Just as with any Christmas market, Krakow is no different in that the prices you pay here will be higher than you will pay elsewhere in the city.
The “Christmas market price bubble” exists in every Xmas market around Europe and most of us are happy to accept modestly high prices for the quality and variety of food on offer as well as the special Christmas vibe you feel whilst in Krakow’s Main Square. So, with that in mind, we thought we would share with you what type of prices to expect at the Krakow Christmas market and what you will be buying with your money.
Golonka (pork knuckle)
This is a boiled ham shank (ham hock). You may also describe it as “pork knuckle”.
It is a very tender, juicy and tasty meat and is usually served still on the bone. This is an important detail as at Christmas markets, a golonka is often sold per weight.
This year, in 2024, we have seen at least one stall charge 22 PLN per 100g for a golonka. Bear in mind that this also includes the bone so the golonka you buy could easily weigh 500/600 gms which equates to about £ 22/ £ 26.
Grzaniec (mulled wine)
We’ve probably all tried mulled wine at one time in our lives and probably at Christmas time and probably at some other Christmas market!! The Poles however, have elevated this to a new taste level as they have many different varieties of mulled wine or mulled alcohol.
Normal grzaniec will be mulled wine, spiced, often with cloves, maybe cinnamon and possibly a slice of orange. This recipe is known as Galician mulled wine or grzaniec Galicyjski.
At the 2024 Krakow Christmas market we have seen 200ml of this mulled wine being sold for 18 PLN which equates to about £ 3.60 but prices can vary stall to stall.
Poles are very adept at mulling many different types of alcohol. We would recommend trying them all especially the mulled beer and the mulled mead.
Polish soups
Another food genre which Poles have elevated to new heights. On a cold winter’s day, a hot Polish soup can be the best thing you’ve eaten all day!
Tomato soup is a Polish staple. It’s also one of the cheapest soups on the market with one serving costing 20 PLN, so around £ 4.
A lamb goulash soup is made of slow cooked lamb with spices and peppers and is very very tasty. Expect to pay a bit more for this. We’ve seen stalls selling this for around 35 PLN, so about £ 7 per serving.
Our favourites tend to be the ones which are more “exotic” to our tastebuds. Barszcz or Borscht is a Polish and Ukrainian traditional soup. Made from beets, the red colour can often be a little unnerving but trust us, it is worth trying. It is very popular on Polish dinner tables on Christmas Eve. Prices at the market hover around 30 PLN, around £ 6.
Bigos, technically is not a soup but a stew but will often be sold at the soup stalls. This is also priced around 30 PLN. It’s comprised of various chopped pieces of meat with sauerkraut, herbs and spices. The sauerkraut will make your tastebuds zing and it’s easy to see why bigos is one of the most popular Polish dishes around the world.
Pierogi
If you’ve never tried Polish pierogi then this is something that you simply cannot miss on your trip to Krakow. You will find them at the Xmas market. They will be more expensive then you would pay in a restaurant (as we’ve discussed earlier) but they really are an amazing dish.
They are a form of ravioli/dumpling that can be filled with various different ingredients.
The most popular ones are called “pierogi Ruskie” or “Russian pierogi”. These are filled with cottage cheese and potato and sometimes onion and are simply delicious. Expect to pay around 5 PLN for one pierogi inside the market (which is expensive) but still worth trying.
Other popular varieties include wild boer, roasted duck, mushroom, and sour cabbage. You can even have them with fruits.
Some final tips
Krakow’s Christmas market is made up of many small, independant traders and this means that some of the stalls may be “cash only” so before heading out to the markets it might be a good idea to have some cash with you, preferably lower denomination notes and ideally quite a few coins with you too. The reason for this is that some stalls will tell you that they do not have any change when you pay them with the expectation being that you just wave away the extra few zloty that you should have got back.
Another tip, and this is for those of you who absolutely love a bargain, is that you can usually negotiate prices down just before the Christmas market closes around 10pm. Any time after around 9:30pm then it might be possible to get better prices on the food. some good priceWith the weekend coming up then the crowds will start to increase in and around the Christmas Market and around Krakow’s Main Square.
For a VERY limited time (two days) there is another Christmas market in Krakow at Podgórski Market.