Kraków is beautiful on the surface. With a fairy-tale castle, scores of Gothic churches and a medieval marketplace lined with multi-colored mansions, it’s no wonder that Poland’s former capital is also its No. 1 tourist destination. To find the heart and soul of Kraków, however, it often pays to look beneath the surface.

That’s literally true in the case of Wieliczka, a tiny village less than 10 miles from downtown Kraków. For the past 900 years, Wieliczka has been famous for its salt mine. In its early days, when salt was still as precious as silver, the mine brought untold riches to Poland’s kings. Today, the mine is almost as valuable, even though production ended in 1997. That’s because its 20 miles of tunnels are one of the country’s biggest tourist attractions, drawing about 2,500 visitors every day.

Calling Wieliczka’s subterranean passages “tunnels” doesn’t do them justice. One of the crystalline chambers is so big that it was used as an airplane factory during the Nazi occupation of Poland. It later hosted the first underground bungee jump and balloon flight — that’s right, underground balloon flight. Other passageways are filled with hundreds of carvings, such as statues of gnomes and saints, and there’s even an underground cathedral, which three miners chiseled out of rock salt over the course of 67 years.

The mine has attracted millions of tourists since the 14th century, when Nicolaus Copernicus dropped by for a visit. Today, tourists are more likely to come from Germany, the United Kingdom and other European Union countries. Poland’s year-old membership in the European Union has brought the country a flood of foreign investment and is helping Kraków challenge Prague and Budapest as the top tourist destination in Central and Eastern Europe.

Yet tourism is just the beginning. Thanks in part to $84.5 billion in foreign capital — $8 billion in the last year — Poland has become the region’s strongest, fastest-growing economy. It is now ready to become a political leader as well. Last fall, Poland helped resolve the crisis brought on by Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution” by pressing the European Union to act as mediator. The country’s enthusiastic support for free-market capitalism and the U.S.-led war in Iraq (at least initially) has made it a counterweight to the “old Europe” of France and Germany. At the same time, its size — Poland’s population is larger than the combined total of the nine other “new Europe” countries who joined the union at the same time — means that its opinions can no longer be ignored.

The red-brick towers and gilded spires of Wawel Castle, Kraków’s most famous landmark, recall a time when Poland was the largest, most powerful nation in Europe. Legend has it that Wawel Hill was once home to a dragon that terrorized the population, until Prince Krak fed it a sheep filled with gunpowder. More terrifying than any dragon, however, was the constant threat of invasion by Crimean Tartars and Ottoman Turks. The danger became real in the 17th century, near the end of Poland’s golden age, when the country led the defense of Western Europe against a Turkish invasion. Massive oil portraits within the castle recall the battles of Chocim and Vienna, when Polish knights were hailed as the saviors of Western civilization.

Poland’s military power may have diminished since then, but its cultural legacy remains. Enter Wawel’s throne room and you’ll be astonished by its“hall of heads” — dozens of wooden faces staring down from the coffered ceiling. Each face represents a different ethnic group residing in Poland during the height of its power. Through the castle windows, you’ll see the Gothic cathedral where Poland’s kings were crowned. It was here that Queen Jadwiga knelt before a black crucifix and debated whether to marry Prince Jagiello of Lithuania. Her decision to do so vastly increased Polish power. But it was her later decision to endow Jagiellonian University that had a far more lasting effect: the school became one of Europe’s finest — counting Copernicus and Pope John Paul II among its alumni — and helped transform Kraków into the center of learning it is today.

Outside the cathedral hang three massive bones, once believed to be the remains of the Wawel dragon. Poles credit these “magic” bones for keeping the city intact during its darkest hours: its rule by Austria-Hungary from 1776 to 1905, when Poland was wiped from the map, and its occupation by Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945. Certainly Kraków was spared the destruction that leveled other Polish cities, such as Warsaw. But its people were far from safe.

Before the war, Kraków was home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, with 68,500 living in or near the city’s Kazimierz district. Almost all of them – together with Gypsies, priests, intellectuals, POWs and political prisoners from all over Europe – were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Third Reich’s largest death factory. Today, about 1 million visitors a year come to the camp, located about 42 miles from Kraków, in the town of Oswiecim. They walk in silent columns through the gas chambers and crematoria where more than 1.1 million people were murdered between 1940 and 1945, and they take heed of the words of Polish philosopher Leszek Kolakowski: “We need to know the past to know who we are.”

Few people understood that phrase better than Karol Wojtyla, the former archbishop of Kraków who became Pope John Paul II. After working in a quarry during the Nazi invasion, Wojtyla risked the anger of Poland’s Communist authorities by studying in an underground seminary in Kraków and celebrating his first Mass in the crypt beneath Wawel Castle. Since his death in April, Kraków has amended its most famous tradition to honor Poland’s first pope. For the past seven centuries, a bugler at the highest tower of St. Mary’s Church has marked the hour by playing a few short, sad notes. This year, the bugler has begun playing “Barca,” a melody beloved by the late pope, at 9:37 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month. It was the last song the pope heard when he left Kraków for the Vatican; it’s played now to welcome his spirit home.

Krakóvians have always been good at incorporating the new and the beautiful into their oldest traditions. Under Communism, the city’s economy was driven by its steel mill. Today, while Kraków remains Poland’s fourth largest manufacturing center, it’s better known as a center of tourism and education. More than 130,000 students attend Kraków’s 15 colleges and universities, and their presence makes the city’s bookstores, cafes and clubs lively and invigorating, even when they’re surrounded by monuments to the past. The 6.4 million tourists who visited Kraków last year seem to appreciate the mixture of old and new: they might marvel at the 13th century exterior of the Franciscan Church near Main Market Square, but it’s Stanislaw Wyspianski’s early 20th century renovations – especially his art nouveau stained-glass windows – that take their breath away.

They’re equally impressed by the square itself, where colorful brick mansions are squeezed together around the broad-beamed Cloth Hall, the slightly tilting Town Hall Tower and the magnificent St. Mary’s Church. But many tourists are surprised to discover that some of Main Market Square’s most beautifully decorated restaurants and pubs are located in the basements of these mansions. That’s because the 900-year-old buildings have sunk into Kraków’s marshy ground, turning what was once the main floor into the basement. You can get a good meal – and a great Zywiec beer – almost anywhere in Kraków, of course. To find the best the city has to offer, however, you might have to look beneath the surface.

LODGING

HOTEL COPERNICUS
There’s a reason President Bush chose to stay at the Hotel Copernicus during his last visit to Kraków. The 14th century building – Copernicus was among its first guests – still features decorated wooden beams that hark to its earliest days. But now its recently restored rooms offer high-speed Internet access, and the vaulted Gothic basement has a “secret” swimming pool. Located in the shadow of Wawel Castle, the hotel shares Kraków’s oldest street with the Archdiocese Museum, located in the former home of Pope John Paul II. $$$$
HOTEL COPERNICUS
16 Kanonicza St.
tel 48 012 424 3400, fax 48 012 424 3405
www.hotel.com.pl

RADISSON SAS KRAKÓW
Large, modern rooms with free cable television and views of the Wawel Castle — there’s a lot to like about the Radisson SAS Kraków. In addition to the usual amenities, guests in business-class rooms also receive newspapers and turn-down service. Its Milk & Co. restaurant specializes in local dishes and Polish ambience, while Solfez favors international flavors. Nine technologically equipped conference rooms share a floor with the business center. $$$$
RADISSON SAS KRAKÓW
17 Straszewskiego St.
tel 48 012 618 8888, fax 48 012 618 8889
krakow.radissonsas.com

SHERATON HOTEL KRAKÓW
The city’s first international five-star hotel, the Sheraton Kraków features 24-hour room service, in-room Internet connections and a business center — as well as terrific views of the castle area and the Vistula River. Eight meeting rooms can accommodate 10 to 310 guests. Three restaurants offer American and Mediterranean cuisine, though you’ll be hard-pressed to ignore the cafes and eateries of Main Market Square, just a short walk away. $$$
SHERATON HOTEL KRAKÓW
7 Powisle St.
tel 48 012 662 1000, fax +48 012 662 1100
www.starwoodhotels.com

DINING

KAWIARNIA WIERZYNEK
You’ll find a terrific example of Kraków’s cafe cuisine at Kawiarnia (Cafe) Wierzynek. Seated in its openair dining area, just opposite the Cloth Hall, you might find yourself surrounded by waitresses in period costume, or a trio of classical musicians. You’ll surely find yourself stuffed after a meal of beet soup with dumplings, followed by beef Stroganoff. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous (and hungry), try the wild boar chop with smoked plums. And don’t forget the chocolate cake with vanilla sauce. $$
KAWIARNIA WIERZYNEK
15 Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square)
tel 48 012 424 9600, fax 48 012 424 9601
www.wierzynek.com.pl

KAWIARNIA JAMA MICHALIKA
If Baz Luhrmann and your eccentric old great-aunt ever teamed up to create a restaurant, it might look something like the Jama Michalika.With deep-green overstuffed chairs, couches that look like thrones and a collection of drawings and paintings that will remind you of the illustrations in children’s books, it’s a great place to have a conversation — or to listen in on someone else’s. But Jama Michalika, which bills itself as the “most famous cafe for artists, well known for almost 100 years” doesn’t get by on just its looks. The barszcz is especially tasty, as are the golabki — tiny, meat-stuffed raviolis. And you really can’t go wrong with a place that sells its piwa, or beer, by the half-liter.Your great-aunt would be proud. $$
KAWIARNIA JAMA MICHALIKA
45 Florianska St.
tel/fax 48 012 422 1561
www.jamamichalika.pl/index_eng.htm

KARCZMA HALIT
No visit to Kraków would be complete without a trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mine — and every journey to Wieliczka deserves a meal at Halit (Salt), whose motto translates roughly as “it is your job to be hungry — it is ours to feed you.”The restaurant’s massive wooden tables groan with fresh, seasonal ingredients, and you will, too — especially if you tuck into the poledwiczka wieprzowa na kapuscie w chlebie, a huge cut of roast pork tenderloin served over spicy stewed cabbage inside a bread bowl. If you’re still hungry afterward, go for the sinfully sweet hazelnut pancakes. $$
KARCZMA HALIT
10 Danilowicza St.
Wieliczka
tel/fax 48 012 278 5059
www.halit.krakow.pl

INFO TO GO
The primary gateway to Kraków is John Paul II International Airport (KRK) (48 012 639 3000, www.lotnisko-balice.pl/eng/), located about seven miles west of the city, in Balice. Two Municipal Transport Authority buses (Nos. 192 and 208) travel between the airport and downtown Kraków, a 35-to-40-minute journey that costs about 75 cents; timetables are available at www.mpk.krakow.pl/. Radio Taxi 919 will make the same journey in about 20 minutes for $15. Dworzec Glowny (1 Plac Dworcowy, tel +48 012 624 5439) is Kraków’s railway station; for timetables, visit www.pkp.pl. Polski Express buses (tel 48 022 844 5555, www.polskiexpress.pl) travel routes between Kraków’s airport and cities throughout Poland. For additional information, visit the Polish National Tourist Office at www.polandtour.org.