Krakow

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A picturesque medieval city, included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is situated in the south-east of Poland. Nearby the city one can find another two UNESCO monuments: the Wieliczka Salt Mine, one of the world’s oldest operating mines and Auschwitz-Birkenau, German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp.

The city itself has an excellently preserved historical Old Town, with one of the largest Market Squares in Europe, monumental Royal Castle on Wawel hill and Kazimierz – the Jewish quarter. The heart of the city is encircled by the Planty – a magical, oval-shaped park, green and airy from March through October. The city's highly cultural atmosphere, marked by numerous museums, galleries and theatres, is also unique and unforgettable thanks to the large students’ population from Jagiellonian University and other higher-education institutions. With a mix of eclectic indoors and outdoors pubs, cafes and restaurants, Krakow seems to be an ideal place to host a scientific event, delivering many opportunities to sight-see and to socialise in friendly surroundings as well.

Krakow’s official webpage with detailed guidelines for visitors: www.krakow.pl/en/

TRAVEL

Getting by train? Krakow has many direct connections (express, Intercity or Eurocity) with major Polish and some European cities. In order to find your connection, please visit the webpage of Polish Train Company.

Getting by plane? The local airport (Krakow-Balice) has direct connections with many European localizations as well. Another airport, Katowice-Pyrzowice, is reachable within 1,5 hour by shuttle-bus.

To reach the city centre, the easiest and the cheapest solution is to take the fast train. The train station is nearby the airport, journey takes no more than 20 minutes and costs no more than 2€. On the contrary, the most comfortable solution is taking a taxi parked in front of the airport (approx. fare is 10€).

Both airports have connections operated by traditional carriers, as well as low-cost ones. Due to the an excellent localization of the conference venues, to move around the city the best advice is to take a short and refreshing walk. You can also take a tram, the closest tram and bus stop is ‘Teatr Bagatela’.

DEALING WITH Krakow & POLAND

Phones? The international dialing code for Poland is +48, the local code for Krakow is 12. All European mobile phones will work without any problems.

Money? The official currency in Poland is the zloty (zł or PLN). Currency exchange bureaus can be easily found at the airport, in the city centre, as well as the shopping centers and hotels. Credit and debit cards are widely accepted. In some places it is also possible to pay in euros. The current official exchange rate is daily published by the National Bank of Poland.