 In the same year, UNESCO placed Kraków Old Town on the first-ever list of World Heritage Sites.Kraków lies in the southern part of Poland, on the Vistula River, in a valley at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, above sea level; halfway between the Jurassic Rock Upland () to the north, and the Tatra Mountains to the south, constituting the natural border with Slovakia and the Czech Republic; west from the border with Ukraine.There are five nature reserves in Kraków, with a combined area of ca.