What do you do on the Kraków scavenger hunt?
The Kraków scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from landmark to landmark, solve a riddle at each one by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories and legends behind it. It takes about 3 hours, with around 47 minutes of actual walking over 3.8 km, and you start whenever you like.
Highlights include the Cloth Hall and St Mary's Basilica on the Main Market Square, where the hejnał trumpet call sounds every hour, St Florian's Gate and the Barbican, the Copernicus statue near the university and Wawel Cathedral, where Polish kings were crowned and buried. Kraków's Old Town is compact and largely car-free, and much of the route follows the Royal Route that kings once took up to Wawel.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 47 min · 3.8 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish
The game along the Royal Route
Look, think, answer
At each of the 10 stops one riddle is waiting, and the clue is somewhere on the spot: a relief above a gateway, an instrument in a bronze hand, a row of apostles on a fence. Nobody expects you to know Polish history; attention is what wins.
Legends come with the solutions
Every right answer opens a story: the trumpet call from St Mary's that breaks off mid-note, the knife in the Cloth Hall said to be the one from the legend of the jealous brother, the old bones at the cathedral door said to belong to the Wawel dragon. The narration can also be played as audio.
Square, Planty and the hill
The app shows the way with Google Maps across 3.8 km, roughly 47 minutes on foot: around the Main Market Square, out to the old walls, through the Planty park and down Grodzka Street to the climb up Wawel Hill. Much of the Old Town is free of cars.
An obwarzanek on the way
The hunt never runs against the clock. Buy an obwarzanek from a street stall, sit down for coffee on the square, carry on the same evening or another day, and if you are staying near Wawel, put the stops into a different order in the app.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who the Kraków hunt is made for
Your first afternoon in the Old Town
In one go the hunt links the Main Market Square, the city walls, the university quarter and Wawel, the places most visitors want to see first. The riddles slow you down just enough to notice the details.
Children and dragon hunters
Few places suit children better than a city with its own dragon legend. They get to look for stone lions, a hanging knife, an astronomer with his astrolabe and the bones at the cathedral gate, as long as an adult plays along.
Student groups and company teams
Teams of up to 5 players, every player on their own phone, can set off one after another from the Town Hall Tower and gather again below Wawel. Nothing has to be reserved, because the game stays on public ground.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The route: from the Main Market Square past the walls and down Grodzka Street to Wawel
10 stops · about 47 min walking · start: Town Hall Tower · finish: Avenue of Stars
The hunt starts at the Town Hall Tower on the Main Market Square and visits the Cloth Hall and St Mary's Basilica. It then heads north to St Florian's Gate and the Barbican, turns back via Plac Szczepański and follows the Planty park to the Nicolaus Copernicus Statue. Via Grodzka Street you reach the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, climb Wawel Hill to the cathedral and finish at the Avenue of Stars. The riddles never ask you to step inside a building, so not one of the ten stops calls for an entry ticket, and the app is happy to start you at a different stop or take them in whatever order you prefer.
Open the route map ↗
1Town Hall TowerStart
The Town Hall Tower is all that is left of Kraków's old town hall, which was pulled down in the 19th century. The Gothic tower leans slightly, and a pair of stone lions guards its entrance.
2Cloth Hall (Sukiennice)
The Cloth Hall stands in the middle of the Main Market Square and owes its present look to the Renaissance. In its 15th-century heyday merchants traded spices, silk, leather and wax here, and market stalls still fill its long central passage. A knife hanging in the passage is said to be the one used by the jealous brother in the legend of St Mary's towers.
Read the full story →
3St Mary's Basilica
St Mary's Basilica is a Brick Gothic church built in the 14th century, and its taller tower reaches 80 metres. Every hour a trumpeter plays the hejnał from it, breaking off mid-note in memory of a watchman said to have been shot while sounding the alarm. Inside stands the high altar by Veit Stoss, carved between 1477 and 1489.
Read the full story →
4St Florian's Gate
St Florian's Gate, first mentioned in 1307, is the only one of Kraków's eight medieval city gates that was not pulled down in the 19th century. The 33.5-metre tower marks the start of the Royal Route, along which kings entered the city, and its south face shows a relief of St Florian.
Read the full story →
5Barbican
The Barbican is a round brick fortress outside St Florian's Gate, once linked to it by a long bridge across the moat. It guarded the main entrance to the city and, together with the gate and a stretch of walls, survived when most of the fortifications were demolished in the 19th century.
6Plac Szczepański
Plac Szczepański was created in the early 19th century after the medieval Church of St Stephen, which gave the square its name, was demolished. It is framed by Art Nouveau buildings such as the Palace of Art of 1901 and the Stary Theatre, and the fountain in the middle was added in 2010.
Read the full story →
7Nicolaus Copernicus Statue
This bronze statue honours Nicolaus Copernicus, who studied at the Kraków Academy, today's Jagiellonian University, in the 1490s. Made by Cyprian Godebski and unveiled in 1900, it first stood in the courtyard of the Collegium Maius and was moved to the Planty park beside the Collegium Novum in 1953. The astronomer holds up an astrolabe.
Read the full story →
8Church of Saints Peter and Paul
The Church of Saints Peter and Paul stands on Grodzka Street, the road kings followed up to Wawel, and was built for the Jesuits in the Baroque style. In front of it, statues of the apostles stand on pillars along the fence, below its pale stone façade.
9Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral was the coronation church of Poland's kings, and most of them are buried here. Look for the golden dome of the Sigismund Chapel on its side, and for the large old bones hanging at the entrance, said to belong to the Wawel dragon.
10Avenue of StarsFinish
Kraków's Avenue of Stars is a walk of fame modelled on the famous one in Hollywood. Star plaques along the walkway carry the names of well-known personalities, and it is fun to see how many of them you recognise.
Read the full story →
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Austria –
Collected on GetYourGuide
United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Baragnon– Poland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Super activité qui nous a permis de découvrir Cracovie tout en s’amusant. 10 km à pied fait à notre rythme.
Viola– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Es war alles super und interessant beschrieben. Das es für Jugendliche keinen Rabatt gibt finde ich schade
Chilling– Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
The questions where not too easy nor too hard. Overall very nice game. We had a lot of fun
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Poland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Poland –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide