Kraków John Paul II International Airport — Balice, Poland

KRK honors Pope John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyła, who served as Archbishop of Kraków before his elevation to the papacy in 1978, and the airport's terminal sits at Balice, a short distance west of the city he led for over a decade. Kraków itself escaped the heavy destruction that leveled much of Warsaw during the Second World War, leaving behind a well-preserved medieval old town and Wawel Castle, the hilltop seat of Polish kings for centuries before the capital moved north. Budget carriers built KRK into one of Central Europe's busiest low-cost hubs over the past two decades, delivering visitors bound for the Wieliczka Salt Mine's underground chapels and the somber memorial grounds at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp roughly an hour's drive away. Ranking as Poland's second-busiest airport after Warsaw's Chopin field, KRK has expanded its terminal repeatedly to keep pace with tourism growth, cementing Kraków's status as one of the country's most visited cities.