Wawel Castle, Cathedral and Rynek Underground Museum: Guided Tour with Lunch

Once the home of Polish kings and a symbol of statehood, the Wawel Castle became one of the country's most celebrated museums in 1930. Take a look around this historic site with your expert guide and learn fascinating trivia about it. The first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the world, today, it houses an impressive collection of paintings, sculptures, fabrics, military items, porcelain, and furniture. A walk through the chambers grants you views of the famous tapestries of Zygmunt August and splendid Renaissance Italian paintings from the Lanckoronski collection. A highlight here is the Wawel collection of Eastern art, which contains the largest collection of tents in Europe. In the permanent exhibitions, see recreated rooms from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. As you explore all of this, your expert local guide will fill you in on fascinating bits of history. You will also get entry into the enormous 900-year-old Wawel Cathedral, which traditionally has served as the coronation site of the Polish monarchs.

Then, you will get to walk around the market square, which has been the central square of Krakow for nearly 800 years. This is where Krakow merchants made their fortunes, and where the kings paraded to get to their castle. If you look closely, you might spot the most interesting traces of history right here at Market Square. Your guide will point these out to you, before taking you to 4 meters underground to the Rynek Underground Museum, where you can follow a trail of remarkable exhibits in what is essentially an archaeological site. You'll see here how the market square was laid out, automated puppet performances, and even the remains of an 11th-century cemetery replete with 'vampire prevention burials!'