There’s been a market here for more than 700 years. Even to this day it’s where the locals go for their daily or weekly food needs. Stary Kleparz, a bustling covered market with stalls as well as permanent shops, stands just outside Kraków’s Old City. It is a place full of surprises – from the most delicious pistachio baklava to fresh fish, vegetables, fruit and even pillows with embroidered cats dressed as kings. Because who doesn’t need pillows thus embroidered?
And there’s just about everything in between.
To be honest, it was pretty overwhelming the first couple of times we went there. It’s usually jam-packed and many of the merchants are in from the countryside with just one job on their minds: sell their merchandise. There aren’t a lot of pleasantries exchanged. With this many people, it’s a bit of a competitive venture. But then, as mentioned before in my story about our beloved Żabka convenenience store, going grocery shopping in general in Poland is a full-contact sport. So, we figured, we might as well go to where the merchandise was bound to be fresh and the surroundings interesting.
In many ways, this is the beating heart of the city. Everyone comes here. This morning I followed two nuns, both pulling covered granny carts into the alleys of Stary Kleparz. There were students and professors, coffee snobs and wine aficionados. There were displaced górale – mountain folk – searching for their beloved oscypek smoked cheese and kiełbasa podhalańska. Young folk, old folk, foreigners and priests, everyone is here.
The market, like the city itself, has seen much history pass it by. Napoleon, on his brief visit to Kraków in July of 1807 would have marched right by here. During communist times Stary Kleparz was the sight of much bartering as locals tried to get their hands on hard-to-get items. But in today’s well-to-do Poland it’s full-steam ahead. There are mountains of sweets, wine sampling, spices from the world over, even a store selling vinyls and featuring Elvis Presley albums.
In addition to the baklava from Pistachio box, our favorite guilty pleasure from Stary Kleparz are the focaccia sandwiches from Fokarnia.
They come in at about $6 and will change your life. Yes, they are that good.
A visit to Stary Kleparz is always full of surprises; there simply is too much to take in in one visit.
There is a Nowy Kleparz – a new Kleparz – market. It’s about half a mile up the road. It was created to ease the congestion at Stary Kleparz a bit and serve the people who live in the expanding neighborhoods to the north. How new is the new market, you ask? Well, it was founded in 1925. So it turns 100 years old this year. A positive ingenue.
Kleparz used to be an independent town outside Kraków’s city gates. Now, of course, it’s been swallowed up by the ever-growing urban footprint. Stary in Polish means old and, while there are a number of thoughts as to where the word Kleparz came from, I like to believe the one that says it came from the Polish verb klepać, meaning to bargain or haggle. Yes, that makes beautiful sense to me.
If You Go: Stary Kleparz
📍 Location: Rynek Kleparski 20, 5 minutes from the Barbican
🕘 Hours: Mon–Fri 6:00–18:00, Sat 6:00–15:00, closed Sundays
💰 Cash is still king—bring small bills and coins
🧺 Best in the morning for fresh produce and baked goods
🍓 Don’t miss: Forest berries in summer, fermented cabbage year-round, oscypek in winter, and crusty obwarzanki hot from the bag
Whether you’re a local or a traveler looking for authenticity, Stary Kleparz offers a delicious slice of Kraków’s beating heart.
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