Free museums in Kraków - which day to pick for a trip from Warsaw

If you have one day in Kraków and want to see as many museums as possible without paying, go on a Tuesday. That is the day the permanent exhibitions of every open branch of the National Museum in Kraków are free, Leonardo’s “Lady with an Ermine” included, along with the Rynek Underground, Krzysztofory Palace and about a dozen other addresses. Monday comes second: Wawel Castle, Schindler’s Factory and the Old Synagogue, but with shorter hours and free passes that run out.

The fastest trains from Warszawa Centralna reach Kraków Główny in 2 hours 46 minutes. What you get for free, though, is usually the permanent exhibition only, and at several of the big names the free pass is handed out at the ticket desk on the day and nowhere else. Arrive at noon and the pool may be gone. Below, the days of the week from the best value down, then the traps that catch most visitors.

Tuesday: the most for free

On Tuesday the permanent exhibitions of all open branches of the National Museum in Kraków are free, and so are the Rynek Underground and Krzysztofory Palace, both run by the Museum of Kraków. The Old Town is walkable, so this is the one day when five or six museums on a single trip is a real plan rather than wishful thinking.

Old Town and the Main Square:

• Czartoryski Museum - home of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine”. Normally 65 PLN (~€15); on Tuesday a free timed pass, issued only at the ticket desk on the day of the visit. Start here, at 10:00 (10 AM).
• Rynek Underground - the archaeological route beneath the Main Square, normally 45 PLN. On Tuesday it is open only 10:00-15:00, passes at the desk.
• Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art in the Cloth Hall - Matejko and Siemiradzki one floor above the souvenir stalls, normally 35 PLN.
• Krzysztofory Palace - the story of the city; only the permanent exhibition is free.
• The small National Museum branches, 18 PLN each on other days: Matejko House, Mehoffer House, Wyspiański Museum, Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace, Szołayski House, the Arsenal and the Czapski Museum. Matejko House, Mehoffer House, Ciołek Palace, Szołayski House and the Czapski Museum stay open until 18:00 on Tuesday, two hours longer than on other days; the Wyspiański Museum closes at 16:00.
• Archaeological Museum on Senacka Street, 9:00-17:00, and its reserve under St Adalbert’s Church on the Main Square, open May to October only.

Beyond the Old Town:

• National Museum Main Building on 3 Maja Avenue, normally 45 PLN; the big temporary shows need a separate ticket even on Tuesday.
• Ethnographic Museum and Museum of Engineering and Technology in Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter. The second has limited places, so get your pass in advance.
• Manggha Museum across the Vistula, facing Wawel, and its Europe - Far East Gallery.
• MuFo Rakowicka, Rydlówka in Bronowice and the Polish Aviation Museum in Czyżyny - each one is a separate tram ride.

The Tuesday hours of each of these museums, how their free passes are issued and a one-day route are in Free museums in Kraków on Tuesday.

Monday: Wawel and Kazimierz, but short

Monday looks great on paper: the two most visited places in the city are free. In practice both keep shorter hours than usual and both hand out passes from a limited pool.

• Wawel Royal Castle - on Monday open 10:00-16:00 and free for selected exhibitions only. From 1 October to 31 December these are the castle’s second floor and the Crown Treasury. Passes are issued at the desk on the day, no booking, and one person can collect them for at most five visitors.
• Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory - normally 60 PLN (~€14), free on Monday but open only 10:00-15:00. There is no online booking; the queue forms before opening.
• Old Synagogue in Kazimierz - 10:00-15:00, last entry 14:30; you can take a pass in advance at bilety.muzeumkrakowa.pl.
• Town Hall Tower on the Main Square - 11:00-16:00 on Monday.
• Archaeological Museum in Branice in Nowa Huta - 10:00-14:00, far from the centre.

Our advice: do not try to fit Wawel and Schindler’s Factory into one Monday on a train from Warsaw. The factory exhibition needs at least 90 minutes, and both ticket desks have to be reached in the morning. Pick one.

Wednesday and Thursday: Podgórze

On Wednesday and Thursday the free addresses cluster south of the Vistula, in Podgórze and Zabłocie.

Wednesday:

• Cricoteka on the riverbank, 11:00-19:00, and its second address, the Tadeusz Kantor Gallery-Studio on Sienna Street in the Old Town, where Wednesday is the last opening day of the week.
• Eagle Pharmacy on Plac Bohaterów Getta, 9:00-17:00.
• Collegium Maius - individual visits free 13:30-17:00; guided tours cost the usual price.
• Pomorska Street - the former Gestapo headquarters with its prison cells.
• Two Cold War shelters of Underground Nowa Huta: os. Szkolne 22 and os. Szkolne 37.

Thursday:

• MOCAK in Zabłocie, 11:00-19:00 - the MOCAK Collection on level -1 is free, the temporary shows are not.
• Podgórze Museum - permanent exhibition, 10:00-17:00.

Weekend

For a weekend trip Kraków has no big free day. On Friday no museum has a regular free admission day.

• Sunday: the Home Army Museum on Wita Stwosza Street, near the station, 10:00-17:00, and the Scouting Movement Museum in Swoszowice.
• Saturday: only the ING PAN Geological Museum, and only on the last Saturday of the month.

Museums with no tickets at all

These places never charge. Three matter for a visitor:

• Amber Museum on Świętego Jana Street - daily 10:00-20:00, no booking. It is a single display inside a jewellery gallery: fifteen minutes on the way to the Main Square, not a reason to travel.
• Dominican Museum - the free ticket must be booked in advance for a set time. Open Thursday to Saturday only.
• Kraków University of Technology Museum on Warszawska Street - Monday to Friday, safest before 13:00; you collect a numbered free ticket at the museum office.

The rest need an appointment or keep very narrow hours: the AGH Museum, the University of Economics Museum, the Brother Albert Museum, the Carmelite Museum na Piasku, the Mission History Museum and the Maria Angela Truszkowska Museum. The Museum Harbour on the river boulevards runs from May to the end of October.

Three dates a year: Kościuszko Mound

The Kościuszko Museum has no weekly free day. Entry is free on 4 February, 24 March and 15 October; on every other day the ticket is 34 PLN, reduced 26 PLN, and covers the museum and the climb up the mound.

Where free entry goes wrong

• Desk only, same day only. The Czartoryski Museum and the Rynek Underground on Tuesday, Wawel and Schindler’s Factory on Monday take no bookings for free entry. The pool is limited and can run out before the desks close.
• Temporary exhibitions cost extra. The free day covers the permanent exhibition. The exception is Manggha, where Tuesday includes the temporary shows too.
• A limit per person. At Wawel one person can collect free passes for at most five visitors, so a larger group queues together.
• The Museum of Kraków issues passes online. Old Synagogue, Town Hall Tower, Eagle Pharmacy, Pomorska Street, the Nowa Huta shelters, Rydlówka and the Scouting Museum: take them at bilety.muzeumkrakowa.pl the day before; the train ride is long enough to do it.
• Auschwitz-Birkenau works differently. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Oświęcim is free for individual visitors, but the named entry cards are issued online only, at the latest 7 days before the visit. It is a separate day, not an add-on to Kraków.

A Tuesday plan from Warsaw

1. A train that arrives before 9:45. From Kraków Główny station to the Czartoryski Museum on Pijarska Street is about an eight-minute walk through the Planty park ring.
2. 10:00, Czartoryski Museum. Take the earliest free slot. The whole museum needs 90 minutes to two hours; Leonardo alone, fifteen minutes.
3. Before 15:00, Rynek Underground. On Tuesday this is a hard stop; after that the route is closed.
4. Afternoon on the Main Square and Kanonicza Street: the Cloth Hall gallery, Krzysztofory Palace, Ciołek Palace. Ciołek Palace and Matejko House stay open until 18:00 on Tuesday.
5. Evening train back. Book EIP and EIC trains in advance: seat reservation is compulsory.

Sources

Free days, hours and prices come from the museum profiles on muzea.org.pl linked above, which in turn draw on the museums’ official websites: mnk.pl, muzeumkrakowa.pl, wawel.krakow.pl, mocak.pl, cricoteka.pl, manggha.pl, maius.uj.edu.pl. Checked on 24 September 2026. Free days are sometimes cancelled for events, and Wawel changes its list of free exhibitions with the season, so check the museum’s website on the day you travel.

Every museum in Kraków and the Małopolska region: Kraków museums - a guide to 90 museums.