What's a good 3-day itinerary for Krakow?

Start at St. Mary's Basilica on Rynek Główny at 8:30am. The square, laid out in 1257, measures roughly 200 meters across. The trumpet call (hejnał) plays from St. Mary's north tower every hour and cuts off mid-phrase. The silence marks the moment a 13th-century watchman took a Tatar arrow. Get there early. By 10am the square fills with tour groups and the clatter of horse carriages on cobblestones. Walk the Cloth Hall ground floor for amber and carved wooden boxes. Skip the upstairs gallery unless 19th-century Polish painting is your thing. Head south 600 meters to Wawel Hill by 10:30am. Buy the Cathedral ticket separately (18 PLN, about $5). The cathedral, founded in 1020, holds the tombs of Polish kings in cold stone crypts that smell of damp limestone. The Sigismund Bell at the top weighs 11 tonnes. The staircase is narrow enough that you'll brush both walls with your shoulders. Wawel Castle's State Rooms close at 5pm, but the arcaded courtyard stays open and the view south over the Vistula is better than any paid room inside.

Kazimierz sits 1.5 km south of Rynek Główny, about a 20-minute walk down ul. Starowiślna. Start at Plac Nowy by 9:30am for a zapiekanka from one of the stalls ringing the round hall. A zapiekanka is an open-faced baguette with mushrooms, cheese, and ketchup. It costs 12-18 PLN and tastes better than it sounds. The smell of melted cheese and charred bread fills the square before noon. Walk ul. Szeroka to see the Old Synagogue, founded in 1407 and rebuilt after a fire in 1557, then the Remuh Cemetery with its 16th-century headstones crammed shoulder to shoulder. Cross the Bernatka footbridge over the Vistula to Podgórze. Schindler's Factory at ul. Lipowa 4 needs a pre-booked timed ticket (32 PLN, about $8.60). The exhibition runs 90 minutes if you read everything. Mind you, the neighbourhood itself is worth the crossing. Ghetto Heroes Square (Plac Bohaterów Getta) has 70 oversized iron chairs installed in 2005, one for every thousand people deported from this spot. Dinner back in Kazimierz at Starka, where the duck in plum sauce runs about 65 PLN.

Day 3 goes underground. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, 14 km southeast of central Krakow, has been operating since 1300. Take the suburban train from Kraków Główny to Wieliczka Rynek-Kopalnia (5 PLN, 25 minutes). Book the Tourist Route online in advance (94 PLN, about $25). The tour drops 135 meters below ground over 3.5 km of corridors. The air holds steady at 14°C year-round, so bring a layer even in late June when surface temperatures sit around 23°C. The Chapel of St. Kinga at 101 meters deep is carved entirely from rock salt. The floor is slick and cool underfoot. Everything gleams under chandeliers made of salt crystal. The tour takes about 2.5 hours. Back in Krakow by mid-afternoon, walk the Planty, the 4 km green ring that replaced the medieval city walls torn down in the 1810s. Dinner at Pod Aniołami on ul. Grodzka, where grilled meats cook over an open flame in a 13th-century stone cellar. The smell of woodsmoke hits you halfway down the stairs.

A few things worth noting. Krakow is compact. The Old Town measures roughly 800 meters north to south, and Kazimierz is another 15 minutes on foot beyond Wawel. Trams run every 5-10 minutes on most routes, and a 24-hour ticket costs 17 PLN (under $5). The MPK app sells tickets in English. Polish złoty is the only currency, and 1 USD currently gets you about 3.72 PLN. Card payments work almost everywhere, but avoid ATMs labelled Euronet, which charge 10-15% markups on currency conversion. Use bank-branded machines at PKO BP or mBank instead. Tap water is drinkable. Restaurants typically include no service charge, and rounding up by 10% is the local norm.