Main Market Square (Rynek Główny)

Laid out in 1257 under King Bolesław V's Magdeburg-rights charter, the Rynek Główny is a 200 × 200 m square — the largest medieval market square in any European city, larger even than Italy's piazzas. The grid pattern of streets radiating from it still defines Kraków's Old Town. At the centre stands the Sukiennice (Cloth Hall), a Renaissance trade hall that still sells amber and souvenirs on the ground floor, with the Gallery of Polish Art above.

Every hour, on the hour, 24 hours a day, a fireman in the tallest tower of St Mary's Basilica plays the hejnał mariacki — a five-note trumpet call broken off mid-phrase, in memory of a 13th-century trumpeter shot in the throat by a Mongol arrow while sounding the alarm. The noon call is broadcast live on Polish National Radio. Pause on the square at any full hour and you'll see hundreds of locals automatically look up.

The Rynek Underground Museum (separate ticket, 28 PLN) sits 4 m below the square and shows medieval streets, market stalls and a 13th-century forge exposed during a 2005–2010 excavation. Closed Tuesdays. For the view from above, climb the Town Hall Tower (70 m, 18 PLN) — the only piece of the medieval town hall still standing after the rest was demolished in 1820.