Shopping in Krakow

Krakow has long developed itself as a great city break destination for culture, but its shopping credentials are quickly growing.

The first stop on any shopping trip to Krakow is the city's Main Square, or Rynek Glowny.

In the centre of the Rynek is the Sukiennice, or Cloth Hall, which has been a centre for trade for centuries and now offers a range of stalls with amber and gold jewellery, carved chess sets and folk items, all surprisingly good value considering the prime location.

The Rynek also hides a glimpse back in time – the grocer's on the west side of the market square features the counters and traditional Polish service unchanged in 50 years and is worth experiencing, although not perhaps as a main shopping stop.

Other stores worth discovering around the Rynek include the Hetmanski bookshop, Bytom for suits on ulica Sienna, or Sienna Street, but the central shopping street – Krakow's Oxford Street – is ulica Florianska.

Florianska has a range of clothes shops – and tucked behind the shop fronts in small passages are other stores that are worth exploring and some of the best value places to change money.

When it comes to changing cash there are bureaux de changes, or kantors, all over the city, but it is worth shopping around as the rates on offer vary enormously.

Beyond Florianska is the station and the new Galleria Krakowska shopping mall.

The mall is home to 270 stores – mostly large western chains, where prices are not much below UK prices, but there are a few Polish stores where bargains can be found.

Beyond the old city walls, now the Planty Park that circles Krakow's old town and the Wawel castle, to the north is ulica Dluga (Long Street).

The shops on this road mainly cater for women shoppers – and seem to take them through life from teenage fashion, wedding dresses, maternity wear to clothes that would embarrass even the most traditional grandmas.

At either end of Dluga are markets – Nowy Kleparz and Stary Kleparz (new and old markets). Stary Kleparz is well worth exploring for a more traditional view of Polish shopping, a far cry from the clean surfaces of Galleria Krakowska.

For antique shopping there are small shops dotted around the centre, but one of the best is hidden on the first floor of a building on the corner of Plac Dominikanski, south of the Rynek. Antyki Art Deco has a range of exciting curios, bric-a-brac, 1920s glass and also an unrivalled collection of film posters from Communist times, although staff demand you treat them with utmost respect.

Plac Dominikanski leads to ulica Grodska where more clothes shops can be found, but further on still on ulica Stradomska, beneath the castle, are Krakow's shoe shops, along the way to the old Jewish district of Kazimierz.

After the kilometres pounded away, to relax there are numerous bars and cafes within the Planty – with claims abounding of Krakow having the greatest number of pubs per square kilometre on Earth.

However, for a true touch of style to end a shopping weekend, a massage is the only way. The Chaiyo Thai traditional Massage Centre on ulica Dietla has a range of fantastic full-body and aromatherapy massages performed solely by Thai masseurs schooled in Bangkok, that will live you floating as you return to the shops for your final purchases.

Daniel Barnes