Krakow is Poland’s second largest city and the country’s main tourist destination. The local economy is fueled mostly by expanding service sector although diverse industry and production still provide a fairly significant portion of jobs and wealth. The city remains the culture capital of Poland and its seven universities and nearly twenty other institutions of higher learning make Krakow the country’s principal center of science and education.

Number of permanent residents of Krakow proper hovers around 755,000 while the Krakow conurbation totals some 1.5 million. The local populace is ethnically almost homogeneous with people proudly declaring their Polish nationality. Yet immigrants start to leave a mark on the city, and some expatriate communities, notably Britons prove themselves quite vocal.

The city boasts hundreds of historical buildings, from medieval churches to Art Nouveau edifices. Krakow’s most popular ancient monuments are Wawel Royal Castle (Zamek Krolewski na Wawelu), Wawel Cathedral (Katedra Wawelska), St. Mary’s church (Kosciol Mariacki), Collegium Maius, Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), Barbican (Barbakan), St. Florian Gate (Brama Florianska), Tyniec Abbey (Opactwo Tynieckie), and Old Synagogue (Stara Boznica).

Kraków is one of Poland's most important economic centres and the economic hub of the Lesser Poland (Małopolska) region, with private sector has been growing steadily. There are about 50 large multinational companies in the city, including Google, IBM, Royal Dutch Shell, Motorola, Delphi, MAN SE, General Electric, ABB, Aon Hewitt, Cisco Systems Hitachi, Philip Morris, Capgemini, and Sabre Holdings, along with other British, German and Scandinavian-based firms. The city is also the global headquarters for Comarch, a Polish enterprise software house. In 2005, Foreign direct investment in Kraków has reached approximately US$3,500,000,000. Kraków has been trying to model itself as a European version of Silicon Valley, based on the large number of local and foreign hi-tech companies. The unemployment rate in Kraków was 4.8% in May 2007, well below the national average of 13%. Kraków is the second most-visited city in Poland (after Warsaw). According to the World Investment Report 2011 by the UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Kraków is also the most emergent city location for investment in global BPO projects (Business Process Outsourcing) in the world.