Love books? This Polish city should be your next break

Though he was one of the great English-language writers of the last century, Joseph Conrad grew up on Poselska, in Kraków’s medieval Old Town. He was known to stay at the city’s Grand Hotel, which became the setting of The Enchanted Territories, a 1936 novel by former waiter Henryk Worcell. Nearby at cafe Jama Michalika, bohemian circles gathered, and Poland’s first literary cabaret was born.

A love of books is woven into the fabric of this Unesco City of Literature. Start on Rynek Główny, the main market square in the Old Town, where one of Europe’s first bookshops opened in 1610. Today, the bookselling tradition is kept alive by Empik, which has ornate wooden shelves and an archway painted with portraits of Krakówian authors.

For more history, nearby Rara Avis is one of the city’s best antiquarian bookshops. The English section is small, but there’s a fascinating basement full of maps. Or head to Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter just south of the Old Town. Here, a former synagogue houses Księgarnia Austeria. Reached via a courtyard where cherry trees bloom in spring, the bookshop has a huge selection of titles covering Kraków’s past and Jewish subjects.

The city was under Nazi occupation from 1939 to 1945. This chapter is chronicled at Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory, opposite Kazimierz on the south side of the Vistula River. At the museum’s heart is the story of the German administrator immortalised by Thomas Keneally’s 1982 novel, then adapted by Steven Spielberg into Schindler’s List. A moving art installation features the names of the Jewish people he employed so they wouldn’t be deported to concentration camps.

When it’s time for a break, De Revolutionibus Books is a short walk away and doubles as a cafe pouring speciality lattes. There’s soft music from a record player and seating built into bookshelf alcoves, some requiring the use of a ladder. Another excellent option is Massolit Books & Café, west of the Old Town. Enjoy a slice of red velvet cake, then slip behind the cafe counter to rooms with low-slung armchairs and a brilliant collection of Polish literature translations.

Walk off the treats at Planty Park, which loops around the historic centre. Plaques on benches honour authors connected with Kraków, including 1996 Nobel Prize-winner Wisława Szymborska, whose voice can be heard online via a QR code. Follow the trail to a statue of the Wawel Dragon from Polish folklore, which breathes fire every few minutes. It’s at the base of Wawel Royal Castle — the Renaissance structure dates from the 16th century.

Equally grand is the Cloth Hall, a large covered walkway in Rynek Główny featuring recessed market stalls selling shawls and amber jewellery. The library hall of the Jagiellonian University Museum Collegium Maius, founded in 1364, is also worth visiting; its late-Gothic vaulted ceiling is painted like a cloudy sky.

And for lovers of fantasy fiction, there’s no better experience than Tawerna Wilczy Dół, or Wolf Den Tavern. Follow the sound of medieval-style pop covers, order a goblet of mulled wine and settle into the cavernous restaurant for a candlelit dinner of skewered meat. It’s the closest fans of The Lord of the Rings may come to spending the evening in The Prancing Pony.