Things to do in Krakow this week

Where to go in Krakow: events, concerts and shows worth your night

Krakow is a university city with a medieval square at its centre and a cellar under nearly every house on it; many of them are bars, and a good number have music. It also has a serious concert hall on the river, an opera house, a contemporary art museum in a former factory, and one of the busiest festival calendars in Poland. Below is where to go in Krakow for a night out, with addresses, and what tends to be on when.

Concerts and live music in Krakow: ICE Kraków, the Tauron Arena and the cellars

ICE Kraków (ul. Marii Konopnickiej 17, icekrakow.pl), the glass congress centre on the Vistula, holds the Krakow Philharmonic’s bigger concerts and the touring names; the Tauron Arena (ul. Stanisława Lema 7) takes the arena tours. The student clubs are where the rock is: Klub Studio (ul. Budryka 4) and Kwadrat in the AGH district, and Alchemia (ul. Estery 5) in Kazimierz for jazz and small gigs. Piwnica pod Baranami (Rynek Główny 27) has run its literary cabaret in a cellar off the main square since 1956, with jazz and swing between shows.

Krakow nightlife: Kazimierz and the square

Kazimierz, the former Jewish quarter south of the Old Town, is where the night is: bars around Plac Nowy, live music in the cellars, and clubs along ul. Estery and ul. Józefa. The main square and the streets off it have the older cellar bars and the clubs aimed at visitors. The trams stop around 11 pm and night buses take over; the centre is walkable end to end.

Opera, theatre and dance in Krakow

The Krakow Opera (ul. Lubicz 48) stages opera and ballet from September to June in a modern house by the station; the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, a gilded 1893 copy of the Paris Opéra, and the Stary Teatr are the two great drama stages, mostly in Polish. Cricoteka in Podgórze keeps Tadeusz Kantor’s theatre alive.

Museums and galleries in Krakow for an evening

MOCAK (ul. Lipowa 4, mocak.pl), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, sits on the site of Schindler’s factory in Zabłocie, next to the factory museum itself. The National Museum’s main building on al. 3 Maja has the Polish modern collection, and the Bunkier Sztuki gallery on the Planty the contemporary shows. Most state museums have a free day each week.

Krakow festivals and events by season

• Winter: the Christmas market on the main square from late November, the New Year in the square, and the Kraków Film Music Festival preparations.
• Spring: the Misteria Paschalia early-music festival at Easter, Juwenalia, the student festival, in May, and the Kraków Film Festival at the end of May.
• Summer: the Jewish Culture Festival in Kazimierz at the end of June, with its open-air Shalom concert on Szeroka; the Summer Jazz Festival through July and August; and Wianki on the river at midsummer.
• Autumn: Sacrum Profanum, the contemporary music festival, in September; Unsound, the electronic music festival, in October; and the opera and philharmonic seasons opening.

Things to do in Krakow tonight and this weekend

The listings above are the live version of all this: every concert, show, club night and exhibition on in Krakow tonight, tomorrow and this weekend, with times, prices and tickets, updated every hour.