The total length of the corridors of the dragon's den is 276 metres, of which 81 metres are open to the public on the tourist route. The entrance to the Wawel Dragon's Den is located in the neo-Gothic turret behind the Thieves' Tower on the defence wall of the Wawel Castle from the Vistula side. The cave is illuminated and three chambers are along its route. To begin, we have to climb 135 winding stairs leading to the first chamber of the Wawel Dragon's Den, from which water was once drawn for the needs of the inhabitants of Wawel Hill. A brick dome covers the next chamber, the largest room in the dragon's den, while the last chamber has the most varied karst carving. The exit hole is located on the Vistula boulevard, at the foot of Wawel Hill. It is guarded by a sculpture of the Wawel Dragon breathing fire, chiselled by Bronisław Chromy in 1972. A visit to the cave is undoubtedly one of the biggest attractions that will interest the little ones. When planning your visit, bear in mind that the temperature in the cave is cooler, and it is advisable to bring a sweater with you.
Other parts of the cave are inaccessible to tourists. They are made up of two corridors: the first, starting near the exit, leads south towards the statue of the Wawel Dragon. The second, much longer, was accessed after a tunnel was pierced in 1974. It is a system of small rooms and corridors with siphon in the initial part. A peculiarity of the lakes located there is a rare crustacean – Nipharagus tatratenis. There are several legends about the mythical Holophagus ('whole-eater'), as the Kraków chronicler Wincenty Kadłubek called the dragon. The dragon lived during the reign of the legendary city ruler Krakus. According to Kadłubek, the dragon was dealt with by Krak's sons, who fed it sulphur in cattle skins (the dragon supposedly demanded a steady supply of cattle and, having failed to satisfy its appetite, had a nasty habit of murdering the inhabitants of the immediate vicinity). Unfortunately, the younger brother took advantage of the situation to treacherously murder the older one (blaming this evil deed on the dragon) and take first place in line to the throne. When the crime came to light, the younger brother, then already ruler of Kraków, was exiled, and the throne was taken over by his sister Wanda, who did not want a German husband. Długosz, on the other hand, attributes the extermination of the monstrous creature to Krakus himself, and from the end of the 16th century, the story is linked to that of the shoemaker Skuba, an ancestor of the mighty family of Awdaniec, to whom the famous skin-and-sulphur trick was attributed. Skuba was to be rewarded for slaying the dragon by being granted nobility and a coat of arms.