Highlights of Poland

After touching down in Krakow’s airport, you’ll be met by your private driver for transfer to your accommodation in the city. After checking in, get a feel for the city by doing some leisurely exploring. If you’re near the main square, we suggest a visit to Cloth Hall where you can get reenergized with a cup up coffee and a view. The Kraków Cloth Hall, the central feature of the main market square in Old Town, dates to the Renaissance and is one of the city’s most recognizable icons. You can also find handicrafts and beautiful Polish paintings here. 

Join a local guide for a private tour of Krakow, starting at the Jewish District of Kazimierz. Along the way, your guide will provide you with insight behind what you’re seeing to provide a better feel for the city. A short walk up Wawel Hill will bring you to a 14th-century cathedral and the Royal Castle. You’ll visit Collegium Maius and then continue to the main market square where you can shop for souvenirs in the Cloth Hall. Your tour concludes at St. Mary’s Church. If you need tips about what to see on your own, your guide can make suggestions. The afternoon is free for you to enjoy the city at your leisure.

A tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp will reveal some of World War II’s worst atrocities at the Nazi’s largest concentration camp and biggest site of genocide. From the spring of 1942 through the fall of 1944, trains brought Jews to its gas chambers from throughout Nazi-occupied Europe – over 1.1 million were killed. Most were Jews, but anyone unlucky enough to catch the eye of the Nazis, including Poles and Hungarians were exterminated too. You’ll visit both parts of the Auschwitz Memorial Museum, in Brzezinka and Oswiecimas, which has been incredibly well preserved, and also watch a documentary on the history of Auschwitz. 

Just 20 minutes from the center of Krakow lies the Wieliczka Salt Mine. The complex which closed as a mine in 1996 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its attractions include the shafts and labyrinthine passageways, displays of historic salt-mining technology, an underground lake, four chapels, and numerous statues carved by miners out of the rock salt. After a morning tour return to Krakow for a relaxing three-hour train ride north to Warsaw. Upon arrival, you will be transferred to your hotel, after which you are free to explore the Polish capital at leisure. 

An in-depth tour of Warsaw’s most important historical sites will be enjoyed today. You’ll explore its architecture, culture, history and more with a local guide who can fill you in on the stories behind what you’re seeing, including tidbits you probably didn’t know. Visiting everything from the Royal Castle and Old Town to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the magnificent Palace on the Isle, a classicist palace in Royal Baths Park, the city’s largest park. You’ll tour in a private vehicle to save time and energy while covering all the highlights in this sprawling city.

The Warsaw Uprising of 1944 was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation and gain control before the arrival of the Soviet Army from the East. The Uprising eventually failed and thousands of Poles lost thier lives. Today the Warsaw Uprising Museum is dedicated this dark chapter in Polish history, displaying everything from guns to love letters. Your private tour with tell the person stories of those who survived and those who perished for their homeland. 

The afternoon is free, but we recommend a visit to Elektrownia Powisle, a wonderful example of post-industrial regeneration, full of cafes, bars and shops. 

Morning pick up by private vehicle for your transfer to the port city of Gdansk. En route, you will stop for a private walking tour and lunch in the historic town of Torun, which is inscribed into UNESCO for its wonderfully preserved battlements and medieval center. It was also the birthplace of Copernicus, who formulated a model that placed the Sun and not the Earth at the center of the universe – something that was hugely controversial in the 16th century. After the tour, there will be time for lunch (own expense) before continuing to Gdansk. 

This morning you will be met by your guide at the hotel and enjoy a short walking tour through Gdansk’s beautiful old town from the Green to the Gold Gate. Gdansk is a deeply historic port city, once a member of the powerful Hanseatic League, and later the starting point of World War II, and the Solitary Movement which is seen as the beginning of the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. 

After the tour, you will enter the city’s World War II Museum, which is considered one of the best and most comprehensive museums of its kind in Europe. The complex is very large so the guide will show you the highlights, with free time to explore further if you wish.

Founded as a trade union in the shipyards of Gdansk in 1980, the Solidarity movement is seen as the catalyst for the collapse of communist regimes throughout East Europe in the winter of 1989. At the museum, you will enjoy a guided tour through the history of communism in Poland, the founding of the trade union, and the struggle of ordinary people to bring about change in a dark repressive world. 

In the afternoon you can enjoy an optional private excursion out of the city to the 14th-century Malbork Castle and learn about Poland’s glorious medieval past. Or you may just chose to enjoy the pretty old town of Gadansk. 

Your nine tantalizing nights in Poland come to an end this morning. After checking out of your hotel, you’ll be met by private transfer for the ride to the airport where you’ll begin your journey home. If you don’t have to return just yet, contact our travel experts about creating a bespoke addition to your itinerary, perhaps exploring another European country.