Most visitors see Kraków as one square and one castle. Both deserve an evening, but the city is more interesting a kilometre or two away from them, in districts that tell the twentieth century rather than the fifteenth.
Day 1 — the old town, briefly, then Kazimierz
Walk the Royal Route in the morning before the tour groups: Floriańska Gate, the Main Square, then down Grodzka to Wawel Hill. The cathedral and the courtyard are free to walk; the state rooms are ticketed and worth it only if palaces are your thing.
After lunch, cross into Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter. Before 1939 roughly a quarter of Kraków's population was Jewish. Walk Szeroka Street, the Old Synagogue and the Remuh cemetery, then let the afternoon go in the side streets around Plac Nowy. The round building in the middle of the square, the Okrąglak, sells zapiekanki — open-faced baguettes — late into the night.
Day 2 — across the river to Podgórze
Cross the Bernatka footbridge to Podgórze. This is where the Nazi-era ghetto was; Ghetto Heroes Square has a memorial of 70 empty chairs. Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory is now a museum about the city under occupation — book a timed ticket online ahead; numbers are limited.
Climb Krakus Mound (Kopiec Krakusa) for the sunset view back across the city. It is a short walk uphill and costs nothing.
Day 3 — Nowa Huta
Take a tram east to Nowa Huta, built in the 1950s as a model socialist town for steelworkers. The plan radiates from Plac Centralny; walk the avenues, look at the Socialist Realist façades, then find the Lord's Ark church (Arka Pana), built by residents in the 1970s against the authorities' wishes. Allow about half a day, then head back for a last evening in Kazimierz.
Getting around
The centre is walkable. Trams cover everything else; a 72-hour ticket is the simplest option. From the airport, the train to Kraków Główny takes about 20 minutes.
Where to stay
Kazimierz, for being able to walk home at night. The Old Town is louder and pricier for the same room.
What we would skip
The horse carriages on the Main Square, and anything marketed as a "Kraków pub crawl" on Floriańska.