Kraków, or Kroke in Yiddish, is a city with a rich, vibrant Jewish culture. Join this tour to peel back the curtain on Jewish history and their ways of life in the city, by getting up close and personal on this tour led by a local.

For centuries, Jewish people have helped shape the Kraków and its culture. By understanding how Jewish culture has grown, been oppressed, resisted and ultimately thrived in Kraków, you come to a far deeper understanding of the city as a whole.

We start the tour at Kazimierz, the Old Jewish Quarter, where you will get a full introduction to the Jewish people in Kraków, their customs, their histories, all in a quaint quarter of the city, characterised by cobbled alleyways, hidden archways and colourful squares.

You’ll learn about some of the most famous individuals who grew up or lived in this UNESCO World Heritage site, which made its name culture tour without after the release of the Schindler’s List.

Of course, you can’t go experience a Jewish culture tour without mentioning the horrors that took place in the 1930s and 40s, and you will hear the full story about the attempted extermination of the Jewish people in Kraków.

Your local guide will take you to the former Jewish ghetto, where the Jewish people were confined to before being sent to the various death camps around the country. You’ll also gain access to the Schindler Factory museum, where you will learn the incredible story of Oskar Schindler, and gain further insight into the Nazi regime, and the evils they inflicted upon the Jewish population.

This museum is a highly poignant, highly emotional experience, as you learn the individual stories of those who were forced to hide and fight for their lives on account of their religion. To commemorate these people, we finish the tour with a visit to a monument honouring those that died in the Nazi concentration camp in Płaszów.

This site acts as a stark reminder for the inconceivable horrors the Jewish population had to endure, and the resilience they showed in the face of unmitigated hatred. A tour that is, really, essential if you want to truly understand Kraków as it is today, and hear stories that have and will echo for generations to come.

Please meet at 10:30am on Wednesday and Sundays, and 3:30pm on
Thursdays and Saturdays at Ulica Krokodyli Pub & Cafe, 30 Szeroka Street.