Polish Aviation Museum — Attraction in Krakow

A fascinating mixture of planes inside and out. The simple flyer gives no clue about how good the exhibits are inside the hangars beyond the main museum building. You must make the small effort, find the entry doors and go in, as treasures await. There are, for example, WW1 exhibits, WW2 exhibits, unrestored but beautiful barn-finds & a great hall with all sorts of engines and jets from all ages, a perfect MiG-19 restored displayed with its American rival the Starfighter. All this in addition to the main entrance building with its history of Polish aviation and some of its stars. Outside on the old airfield is a truly impressive collection of noble but neglected aircraft from (mostly) Soviet-era Warsaw Pact generation jets, helicopters and civil aviation, and a few of their Western counterparts. Fascinating and photogenic but deteriorating. Signs on most displays are in Polish and English. We visited Dec ‘22 and an F4 Phantom was arriving in bits, elevators and main wing root already on-site, fuselage on a truck we passed going home that evening. For an enthusiast who takes pictures and reads the descriptions, plan 4+ hours and you’ll still have not seen everything. For a visit with kids or a more casual interest, 2-3 hours. If the weather’s miserable the flight-line will need less time, but the museum’s halls and 4 hangars are still worth a visit even when the weather’s...

Impressive number of diverse aircraft, but the visitor experience leaves a lot to be desired. Being quite a bit of an aviation- and history enthusiast, it pains me to see such impressive aircraft stripped of their historical value and educational potential. The placement of aircraft resembles more of an aircraft graveyard than a museum, as most aircraft and especially other objects seems to be thrown together rather randomly without any meaningful story being told. Moreover, many of the more elaborate info displays were only in Polish. The standard aircraft displays were showing merely dry technical specs. I found the "Great War" hall the most interesting due to the rare nature of these specific aircraft, although even there the storytelling fell short. To top off my disappointment: some large aircraft such as the Junkers have fully restored interiors, but those are only accessible to guided tours. For everyone else, the stairs are closed off so you can't even get near to pop your head in the doorway. Such a shame! A good museum should first and foremost be able to rely on its collection and displayed information to allow it's visitors to explore at their own pace in an accessible way. Overall a missed opportunity with such an incredible collection, I'm left mostly...

Great place. The variety of aircrafts is truly amazing. This place not only shows military aircrafts but also a great deal of commercial and agricultural planes used a long time ago. Guaranteed to have a wonderful day as long as the weather allows it. Entrance tickets are cheap and even there's one day of the week that admittance is free of charge, I'm sorry I can't specify which day it is. I attended while a summer event was taking place which made the experience a lot more enjoyable. History is all over the place. There are different hangars that you can access that offer really amazing historical facts, stories, events, etc. A MUST VISIT if you are in Krakow more specifically in Nowa Huta. Access from the city center is super easy and will only take you a few stops to make there. Don't miss the opportunity to relive history and feel it in your bones. Most of the explanatory signs in the exhibitions are both in Polish and English language but there are some that are only offered in Polish which is a bit of a bummer but still a great place to visit and make a day out of it. Don't forget to add it to your...