Stary Kleparz Market

Stary Kleparz is the market where Kraków actually shops — not the Cloth Hall with its tourist amber, but a proper open-air produce market that's been operating since 1903 and feels like it hasn't changed much since. Stalls under green canvas awnings sell seasonal fruit and vegetables, wheels of oscypek (smoked sheep's cheese from the Tatra Mountains), fresh bread, sausages, pickles, and flowers in quantities that suggest Kraków's grandmothers still cook for armies.

The market is just north of the Old Town, through the Barbican and across the Planty, in an area that was once the separate town of Kleparz before Kraków absorbed it. The vendors are mostly women of a certain age who will tell you exactly which tomato to buy and give you a look of deep disappointment if you try to pick your own. The cheese section is the highlight — oscypek comes in spindle-shaped smoked forms and is traditionally made by shepherds in the mountains using unpasteurised sheep's milk. It's sold grilled with cranberry sauce from carts throughout Kraków, but the market is where the serious versions live.

Come on Saturday morning when the market is fullest and the surrounding streets fill with overflow stalls selling everything from honey to handmade brooms. It's a five-minute walk from the Main Square but it feels like a different city — unhurried, unglamorous, and completely authentic.