Krakow Old Town and Kazimierz: Guided Walk or On Your Own?
Updated October 13, 2026 · 5 min read
If you book one walk, make it the Old Town Walking Tour, €15.96 per person, 2.5 hours in English, starting at St Mary’s Basilica and ending at Wawel Castle. If you have a second morning, the Jewish Quarter and Former Ghetto Tour costs the same and covers the other half of the city.
What you can do without a guide
The Old Town needs no ticket and no plan. The Main Market Square, the Cloth Hall and the outside of St Mary’s Basilica cost nothing, and the trumpeter on the basilica tower plays his melody every hour. Many people see the Old Town this way and are happy with it.
What a guide adds is the reason for what you are looking at: the listings promise the history of the Royal Route, the oldest building of the university at Collegium Maius and the papal window of the Archbishop’s Palace. A walk is the better choice if you want that. An hour with a map is enough if you only want to say you have seen it.
Kazimierz is the opposite case. The buildings are small and the streets are quiet, and what makes them significant is what happened there before the war and during it. On your own you can find the synagogues. A guide tells you what they were. This is where most of the money is well spent.
The options compared
| Tour | Length | What it covers | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Town Walking Tour | 2.5 hours | Market Square and the Royal Route, ending at Wawel Castle; English only | €15.96 |
| Old Town and Wawel Castle Walking Tour | 2.5 hours | Starts at the Barbican; includes the courtyards of Collegium Maius and Wawel; pay-as-you-wish format | €24.00 |
| Jewish Quarter and Former Ghetto Tour | 2.5 hours | Kazimierz synagogues, the Jewish cemetery, Ghetto Heroes Square, filming spots from Schindler’s List | €15.96 |
| Rynek Underground Museum Guided Tour | 1.5–2 hours | Skip-the-line guided visit below the Main Square | €35.00 |
| City Sightseeing Tour by Electric Buggy Golf Cart | 1.5 hours | Old Town, Kazimierz and Podgórze by electric cart, no walking | €11.16 |
What to know before booking
Two of the Old Town walks are not the same kind of product. The Old Town Walking Tour meets in front of St Mary’s Basilica, where the guide carries an orange umbrella. The Walkative tour is a pay-as-you-wish tour, and the listing describes it as a general pay-as-you-wish tour in which it is up to the guest how to reward the guide. It says the amount you pay covers the reservation fee and the guide’s payment. Read the page before comparing its price with the others.
The Rynek Underground has a hard start. The listing asks you to arrive 10 minutes early, says latecomers cannot join once the group has gone and tickets are not refunded, and states that each tour is limited to 29 people under museum rules. Tours run in one language, which you choose when booking. It is the only listing here that sells skip-the-line entry together with the guide.
Do not expect the Old Town walk to take you inside. The Walkative tour names the Cathedral and the castle courtyard on Wawel Hill, which means the outside of the complex. Entering the castle or Cathedral takes its own tickets, covered in the Wawel ticket guide.
The golf cart is a ride, not a walk. It covers a lot of ground quickly, with an audio guide in many languages and a live guide in English and Polish, and it is the easy option if walking is hard going. The listing lists 24 places, including the Pharmacy under the Eagle and the Ghetto wall, so expect to see most of them from the cart. Luggage and large bags are not allowed.
Accessibility. The Old Town Walking Tour, the Walkative tour and the Jewish Quarter tour each state that they are wheelchair accessible. The Rynek Underground listing does not say.
Putting them together
Two walks at €15.96 each make a better pair than one long one: the Old Town in the morning and Kazimierz after lunch, about €32 in total. If you also want Schindler’s Factory, the Schindler’s Factory and Kazimierz guide shows how to fit it next to the Kazimierz walk, and the Kazimierz tours page lists the guided alternatives. For everything else on foot, see the city tours of Krakow.
