It will miss out on hosting Euro 2012 games this summer but Krakow is unlikely to be a long-term loser when it comes to attracting short break visitors, says Colin Ellson


Krakow 48 hours


lthough it is not one of the eight venues in Poland and Ukraine due to stage matches in the UEFA Euro 2012 soccer championships this summer, Krakow will nevertheless benefit when England, Italy and The Netherlands set up their training camps in the city. In addition, it should gain from the


A


Polish Tourist Board’s largest-ever multi- media promotional campaign in the British, French and German markets. Designed to attract every type of visitor


to Poland, in the case of the UK the target will be the young, empty nesters, 30-somethings, and senior and business


26 March/April 2012 • www.sellinglonghaul.com


travellers. The campaign will focus on all kinds of tourism, including city breaks, with Krakow top of the list in terms of cultural tourism, as befits Poland’s capital of culture.


Former capital With its medieval spires, baroque facades and winding cobblestone streets, this is the epitome of a fairy-tale city, and its origins are indeed steeped in fantasy. Legend has it that a man called Krak


slew a dragon that had been terrorising a riverside village. Erecting a fortress on a hill above the fire-eating beast’s former cave,


he named the place Krakow. The more prosaic explanation is that


the city evolved from an ancient hamlet and by the 10th century AD was the trade centre of Slavonic Europe. It became Poland’s capital in 1038,


handing over the title to Warsaw in 1791, and by the end of the 15th century was at the centre of a kingdom stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. With 7th century origins and lying on the Vistula River, Krakow remains Poland’s second largest city and has traditionally been one of the country’s leading academic, cultural and artistic hubs.


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