Record Store EuroTrip: Krakow
Krakow is one of my personal favourite cities, known for its gorgeous medieval architecture, stunning churches, and proximity to some of Poland’s most famous (and infamous) historical sites. If you happen to find yourself in the erstwhile capital of Poland and get the urge to indulge in some crate-flipping while you’re there (or just need something to do while you take a break from eating your body weight in pierogis) head over to the Kazimierz neighborhood. Once Krakow’s Jewish Quarter, Kazimierz today is cool, hipster-friendly area with plenty of coffee shops, vintage stores (I recommend Inspiro Vintage), and of course record stores. Lets get into it.
Records Dillaz
Berka Joselewicza 11, 31-051 Kraków, Poland
This spot (allegedly the oldest record store in the city) is a cozy little room down a short flight of stairs from the sidewalk of Kazimierz, the kind of place that always contains at least one man with a violently non-corporate haircut and a black t-shirt featuring an incomprehensible band logo. While small, Dillaz packs in tons of Polish and English-language music on both vinyl and CD. I always love when record stores go out of their way to spotlight local music and really give you a picture of the music scene in a given area and Dillaz does this in spades. In the English music section I found an abundance of prog rock in the forms of Rush, Yes, and UFO, as well as some hair metal gems like Stryper and Europe.
Paul’s Boutique Record Store
Bożego Ciała 24, 31-059 Kraków, Poland
Paul’s Boutique, a record store that shares a name with a Beastie Boys album and a building space with a graffiti-and-street-art-focused art supply store, is an undeniable mecca of all things cool in Krakow. The space is quite large with room for tons of used and new vinyl, a DJ set-up for the spinning of select albums, a sprinkling of CDs and other non-vinyl music media, plus t-shirts and other merch. The vinyl selection is impressive with a clear focus on hip-hop, jazz, and international rock music – this is the place for those tired of seeing the same five Van Halen records in every shop to ever exist. I also really appreciate the focus on Polish music across various genres. For the mainstream rock fans – despair not for Paul’s still has you covered. I found an excellent selection of hair metal, punk, classic rock, and the only copy of Demon’s Night of the Demon that I’ve ever seen in the wild. Thankfully for my bank account I was travelling by backpack and didn’t really have the facilities to transport delicate records back to Canada.
Bonus Music Nerd Content!
If you’d rather stay in the historic city center to get your music nerd fix, I recommend visiting the Gallery of Polish Design, a collection belonging to the National Museum in Krakow that showcases the evolution of arts (including music), culture, and industry in Poland from the 20th century onwards. As of my last visit in November 2025, there is a particularly cool exhibit spotlighting the history and impact of SBB, one of Poland’s most influential rock bands and the first band to be recorded live in the country.