ENTERTAINMENT

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The mass events held in Krakow are regard­ed by many as the most spec­tac­u­lar in Europe; their joy­ous atmos­phere reflects per­fect­ly the spir­it and char­ac­ter of the town’s cit­i­zens. The three most impor­tant events include: the Drag­ons’ Parade, the Mid­sum­mer Night Parade and the New Year’s Eve par­ty. All three events attract large num­bers of vis­i­tors and cul­mi­nate in spec­tac­u­lar dis­plays of fire­works. The Drag­ons’ Parade is orga­nized annu­al­ly by the local pri­ma­ry schools for chil­dren who indi­vid­u­al­ly pre­pare cos­tumes for the drag­ons. The Parade is cul­tur­al­ly root­ed in the most pop­u­lar folk leg­end which tells the sto­ry of a drag­on liv­ing in the cave under the Wawel Roy­al Cas­tle.  The Dragon’s Mon­u­ment stand­ing next to the Vis­tu­la Riv­er is one of the best tourist attrac­tions for the youngest vis­i­tors to the town. The Mid­sum­mer Night Fes­tiv­i­ty relates to the old Slav­ic tra­di­tion and rit­u­als of cel­e­brat­ing the sum­mer sol­stice. Many con­certs, as well as sound and light shows are held along the banks of the Vis­tu­la Riv­er then. The New Year’s Eve par­ty is sim­ply a dis­cotheque with the audi­ence of up to 100 thou­sand par­tic­i­pants with the most spec­tac­u­lar dis­play of fire­works one can imag­ine. Please, con­tact us for details!

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Open-air cin­e­mas are a wel­comed nov­el­ty in Krakow, and have become extreme­ly pop­u­lar only recent­ly. The for­eign films in Poland are not dubbed (the pref­er­ence giv­en to voice-over and sub­ti­tling) which may also attract the for­eign tourists to turn up for the screen­ing. The open-air cin­e­mas pub­lish their reper­toires on Face­book or in local papers, and very often include niche movies or Euro­pean clas­sics. Depend­ing on the cin­e­ma local­iza­tion, the orga­niz­ers pro­vide vis­i­tors with fold­ing chairs or request bring­ing chairs and blan­kets. The lat­ter may come handy espe­cial­ly in chilly August evenings. The most pop­u­lar open-air cin­e­mas are locat­ed near the Vis­tu­la Riv­er, the Roy­al Cas­tle, near the Oscar Schindler fac­to­ry in Podgórze (one of the Krakow dis­tricts), and by the reser­voir in Nowa Huta. Please, con­tact us for details!

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The fash­ion for ball­room danc­ing came back to Poland a few years ago. Pro­fes­sion­al danc­ing schools for ama­teurs are mush­room­ing here, and danc­ing freaks can attend numer­ous danc­ing marathons, fes­ti­vals and train­ing events. The offer includes danc­ing cours­es for poten­tial young cou­ples, as well as danc­ing lessons pri­or to wed­ding recep­tions. Tan­go and sal­sa events defi­ant­ly attract the largest num­bers of danc­ing devo­tees. Milon­gas and sal­sa nights are held reg­u­lar­ly in clubs scat­tered across Krakow, but also in pri­vate homes. Spon­ta­neous knees-ups, held in the streets of the Old Town, are also gain­ing pop­u­lar­i­ty. Please, con­tact us for details!