My marathons

Krakow Marathon

Krakow
Main Square
© OpenStreetMap Main Square. Photograph by Ingo Mehling, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons . Course line © OpenStreetMap contributors

The course

Pick a place, or drag along the profile

Flat from km 4 to km 25, a slow rise of 12 m to km 31, then a climb of 16 m home from km 40.

Start, finish

© OpenStreetMap contributors

  1. Photo: Jorge Lascar, CC BY 2.0
  3. Photo: Igor123121, CC BY 4.0
  5. Photo: marek7400, CC BY 3.0
  6. Photo: Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0
  8. Photo: Daniel.zolopa, CC BY 4.0
  9. Photo: Abzeronow, CC BY 4.0

km 1.1mile 0.7

Wawel Royal Castle

The 2026 course passed below Wawel Hill twice: down Grodzka in the first kilometre and along the riverbank in the last three.

Photo: Igor123121, CC BY 4.0

Height drawn many times taller than life. Heights: GEDTM30.

Course elevation profile, 8× vertical exaggeration Elevation along the course from km 0 to km 42. The trace runs between 200 and 216 metres, a range of 16 metres, drawn at 8 times vertical exaggeration so the shape is legible. Smoothed over 1 km before this profile was derived. An unsmoothed urban surface carries the buildings and would assert a climb that is not there. The dashed stretches are bridge decks: Most Dębnicki, km 14.3 to 14.5; Stoczniowców, km 21.8 to 22.3; Aleja Pokoju, km 23.4 to 23.6; Aleja Pokoju, km 35.3 to 35.4. A bare-earth model reads the ground or the water beneath a bridge, not the deck the runner is on, so those runs are interpolated between the ground either side rather than measured, and they under-report the real climb across a span.
0 10 20 30 40 km
0 10 20 26.2 mi

Dashed: bridge

  • flat 4 to 25
  • slow rise to 31
  • climb home

Your 5 gels, at the orange marksFor a 4:00 finish, one every 40 minutes

  1. km 7mile 4.4
  2. km 14.1mile 8.7
  3. km 21.1mile 13.1
  4. km 28.1mile 17.5
  5. km 35.2mile 21.8

Get them on AmazonAmazon partner link

The course in short 3 lines
  • Start and finish on the Main Market SquareThe race ends on the square where it began, with a recovery area just past the line.
  • Old town, Wawel and the VistulaCloth Hall, Wawel, Błonia and the river boulevards, through nine districts in 2026.
  • Lowest by the river, highest on the squareA 16 m spread; the low point is on the river near km 40, the last 2 km rise to the square.
Course notes 4 short reads on the course
Whole courseFinishStart and finish on the Main Market SquareThe race ends on the square where it began, with a recovery area just past the line.

Since 2014 the start and the finish have both been on the Main Market Square, the best-known place in Kraków. In 2026 a regeneration zone stood just beyond the finish line, on the same square.

Sourced

Whole courseLandmarkOld town, Wawel and the VistulaCloth Hall, Wawel, Błonia and the river boulevards, through nine districts in 2026.

The 2026 course passed the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), Wawel Royal Castle and the church on Skałka, and reached the open meadow of Błonia Krakowskie and the Ronald Reagan Central Square. Part of the race ran along the Vistula Boulevards. The ICE Kraków Congress Centre was on the course too. In all, the route crossed nine districts of the city. A section along Księcia Józefa Street out to Przegorzały was new that year.

Sourced

km 0 to 42.2GradientLowest by the river, highest on the squareA 16 m spread; the low point is on the river near km 40, the last 2 km rise to the square.

The 2026 course starts at about 216 m on the Main Market Square and spends most of the race between 200 m and 210 m; Przegorzały, at the western end, is at about 204 m and Plac Centralny in Nowa Huta at about 212 m. Its lowest point, about 200 m, is on the Vistula Boulevards near km 40; from there the last 2.2 km climb about 16 m back up to the finish on the square. The organiser’s 2026 map gives 199 m to 220 m and puts the climbing at 123 m; counted over the race as a whole, without every small rise a watch picks up, it comes to about 55 m, the total climb on the race card.

Measured

Whole courseCrowdA record field in 2026The 2026 race had the longest finish list in its history.

The race on 19 April 2026 was the 23rd edition and had the biggest finish list in the event’s history: 6,669 people.

Sourced

Race fuel

Energy gel
An energy gel sachet
Illustration · drag to turn

5 gels for Krakow, plus 1 spare

Finish

One every 40 minutes, the orange marks on the profile. Krakow stays within 16 m52 ft of height, so they go by the clock:

  1. km 7mile 4.4
  2. km 14.1mile 8.7
  3. km 21.1mile 13.1
  4. km 28.1mile 17.5
  5. km 35.2mile 21.8

Our pick: SiS BETA Fuel gel, box of 6, strawberry and lime. 40 g of carbohydrate a gel, about twice a usual gel, from two kinds of sugar your body takes up side by side.

Easy to forget on race morning: pack them with your bib the night before.

Get it on Amazon

We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.

In Canada the button opens GU Energy Gel, Salted Caramel, 24-pack, the best seller there.

Outside the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the UK and Ireland, Spain and Portugal, Italy, the rest of the EU and Canada the button opens GU Energy Gel, Chocolate Outrage, 24-pack on Amazon.com, the best seller there.

Anti-chafe
Compeed Anti-blister stick
Photo: Compeed

Compeed

Compeed anti-blister stick, 8 ml

Best selling on Amazon amazon.nl, read 2 Nov

An invisible layer before the start keeps seams, straps and shoes from rubbing skin raw.

Put it on before you leave for the start: heels and toes, inner thighs, under a bra or heart-rate strap.

Try it on a long run first, like everything you use on race day.

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We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.

Number belt
A race number belt
Illustration · drag to turn

Compressport Race Belt

Holds your bib without safety pins through your top, with loops for up to 8 gels.

Clip the bib on the night before, so it goes on with your shorts in the morning.

Keep the number on the front, where officials and photographers can see it.

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We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.

Electrolytes
A tube of electrolyte tablets
Illustration · drag to turn

SiS Hydro electrolyte tablets, tube of 20

One tablet in a bottle puts back some of the salt you sweat out.

One tablet in 500 ml of water in the hour before the start.

Only if you have used them in training: nothing new on race day.

Get it on Amazon

We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.

Blister plasters
Compeed Blister plasters, medium, 6
Photo: Compeed

Compeed

Compeed blister plasters, medium, 6

Best selling on Amazon amazon.nl, read 2 Nov

One in a pocket cushions a blister if one starts.

Put it on clean, dry skin and leave it until it comes off by itself.

Give a couple to whoever comes to cheer, so they are there at the km you need them.

Get it on Amazon

We earn a small fee if you buy through these links. The price is the same.
distance
42.2 km26.2 mi
climb
54.9 m180 ft
finishers
6,669
first held
2002

A loop out from Krakow's Main Market Square past Wawel Castle, the Cloth Hall and the Vistula riverside, returning to finish among the crowds on the same medieval square where it started.

The Krakow Marathon is a loop of 42.2 km with 54.9 m of climbing. Its lowest point is 200 m and its highest 216 m above sea level. Next race: Sunday 18 April 2027.

Trip

Getting a place

Entry through the organiser

Entry details on the organiser’s site →

Zarzad Infrastruktury Sportowej w Krakowie, a third party. We take no entries and have no part in the race.

Make your postcard

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Questions about the Krakow Marathon

Is the Krakow Marathon course flat?

Not entirely. It has 54.9 m of climbing over 42.2 km. The highest point is 16 m above the lowest.

When is the Krakow Marathon 2027?

Sunday 18 April 2027.

How many runners finish the Krakow Marathon?

6,669 runners finished in 2026.

Sources and licence

Last checked.

Course line matched onto OpenStreetMap road geometry: (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License 1.0 (ODbL). Elevation sampled from GEDTM30, Global Ensemble Digital Terrain Model at 30 m (v1.2): Elevation: GEDTM30 (Ho & Hengl, OpenGeoHub), CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Elevation gain computed by us from that line, smoothed over 1 kmsmoothed over 0.6 mi.

The line follows the road down its middle, so it measures 1.11% longer than the certified distance, which is measured on the shortest legal line through every bend.

Date and entry information from Zarzad Infrastruktury Sportowej w Krakowie.

Every source and licence behind them →

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