Cafe Mleczarnia in Kraków's Kazimierz is the old courtyard cafe behind the Tempel Synagogue: wooden chairs, hot apple cake, a leafy garden hidden from Meiselsa.
Tip: The hidden courtyard is the table to take. Closes 23:00 weekdays, midnight Friday and Saturday.
Address: ul. Meiselsa 20, 31-058 Kraków
Wesoła Cafe east of Kraków's Old Town runs third-wave coffee in a Rakowicka villa with Coffee Proficiency beans on pour-over and espresso, plus all-day brunch.
Signature drink: Pour-over coffee
Tip: Pour-over and espresso brewed alongside monthly guest roasters. Light lunch menu of salads, soups and wraps.
Ranny Ptaszek in Kraków's Kazimierz opens at 07:30 with sourdough toast, eggs Benedict, V60 filter and a counter the early-morning runners and laptop crowd share.
Signature drink: Filter coffee
Tip: Eggs Benedict the breakfast pick; the cinnamon bun runs out by 11:00.
Kawiarnia Naukowa on Jakuba in Kraków's Kazimierz is the academic cafe Maciek Tarnogórski runs with a bookshop and a roaster: third-wave coffee and quiet tables.
Signature drink: Espresso macchiato
Tip: Closes 20:00. The window-seat tables go first. Cash and card.
Bunkier Cafe inside the Bunkier Sztuki gallery on Kraków's Plac Szczepański has poured coffee under a glass-roof terrace at the edge of the Planty park since 1995.
Signature drink: Iced latte
Tip: The glass-roofed terrace works year-round; the heated awnings run in winter.
Cheder in Kraków's Kazimierz is the cafe run by the Jewish Culture Festival in a former prayer house at Józefa 36 since 2008. Hebrew library, Turkish coffee.
Signature drink: Turkish coffee
Tip: Turkish coffee in copper jezve is the order; the back room runs hummus plates after 17:00.
Cafe Lisboa on Dolnych Młynów in Kraków's Old Town has baked pastéis de nata by hand since 2017, the first Polish cafe to do so. Espresso, cortado, custard tarts.
Signature drink: Pastel de nata
Tip: The pastéis de nata are baked through the morning; weekend afternoons sell out by mid-afternoon.
