Breakfast

Start your day in the Old Town, Kraków’s quaint historic centre. You’ll want to fuel up for a day of vigorous strolling, so make Sheep & Dragon Café your first stop. A typical Polish breakfast involves chleb z masłem (bread and butter), ser (cheese), szynka (ham) and jajka (eggs), so you could certainly argue that the eggs benedict (complete with lashings of hollandaise) counts as local fare. If you’re after something healthy, the homemade granola with greek yoghurt and seasonal fruit is excellent, but we’d opt for the scrambled eggs with smoked salmon (of course). The coffee isn’t half bad, but if you take your caffeine seriously (particularly if an enormous flat white is your breakfast of champions), head to Yellow Monkey for some of the city’s best coffee, quirkiest decor and loveliest staff.

Spot of culture: Work off breakfast at Wawel castle and cathedral, a spectacular Medieval complex that’s one of Kraków’s biggest tourist draws. Don’t miss the cathedral’s Sigismund Tower (it’s a bit of a climb, but the views are worth the effort) and the Dragon’s Den (Smocza Jama).

Lunch

From the castle, amble up Grodzka Street – one of the oldest in Kraków – and (weather permitting) find yourself a table on the terrace at Restauracja Bianca. The wine list bears a thorough perusal, though seafood-lovers should go for the Winnica Turnau Solaris Baniewice (a dry Polish blend with a hint of sweetness) – it’s a perfect pair for the spinach tagliolini with shrimp, tomatoes and white wine sauce. This is one of those dishes you’ll still be thinking about weeks later, not least for the huge, meaty shrimp which – though Kraków’s nearest coast is 600km away – mysteriously abound in the city’s eateries.

Spot of culture: From Restauracja Bianca, it’s just a few seconds’ walk back onto the Old Town’s main market square, where the gentle clop of hooves on cobbles is interrupted only by the hourly five-note trumpet call from the tallest Gothic tower of St Mary’s Basilica. We’d recommend skipping the horse-and-carriage ride (unsurprisingly, the prices are sky-high, and the welfare of the animals has been called into question) and opting to explore on foot. Don’t miss the Cloth Hall (centre of the square), a long, Medieval stall-lined structure which was once the heart of the city’s clothing trade, and Eros Bendato, an enormous bronze sculpture of a head lying on its side by Polish artist Igor Mitoraj.

Mid-afternoon snack

From the Old Town, take the 15-minute walk along Starowiślna to Szeroka Square in the Kazimierz neighbourhood, and pull up a chair at Klezmer Hois. The restaurant serves traditional Jewish Galician cuisine, but this is also a great opportunity to try pierogies (filled dumplings), a Polish staple similar to momos or kreplach. Share a steaming plate of the cheese variety with caramelised onions (paired with a big glass of the Altas Cumbres malbec), then sit back and enjoy the three-piece klezmer band which performs here most days.

Spot of culture: While you’re in Kazimierz, take a couple of hours to explore Kraków’s Jewish Quarter. Stop off at Wolf Popper Synagogue, built in 1620 and now a particularly atmospheric Jewish bookshop, then saunter across to the peaceful Remah Cemetery and on to the 15th-century Stara Synagogue, home to the museum of Kraków Jewish culture and history.

Dinner

While there are plenty of excellent dinner options in Kraków, Zazie Bistro stands out as particularly special. Ask to be seated in the cosy cellar downstairs, and – if they’re not too busy – spend a bit of time chatting to the staff: they’re delightful. To start, go for thick, chewy orecchiette in a cheese sauce with spicy shrimp, roasted onion and crunchy black sesame – it might sound unextraordinary, but it’s as perfect a mix of textures as we’ve ever encountered (and there are those spectacular shrimp again). For the main event, it’s got to be pork cheeks stewed in tomato sauce and red wine with potato dumplings (kopytka) fried with broad beans and chanterelle mushrooms. The dumplings are as filling as they sound (you’ll be glad you didn’t indulge in that second plate of pierogies earlier), but this rich medley is comfort itself – and guaranteed to soak up the indulgences of our next stop.

Drinks

Ask the locals to recommend a good bar, and they’ll point you towards Alchemia. Not quite five minutes round the corner from Zazie, prices here are criminally reasonable (a beer will set you back around £3) – but it’s the atmosphere that keeps people coming back. This is a dive bar of the first order, all candlelight and dark corners, with pints of draught beer and mismatched wooden furniture casting long shadows up chintzy wallpaper. The music is great (and played at full volume), and if you start to get peckish, a surprisingly extensive food menu is available until 11pm (12am on Friday and Saturday). It’s a social spot, so be prepared to make friends.