Which areas near Kraków Airport are quietest for aircraft noise?

Because the runway is east-west, noise concentrates along that axis. Areas well to the north or south of the centreline — such as the southwest villages of Cholerzyn and Liszki, or points northeast like Zielonki — get far less overflight than Balice, Rząska or Bronowice. The map above lets you drop a pin on any address to see its exact exposure.

Is Rząska badly affected by aircraft noise?

Yes. Rząska sits directly east of the airport on the extended centreline, under runway 25 arrivals (aircraft approaching from the east) and runway 07 departures (climb-outs to the east). It has been a focal point of resident protests. Drop a pin on the map above to see the flight count over your specific street.

How do the runway directions at Balice work?

Kraków has one runway, 07/25, running roughly east-west. With the usual westerly winds the airport uses runway 25, so departures climb out to the west over Balice and Szczyglice and arrivals descend from the east over Rząska, Mydlniki and Bronowice. When winds reverse, operations flip to runway 07 and the pattern swaps ends. Ground noise from taxiing and engine runs on the apron also affects nearby Balice.

What is the Area of Limited Use (Obszar Ograniczonego Użytkowania) at Kraków Airport?

The OOU is a legally designated noise-restriction zone around the airport, in place since 2009, within which building rules and noise norms apply and residents may claim for sound insulation. Regional figures cited by 2026 put roughly 117,000 people in the surrounding Liszki, Zabierzów and Kraków municipalities in areas where noise norms are exceeded. Zone matters are handled partly by the Małopolska Marshal's Office alongside the airport.

Will the proposed new runway at Balice make noise worse?

A second, parallel runway (the 'nowa droga startowa') has been proposed but not built. It drew a Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection (RDOŚ) decision in early 2026 and heavy resident opposition, with campaigners appealing and warning it would expand the legal noise-restriction zone over thousands more homes. Nothing on the map above reflects the proposed runway — it shows only the existing 07/25 traffic.

How do I report aircraft noise at Kraków Airport?

Kraków Airport publishes a contact line for passenger and environmental enquiries (+48 12 295 58 00) via its website. Noise-zone (OOU) and compensation matters are handled partly through the Małopolska Marshal's Office and Voivodeship Sejmik. Logging your address on the map above first helps you describe exactly when and how often flights pass over you.

Does this map include military flights from the base at Balice?

The map reflects aircraft that broadcast a standard tracking signal, which covers the civil airline and cargo fleet well. Some military transport movements from the Polish Air Force's 8th Transport Aviation Base on the south side of the field may not be tracked, so occasional military noise can occur that the heatmap does not capture.

Kraków Flight Path Noise Map – Kraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)

Name: Aircraft noise observations near Kraków John Paul II International Airport
Creator: Flight Path Noise
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Aircraft noise around Kraków in October 2026

Loudest neighborhoods near Kraków: Balice, Szczyglice, Rząska, Mydlniki, Kraków-Bronowice. Quietest: Cholerzyn, Liszki, Zielonki. Busiest around 11 AM local time averaging 344 flights/day. Source: Flight Path Noise monitoring data, 30 days to 2026-10-19.

Flights by hour · last 30 days

12a6a12p6p

Average daily traffic

344

flights / day · 10,322 total

Busiest hour

11 AM

peak 91 dB

Loudest hour

11 AM

peak 91 dB

Loudest residential area

Aleksandrowice

73 dB avg · ~298 flights/day · Loud conversation

Just southwest of the runway 25 end, slightly off the centreline but within the close western noise footprint.

Does Kraków Airport have a curfew?

Partial — a guaranteed-quiet core of 1 AM to 5 AM only, not a full curfew.

Kraków-Balice operates 24 hours. It has no full overnight ban — only a narrow guaranteed-quiet window from 1 AM to 5 AM, in force since 1 November 2020. Residents and some local councillors had campaigned for a much wider 22:00–06:00 curfew (with a rival proposal of midnight–06:00), but the adopted rule protects just those four small-hours. In practice aircraft still land until around 2 AM, take off shortly after 1 AM, and the first departures scheduled at 5 AM begin generating noise from roughly 4:30 AM, so the effective silent stretch is short. This is a locally negotiated operating restriction rather than a hard legal ban, and the airport has argued that a wider curfew would cap its early-morning and late-evening connections to European hubs.

Kraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK/EPKK), universally known as Balice after the village it sits in, is a single-runway, east-west field roughly 11 km west of Kraków city centre — and it shares its concrete strip with the Polish Air Force’s 8th Transport Aviation Base on the south side, so residents live under a mix of scheduled airline, cargo and military traffic. Because the runway is east-west and prevailing westerlies push most movements toward the west, the villages strung along the extended centreline — Balice and Szczyglice to the west, Rząska, Mydlniki and Kraków-Bronowice to the east — sit almost permanently under the approach and departure paths. Two long-running fights define Balice’s noise story: a night-quiet regime that guarantees silence only from 1 AM to 5 AM, and a bitter dispute over a proposed new parallel runway that would extend the legal noise-restriction zone over thousands more homes.

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

Kraków has a single runway, 07/25, 2,550 m long and oriented roughly east-west. Because all traffic funnels along that one axis, noise concentrates in a narrow band directly east and west of the field rather than spreading evenly around it. The closer a home sits to the extended centreline, the more consistent the overflight.

Area	Aircraft noise	Why
Balice	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Immediately west, off the runway 25 threshold; under the main path plus apron ground noise
Szczyglice	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Just beyond the runway 25 end under the westbound climb-out
Rząska	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Directly east on the centreline; under 25 arrivals and 07 departures
Mydlniki	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Eastern flight path between the airport and Bronowice
Kraków-Bronowice	✈︎✈︎✈︎	City district lined up with the east-west runway axis
Aleksandrowice	✈︎✈︎	Southwest of the 25 end, just off the centreline
Zabierzów	✈︎✈︎	Borders the airport to the north; lateral to the path
Morawica	✈︎✈︎	Northwest; affected by turning westbound traffic
Kryspinów	✈︎✈︎	Southwest of the 25 end; lateral and low westbound noise
Modlniczka	✈︎✈︎	Northeast; lateral to the eastern corridor
Cholerzyn	✈︎	Southwest, off the main corridor
Liszki	✈︎	Southwest, well off the centreline
Zielonki	✈︎	Northeast, at the edge of the tracking radius

If aircraft noise is a primary concern, the practical move at Balice is to get off the east-west centreline — north toward Zabierzów and Modlniczka, or south toward Cholerzyn and Liszki, where homes catch only lateral and turning noise rather than the full over-the-roof approach. The consistently affected band runs from Balice and Szczyglice in the west, straight through the field, to Rząska, Mydlniki and Bronowice in the east. If you’re weighing a home anywhere in that corridor, drop a pin on the map above to see your specific street.

Flight patterns and runway use

Everything at Kraków turns on that one runway and the wind. With the usual westerly winds, the airport uses runway 25 (heading ~258°): departures climb out to the west over Balice and Szczyglice, and arrivals descend from the east, crossing Bronowice, Mydlniki and Rząska on their way down. When winds reverse, operations flip to runway 07 — departures then climb out to the east over Rząska and the western Kraków districts, while arrivals approach from the west over Balice. Either way, the same handful of neighbourhoods stay under the traffic; the wind only decides whether a given village hears arrivals or departures on a given day.

Layered on top of the civil schedule is the military base on the south side of the field. The Polish Air Force’s 8th Transport Aviation Base flies transport movements from the same runway, and residents also report significant ground noise — engine runs and taxiing on the apron — especially at night, on top of the overflights themselves.

The route-density layer on the map above shows this concentration clearly: a bright, tight corridor running due east and west from the runway, with density falling off sharply to the north and south. That’s the signature of a single-runway, east-west airport — there is no second corridor to spread the load, which is exactly why the centreline villages carry so much of it.

When is it quietest?

Kraków-Balice runs 24 hours a day, and its night-quiet regime is far narrower than residents wanted, so the quiet is real but short:

Guaranteed quiet (1 AM – 5 AM): the only protected window, in force since 1 November 2020. Aircraft still land until around 2 AM and can take off shortly after 1 AM, so even this stretch is not perfectly silent at its edges.
Early departure bank (from ~4:30 AM): the first flights scheduled at 5 AM begin generating noise from roughly 4:30 AM as crews spin up — the practical end of the quiet period.
Morning (6 AM – 9 AM): heavy departure activity as the day’s first wave of European connections leaves.
Midday to afternoon: steady, sustained traffic.
Evening (6 PM – 11 PM): a second busy stretch as inbound flights arrive from European hubs and late departures push toward the night window.
Late night (11 PM – 1 AM): still active — this is the gap residents campaigned to close, with landings and departures continuing right up to the 1 AM quiet window.

Residents and councillors had pushed for a full 22:00–06:00 curfew (and a rival midnight–06:00 proposal), but the adopted rule protects only the small hours. The airport has resisted anything wider, arguing it would cap its early-morning and late-evening connections.

How to check noise at your specific address

The map above answers the only question that really matters: is this address loud? Three steps:

Search your address or postcode in the bar at the bottom of the map.
Drop a pin — click the location marker that appears.
Read the noise report in the sidebar: average daily noise, peak observed level, flights per day passing within 2 km, and an hourly breakdown.

Switch on the Noise Heatmap layer (orange/red = louder) and the Route Density layer (purple/magenta = busier corridors) to see the east-west band light up along the runway axis. Homes a few streets north or south of that corridor often fall into the quiet green zone even when a nearby village on the centreline does not — at Balice, the difference of a kilometre off the axis can change your exposure completely, so it’s worth checking the exact spot rather than trusting the neighbourhood’s reputation.

Frequently asked questions

Why is there so much aircraft noise around Kraków-Balice?: Kraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK/EPKK) has a single east-west runway (07/25) that points its traffic straight along one narrow corridor rather than spreading it out. Prevailing westerly winds mean most takeoffs and landings use runway 25 toward the west, so the villages strung along the extended centreline — Balice and Szczyglice to the west, Rząska, Mydlniki and Bronowice to the east — sit almost permanently under the approach and departure paths. The field is also a joint civil-military base, adding Polish Air Force transport movements to scheduled airline and cargo traffic.
Which areas near Kraków Airport are quietest for aircraft noise?: Because the runway is east-west, noise concentrates along that axis. Areas well to the north or south of the centreline — such as the southwest villages of Cholerzyn and Liszki, or points northeast like Zielonki — get far less overflight than Balice, Rząska or Bronowice. The map above lets you drop a pin on any address to see its exact exposure.
Is Rząska badly affected by aircraft noise?: Yes. Rząska sits directly east of the airport on the extended centreline, under runway 25 arrivals (aircraft approaching from the east) and runway 07 departures (climb-outs to the east). It has been a focal point of resident protests. Drop a pin on the map above to see the flight count over your specific street.
How do the runway directions at Balice work?: Kraków has one runway, 07/25, running roughly east-west. With the usual westerly winds the airport uses runway 25, so departures climb out to the west over Balice and Szczyglice and arrivals descend from the east over Rząska, Mydlniki and Bronowice. When winds reverse, operations flip to runway 07 and the pattern swaps ends. Ground noise from taxiing and engine runs on the apron also affects nearby Balice.
What is the Area of Limited Use (Obszar Ograniczonego Użytkowania) at Kraków Airport?: The OOU is a legally designated noise-restriction zone around the airport, in place since 2009, within which building rules and noise norms apply and residents may claim for sound insulation. Regional figures cited by 2026 put roughly 117,000 people in the surrounding Liszki, Zabierzów and Kraków municipalities in areas where noise norms are exceeded. Zone matters are handled partly by the Małopolska Marshal's Office alongside the airport.
Will the proposed new runway at Balice make noise worse?: A second, parallel runway (the 'nowa droga startowa') has been proposed but not built. It drew a Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection (RDOŚ) decision in early 2026 and heavy resident opposition, with campaigners appealing and warning it would expand the legal noise-restriction zone over thousands more homes. Nothing on the map above reflects the proposed runway — it shows only the existing 07/25 traffic.
How do I report aircraft noise at Kraków Airport?: Kraków Airport publishes a contact line for passenger and environmental enquiries (+48 12 295 58 00) via its website. Noise-zone (OOU) and compensation matters are handled partly through the Małopolska Marshal's Office and Voivodeship Sejmik. Logging your address on the map above first helps you describe exactly when and how often flights pass over you.
Does this map include military flights from the base at Balice?: The map reflects aircraft that broadcast a standard tracking signal, which covers the civil airline and cargo fleet well. Some military transport movements from the Polish Air Force's 8th Transport Aviation Base on the south side of the field may not be tracked, so occasional military noise can occur that the heatmap does not capture.

Sources and further reading

Kraków John Paul II International Airport — Wikipedia
Obszar ograniczonego użytkowania (Area of Limited Use) — Kraków Airport
Cisza nocna w Kraków Airport. Radny mówił o ryczeniu krów — LoveKraków.pl
Brak ciszy nocnej – społeczny problem, negatywne strony rozwoju lotniska — Goniec Zabierzowski
Decyzja RDOŚ – walczymy o zdrowie i spokój (new runway / noise appeal) — Stowarzyszenie Przyjazne Lotniska
Lotnisko w Balicach, budowa nowego pasa zagrożona – mieszkańcy protestują — Bizblog / Spider's Web

Data updated 2026-10-19 — live ADS-B monitoring, rolling 30-day statistics (methodology). Article text revised 2026-07-17.

30 dB	Whisper
45 dB	Quiet residential
55 dB	Normal conversation
65 dB	Busy road
75 dB	Vacuum cleaner
85 dB	Heavy traffic
95 dB	Motorcycle nearby

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Kraków Flight Path Noise Map – Kraków John Paul II International Airport (KRK)

Aircraft noise around Kraków in October 2026

Does Kraków Airport have a curfew?

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

Flight patterns and runway use

When is it quietest?

How to check noise at your specific address

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

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