Skip to Content

Where to Go in Europe for Easter 2024? Try Krakow!

Krakow for Easter of 2024? Well, why not?

Easter is great time to travel. Half of the world has a longer weekend and there are festivities and celebrations. Depending on your location, you’ll surely have many opportunities to not stay at home!

For the biggest Easter flare head to countries with strong Christian traditions. In my opinion, Poland is the best representative in Europe for that, making it one of the best Easter destinations in Europe. That’s why I decided to spend the Easter in Krakow a few years back.

Getting to know a city outside its usual ‘behavior’ gives the trip some extra flavoring. Forget most of the cool cafés and restaurants you googled before setting off, as many of them will be closed.

Come to Krakow to observe Polish Easter traditions and to enjoy the real first celebrations of spring, to walk around till your legs hurt and simply just to absorb the atmosphere.

Below I researched updates for your possible Krakow Easter 2024. Enjoy!

What to expect in Krakow during Easter

What is Easter Krakow like?

The main square (Rynek Główny) in Krakow at Easter time is full of stalls with goodies as well as with delicious food, be it traditional Easter meals or just yummy street food. The Krakow Easter Market is where you must go when visiting, it’s the highlight of the Easter season.

Krakow Easter Market 2024: Usually, the Easter market is up and running already 2 weeks before Easter and stays up until Easter Monday. And it’s like that in 2024 too. You can enjoy the market between the dates March 21 – April 1, 2024.

The food choices are endless – opt for Pierogy (dumplings), Kiełbasa (sausage) or grilled cheese, all incredibly yummy! Beer is sold in barrel-like stalls and features some nice Polish brands, like e.g. Tyskie. If you’re looking for an option to eat well on a budget, this is where to eat in Krakow.

You can buy Easter decorations and all possible handicrafts at the market. This year, there are going to be around 60 vendors from all over Poland and even some from abroad. The stalls stay open daily usually from 10am to 9pm.

Additionally, you can look forward to events and performances, such as presentation of Polish Easter traditions and rites.

One of the biggest such events is the traditional Blessing of the Easter Baskets. It takes place on Holy Saturday, so this year on Saturday March 30th, at noon. Make sure not to miss it!

The popular Kraków Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), which dominates the main square and functions as the City’s Museum, is typically closed during the Easter Weekend (March 30 & 31 of 2024). When we visited, you could walk through the Sukiennice passage. 

See the Cloth Hall Krakow opening hours here.

Churches have masses at least twice per day and it’s quite something to watch a few minutes of that, even if you’re not a religious person yourself. We walked in on one by accident and couldn’t have been happier. In this aspect, I imagine Easter in Italy would look quite similar.

During Easter in Krakow, checking out the Easter market, peeking into churches and stuffing your face at an Easter market or in a restaurant become the best things to do in Krakow.

Stalls inside Krakow's Cloth Hall (Sukenice) on the main square.
Stalls inside Krakow Cloth Hall (Sukenice) on the main square.
A beautiful old school marry go round on Maly Rynek, Krakow
A beautiful old school marry go round on Maly Rynek
Horses in Krakow, Poland
Can you imagine a European city without horses?

Recommended Travel Insurance

When planning travel, make sure you never forget to set up your travel insurance.

If you’re unsure, check out my review of SafetyWing travel insurance. It’s great for any trip longer than 5 days!

It can be arranged even if you’re already on the road. It’s affordable, too – the price starts at $42 for 4 weeks.

Cafés open during Easter in Krakow (and a restaurant)

Life feels simple when you just wander around and pick a place to eat or chill by what’s opened. They’ve got their famous Pierogy here in almost every restaurant, so no need to be afraid you’d starve to death.

Don’t laugh at me but I was initially a bit concerned since we confidently marched to the most famous Pierogy restaurant in Krakow, only to find it closed for Easter.

Many international chains or touristy cafés stay opened, you won’t miss your daily espresso then! Try Hard Rock Café with an awesome view of the Main Square.

I quite liked Costa Coffee. It is an international chain, which means you bump into their cafés almost on every corner, but at the same time it’s adjusted to Poland, so you won’t feel like you’re losing touch with the locals. This particular café is opened every day from 6:30 am till 10 pm.

Another little café that stays opened on the festive days is Café Olé, and it’s right by the Wawel Castle. It’s a basic one, but nothing wrong with that.

Strolling further from Krakow’s Old Town towards Kazimierz area also gets you some nice places to enjoy good little food and drinks.

Be sure not to miss out Café Młynek on Plac Wolnica 7. Their Pierogy were definitely more sophisticated ones than those on the main market. It’s apparently a Bed&Breakfast too, that’s perhaps why it has such a homey feel.

Finer diners will appreciate Szara Ges at the main square. Selection of mostly French meals of upper quality combined with expensive wine will please all the high-end foodies. Szara inarguably belongs to the best restaurants in Krakow.

Here’s more info on what to eat in Krakow and where.

The yummiest pierogy I've tried in Krakow
The yummiest pierogy I’ve tried in Krakow

Sightseeing in Krakow at Easter

Of course, you can walk around the city to your heart’s content. And, if you’d like to give your legs some rest and explore Krakow at the same time, you have several options:

Even during Easter time, there are electric carts roaming the city and doing the walking for you. There are usually 8-10 seats and they even have a rain cover. If that’s what you’d like to do, it’s quite a budget-friendly way to discover Krakow’s sights. You can find a tour like that for around €16 or $18.

Check current price and availability of the electric car sightseeing tour

If you’d like to go for something very different and explore another district of Krakow called Nowa Hut, you can do so on a Communism Deluxe Tour by Trabant, during which they’ll take you to a Communist apartment, a traditional milkbar etc. all aboard a vintage yellow Trabant :) The prices start at €77 or $86 per group for 4 hours.

See whether the Communism tour in a Trabant is available for the dates of your visit

The Castle in Krakow

The Wawel Castle, or as in Polish known as Zamek Królewski na Wawelu, has all its exhibitions closed on Easter Saturday and Sunday (March 30 & 31, 2024). You also cannot have a tour of the castle.

But even when the Castle is closed, it doesn’t have to stop you from exploring the majestic courtyard and the charming area around the castle. There’s a lot to see on the outside of the castle even without taking a peek inside.

Check out the current Krakow Castle opening times here.

Polish Easter traditions?

Easter Monday (so called Wet Monday) has the locals splash each other with water. It’s locally referred to as Śmigus-dyngus. No worries, it’s not like Songkran Festival in Thailand and you won’t need a raincoat to protect yourself in the streets of Krakow.

I’ve found information online that the Wet Monday is celebrated with parades, water fights, and live music. Please do let me know in the comments below if you experience any of that! When I visited Krakow over Easter, I didn’t notice any of that. In fact, I haven’t seen a single person with wet clothes.

Ladies on the Easter market in Rynek Glowny, Krakow
Ladies on the Krakow Easter market in Rynek Glowny.

Now you know a couple of my tips. In case you’d like to get an exact itinerary on what to see and do in 3 days in Krakow, check out this article.

Also read this article featuring all the things to do when visiting Krakow.

Krakow is definitely one of the best places to go any time throughout the year, but choosing the city for your Easter travel will get you some additional fun. Easter in Poland rocks and I can highly recommend it not only for 2024!

In my opinion, Krakow is one of the best Easter destinations in Europe. And I have travelled almost each Easter holiday in the last 10 years.

Other events in Krakow over Easter

Additionally, there’s a popular festival of early European music held in Krakow over the Easter weekend. Find more info on the Misteria Paschalia website.

The most popular day trip from Krakow: Wieliczka Salt Mine

Nearly everyone who does travel to Krakow for a few days pays a visit to the Wieliczka salt mine, as that’s one of the top places to visit outside Krakow, yet it can be done on a day trip. We missed that opportunity but you shouldn’t!

Check the current Wieliczka salt mine opening hours – the salt mine is fully closed only on Easter Sunday (double-checked for 2024).

You can visit Wieliczka independently and pay for the entrance & a guided tour. Here’s a full guide on how to get to Wieliczka and what the visit is like.

If you’d rather go the more comfortable route, opt for a highly rated and well priced tour with a pick up and drop off in Krakow.

Where to stay in Krakow during Easter

I stayed at an Airbnb apartment, which was lovely. You can see the review in my article here.

For when you’d rather stay in a hotel, check out the current deals on Booking.com.

I will not argue that Easter is the best time of year to visit Krakow. I bet summer is even more pleasant. But if you’re lucky with the weather, you can enjoy a lovely spring weekend in Krakow made more special by the Easter festivities.

Enjoy your Easter weekend in Krakow!

How about your trips during Easter in Europe, do you have a favorite spot? Would you give Krakow a chance for your Easter weekend?

This post was originally written in 2014 and then updated annually, last time in March 2024.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Emily

Monday 13th of March 2023

Your post says to go to Bunkier Cafe- but they've been closed for a couple of years. You should update your info.

Veronika

Monday 13th of March 2023

@Emily, thank you! I did check when updating this post for 2023 and their website is still live and there's no announcement. Thanks to you pointing it out I was able to investigate further. I will update it in my article, thanks again!

The World's 21 Best Easter Holiday Destinations | It’s all trip to me

Friday 21st of February 2020

[…] Christian. That makes Krakow and basically the whole of Poland an ideal Easter break destination. Visiting Krakow for Easter will give you the fair share of Easter markets and church masses. The main square, Rynek […]

Wroclaw Poland: Amazing Stories of Wroclaw Tourist Attractions

Wednesday 29th of May 2019

[…] Called Rynek in Polish, Wroclaw Old Town Square is actually the second biggest medieval market square in Poland and in Europe, second only to Krakow. […]

In Search of the Light in Gorlice Poland | TravelGeekery

Friday 14th of December 2018

[…] If you were to find the town, you’d have to look at Lesser Poland, the Lower Beskids (Beskid Niski) area, just north of the Slovak border and halfway between the borders of the Czech Republic and Ukraine. The closest major Polish city is Krakow. […]

Local’s Guide to Things to do in Olomouc Czech Republic | TravelGeekery

Monday 11th of June 2018

[…] Olomouc to Krakow, the train takes nearly 6 hours (a direct one). If you don’t mind taking buses, you can make use […]

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.