Stary Kleparz Market, Krakow

Stary Kleparz has been a trading place since the fourteenth century, when Kleparz was a separate town outside the walls, and it still works as the market where central Krakow buys its vegetables. It is a covered yard of low stalls rather than a grand hall, and the goods are seasonal: strawberries and cherries in June, mushrooms and plums in autumn, jars of pickled cucumbers and beetroot all year. Smoked sheep cheese from the mountains is sold here, along with bread, honey, cured meat and cut flowers. Prices are what locals pay and traders will let you taste before buying if you ask.

What you actually see

• The seasonal produce - whatever is in from the surrounding countryside that week.
• The pickle stalls - barrelled cucumbers, sauerkraut and beetroot sold by weight.
• The mountain cheese - smoked sheep cheese brought up from the Podhale region.
• The flower rows - cut flowers and seedlings along the market's outer edge.

When to go

Morning, and preferably before ten, when the produce is fresh out and the stalls are all staffed. Saturday is fullest but also the most crowded. Sundays are closed. Late summer and autumn are the best seasons by a distance, with mushrooms, plums, apples and squash filling the yard.

Honest expectations

There is nothing picturesque about it: concrete, plastic awnings and hard light. Most stalls sell to people cooking at home, so there is little to eat on the spot. Traders are brisk and English is limited. Some produce is imported and sold at ordinary prices. It is a fifteen minute stop unless you are actually shopping.

Nearby

The Barbican, the Florian Gate and the old town ring park are five minutes to the south.