Wrocław sits on a dozen islands in the Oder, linked by more than a hundred bridges. It was the German city of Breslau until 1945, and almost its entire population was replaced after the war — which is why it feels younger and less formal than Kraków.
Day 1 — the Market Square and the river
Start at the Rynek, one of the largest market squares in Europe, and its Gothic town hall. You will start noticing the dwarfs (krasnale): small bronze figures on pavements and windowsills, several hundred of them by now. They began as a symbol of the 1980s anti-Communist Orange Alternative movement; the tourist office sells a map, but finding them by chance is better.
Walk north to the Market Hall (Hala Targowa) for lunch, then cross to Wyspa Piasek and on to Ostrów Tumski, the cathedral island. Be there at dusk: a lamplighter in a cape walks the island lighting the gas lamps by hand.
Day 2 — the Panorama, Centennial Hall and Nadodrze
Book the Racławice Panorama for the morning — a 19th-century painting 114 metres long, shown in a rotunda. Entry is by timed slot.
Then take a tram east to Centennial Hall (Hala Stulecia), a 1913 reinforced-concrete dome on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The pergola and the Japanese Garden next to it make an easy afternoon.
Spend the evening in Nadodrze, north of the river: a pre-war district of courtyards and street art where the city's cafés and small bars have been moving.
Getting around
The centre and the islands are a walk. Trams reach Centennial Hall in about 15 minutes. Bus 106 connects the airport to the main station.
What we would skip
Restaurants on the Rynek itself; walk one street away and the prices drop.