone.
However, some of the objects there were beautiful. there are old masters, antique furniture and clocks, gold and silver and everything is labelled in Polish and English. One priceless object is a Coronation sword. In the state apartments there are examples of Dutch and Flemish art. One word of warning though, there is a significant amount of Black marble on the floor and it's easy to miss your step as there are no signs about advising visitors of this. I walked round in about 3 hours, although if I had paid for all of the areas on show I would have needed to pay another 100 Zlotys. For those who want to make a day of it there is a restaurant next to the ticket office.
Written October 3, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sinead O
15 contributions
Mar 2022 • Couples
The ticket desk don't speak basic English when I asked for 1 ticket they gave me 2 for the guy standing behind me that I didn't know.
Staff shouted at us for not closing doors which really should close automatically.. At least don't shout at us!
Best part was the nice cafe, the rest was any 20th century castle or large house in Europe and what made it even more boring was it is not real it was rebuilt from photos in the 1950s,so a barbie doll has older houses. Sadly staff seem to be incredibly proud of this ugh masterpiece 🙄
Staff were rudely letting polish people remove their masks and take as many Instagram type photographs that they wanted. I wanted 1 photograph in an empty room of my only ever time in Warsaw castle(trust me we won't be back there, blocky, industrial, tiring, unfriendly) after setting up the photo I pulled my mask down for a second and 2 security shouted at me... Next room instagramers happily clicking away mask less, again I tried to indicate I was not just trying one basic selfie... Again a huge commotion by security so I pointed to one polish 20 odd year old happily swinging off the furniture, twerking glances back at her 1000th photo of 'memories in warsaw' and angrily left the room. If we were bored prior to this we now just wandered aimlessly from room to room wishing we had listened to youtubers that said its fake, dull and don't bother.
Rambrandt was good,but you can see those separately. They're in the basement just ask for a ticket for it.The basement is very similar to other rooms so no need to inflict an hour extra of boredom on your day.
If you're tired and it's been a long day I'd suggest extra pierogis or a boat ride up the river over this yawn fest any day.
Staff shouted at us for not closing doors which really should close automatically.. At least don't shout at us!
Best part was the nice cafe, the rest was any 20th century castle or large house in Europe and what made it even more boring was it is not real it was rebuilt from photos in the 1950s,so a barbie doll has older houses. Sadly staff seem to be incredibly proud of this ugh masterpiece 🙄
Staff were rudely letting polish people remove their masks and take as many Instagram type photographs that they wanted. I wanted 1 photograph in an empty room of my only ever time in Warsaw castle(trust me we won't be back there, blocky, industrial, tiring, unfriendly) after setting up the photo I pulled my mask down for a second and 2 security shouted at me... Next room instagramers happily clicking away mask less, again I tried to indicate I was not just trying one basic selfie... Again a huge commotion by security so I pointed to one polish 20 odd year old happily swinging off the furniture, twerking glances back at her 1000th photo of 'memories in warsaw' and angrily left the room. If we were bored prior to this we now just wandered aimlessly from room to room wishing we had listened to youtubers that said its fake, dull and don't bother.
Rambrandt was good,but you can see those separately. They're in the basement just ask for a ticket for it.The basement is very similar to other rooms so no need to inflict an hour extra of boredom on your day.
If you're tired and it's been a long day I'd suggest extra pierogis or a boat ride up the river over this yawn fest any day.
Written June 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Out and About
Birmingham, UK221 contributions
Jan 2020 • Couples
while in krakow this is defiantly worth doing. You get an audio guided tour and you can also book a guided tour of parts. To see the whole castle its 4 or 5 separate tickets and they are time slotted. It might be worth while prebooking your tickets as there be a big cue at times.
Written January 7, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
RichardMowbray
Las Vegas, NV20 contributions
Mar 2020 • Couples
Really good value for money we paid £12 for 2 tickets with audio amazing value. The history is enchanting and the tombs are breathtaking, I would definitely recommend this as a must whilst in Kraków and the Cafe is nice. So much to see and do.
Written March 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
N M
2 contributions
Aug 2020
Great place to visit with family. Parking is available for those who visiting by car. I recommend you buy tickets either before your visit or immediately upon arrival as the ticket office has a long queue.
Written August 12, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Carly s
4 contributions
Jan 2023 • Couples
Cathedral - worth it for the bell tower and it’s view
Castle - overly complicated ticketing, you pay per area of the castle, there is no combined ticket. We were going to visit the Armoury but saw comments on here (thank you) advising it’s not much chop so we opted for the Royal Apartments. This was a collection of art arranged in a series of rooms, the audio guide spoke of a few pieces in each room but nothing was really linked together. I would have expected to move through the rooms / pieces in some sort of chronological order aligned to the castles age and occupants. Instead it all felt rather higgledy piggledy and we left without a real sense of the castles history. A shame it’s not better organised, it has the potential to be spectacular.
Castle - overly complicated ticketing, you pay per area of the castle, there is no combined ticket. We were going to visit the Armoury but saw comments on here (thank you) advising it’s not much chop so we opted for the Royal Apartments. This was a collection of art arranged in a series of rooms, the audio guide spoke of a few pieces in each room but nothing was really linked together. I would have expected to move through the rooms / pieces in some sort of chronological order aligned to the castles age and occupants. Instead it all felt rather higgledy piggledy and we left without a real sense of the castles history. A shame it’s not better organised, it has the potential to be spectacular.
Written January 31, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Michelle L
Sherburn in Elmet, UK13 contributions
Feb 2020 • Couples
We visited early in the morning before the crowds, we did the audio tour which was invaluable otherwise we would have missed so much! The tour can be tricky to follow and we did get confused a few times but you can ask the staff who guide you around. Amazing tombs and history to the place. Just to note when you book your ticket ask if it includes the royal apartments, ours didn’t and we didn’t realise until we queued you/couldn’t enter! Coffee in the cafe was welcome from the cold, well worth a visit.
Written February 12, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
grantisimo
halifax124 contributions
Jan 2020 • Couples
Very grand and picturesque
You can walk round the outside and the internal grounds for free but if you want to go inside it costs you but not a lot.
We did private chambers. Treasury and castle it’s self think it was about £12.50 each.
There is also the church in the grounds again free to walk round
Nice couple of hours and you can also purchase an audio tour.
You can walk round the outside and the internal grounds for free but if you want to go inside it costs you but not a lot.
We did private chambers. Treasury and castle it’s self think it was about £12.50 each.
There is also the church in the grounds again free to walk round
Nice couple of hours and you can also purchase an audio tour.
Written January 13, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jan D
Isle of Luing, UK132 contributions
Mar 2020
Lovely area to walk around and explore. The grounds and cathedral are free to visit and you can pay for various specific areas. We went into the armoury in one of revolver parts of the castle as the state rooms were closed. This also gave us access to a special exhibition. This was totally spoilt by a guided tour (lecture) . The people involved seemed totally oblivious to other visitors and blocked the same area of the exhibition for half an hour.
Lovely to sit in the castle grounds in the spring Sun and have coffee and cake.
Lovely to sit in the castle grounds in the spring Sun and have coffee and cake.
Written March 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Em743
23 contributions
Jan 2023 • Couples
On holiday with my husband we spent a morning walking up to the castle and exploring some of its exhibitions.
The castle itself is impressive to walk around and offers great views of the city. We booked tickets online with a specific entry time for the armoury and treasury. Exhibitions were lovely and quiet and had lots to see.
The castle itself is impressive to walk around and offers great views of the city. We booked tickets online with a specific entry time for the armoury and treasury. Exhibitions were lovely and quiet and had lots to see.
Written January 17, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Francesco DG
Sicily, Italy126 contributions
Ciao a tutti, il 26 luglio mi piacerebbe iniziare la visita di Cracovia con questo castello, sul sito ci sono i diversi biglietti per le diverse aree e mi sono un po' incartato per la scelta degli orari! Ogni posto ha un orario o devo prendere i biglietti tutti per la stessa ora? Avete consigli anche di diversa natura? Grazie, Francesco
04nico77
Rome, Italy827 contributions
Ciao devi prendere Orari diversi per le varie visite
Emma P
Spennymoor, UK71 contributions
Is the castle and cathedral free? Bit confused as some posts seem to say it's free and others say it's a charge?
Renee A
10 contributions
All of the above. When we were there we couldnt have gone in as it was the first day of closures due to covid. We enjoyed walking the grounds and the views of Krakow.
Shannon
Dublin, Ireland20 contributions
Hi there
My boyfriend and I have krakow booked for next week 18-22 March. We are supposed to be travelling from Dublin.
We are not sure whether to continue with the trip, or cancel it due to corona virus. Are most tourist places still open? I’m aware museums are starting to close etc. Just wondering if it will be worth it for us to go as we wanted to visit Auschwitz etc.
We were planning to fly out of Warsaw and get the train from krakow to Warsaw.
If anyone could provide us with some information that would be great
Douglas S
Greensboro, NC16 contributions
Poland has shutdown all museums etc.
Elsa
Elba Island, Italy1 contribution
Ciao skafuzzina vorrei sapere a che ora si può fare la visita al castello co l'audioguida in italiano. e vero che la domenica l'ingresso è gratis?
ReviewsItaly
italy2,532 contributions
Gratis
Al lunedi mattino, aperte solo alcune parti
Biglietti ad esaurimento.
Non so se anche in estate, però....
Απο που μπορω να κλεισω εισητηρια ον λαιν? Γινεται βασικα?
JOHN V
ATHENS4 contributions
Καλημέρα, on line το κάστρο δεν δίνει εισιτήρια, αλλά μπορείτε να κλείσετε μέσω του tripadvisor
yvonneguthrie24
London, UK19 contributions
Is it a steep walk up to the castle? Difficult?
Louise G
Cornwall, UK122 contributions
It’s not a steep walk, there is different entrances to the castle both have an incline but not steep, a gentle stroll should be sufficient to reach the castle grounds.
Anka
Nowa Deba, Poland
W jakiej cenie jest dostępna przechowalnia bagażu? Czy można zostawić dużą walizkę?
Sylwia T
Słupsk, Slupsk, Poland51 contributions
Niekoniecznie jest to przechowalnia bagażu. Zostawia się tam plecaki torebki takie większe z którymi wejście mogłoby grozić uszkodzeniem eksponatów. Nie widziałam tam dużych walizek raczej plecaki, większe torebki, płaszcze parasole. Przechowalnia była bezpłatna.
Roberta H
Fowler, IL9 contributions
Are there wheelchairs you can borrow for elderly visitors? Not sure my mom will make it all the way around the site...
PierreBMalta
San Gwann, Malta476 contributions
No I do not think so. But if you arrive with a well chair there is a lot to see even if not everywhere is accessible.
Ria J
Dubai, United Arab Emirates3 contributions
Hi can I do self guided tour in the castle.?i see only guided tours online? Where can I buy the tickets to enter the castle premises.? Thanks for the reply.
dave20144
Essex, United Kingdom40 contributions
There can be queues, but then everyone stops at the first booth they see at the top of the hill on the way in - there are others which should be quieter.
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