South of Poland

Day 1: ARRIVAL TO KRAKOW

Arrive in Poland. Our Polish tour leader will meet you at the Krakow-Balice airport. We will transfer to the hotel. Check-in to hotel. Dinner. Overnight stay. 
 

Day 2:  KRAKOW

After breakfast we visit Krakow, the former royal capital, which fully deserved its position on the first ever published UNESCO World Heritage List.  Our sightseeing tour of the Old Town includes the Royal Walk with all its monuments. We visit St. Mary's Church with the majestic wooden altar carved by Veit Stoss, and see the medieval Cloth Hall in the heart of the main square. The tour ends on Wawel Hill with a guided visit to the Royal Cathedral and a walk around the Royal Castle. We visit the Jewish quarter, Kazimierz. This takes us to the entrance to the Remah Synagogue, which has a small historic graveyard. We have dinner and stay overnight in Krakow.

 

Day 3: WADOWICE - AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU

After breakfast we visit Wadowice, the birthplace of St. Pope John Paul II to see the parish church and the house where he was born. Nowadays the house functions as a modern Papal Museum, mainly showcasing various moments from the saint’s life. We continue to Oswiecim where we visit the former concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is now a museum. It is a unique UNESCO site, as it is the largest extermination camp in the world and a world symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. It was established by the Nazi’s in 1940 on the outskirts of the industrial town of Oswiecim and, during Hitler’s occupation of the area, it was home to one of the largest mass killings of people, predominantly of Jewish origin. We return to Krakow where we have dinner and stay overnight.

 

Day 4: WIELICZKA

After breakfast we take an excursion to the world-famous Wieliczka, home to another unique UNESCO World Heritage site, the Wieliczka Salt Mine. At over 300 m deep, we explore its magnificent underground chapels, lakes, and chambers carved from salt. Wieliczka is the oldest salt mine in the world that is still in operation. Next we travel to the Kraków-Balice airport. Farewell with our Polish tour leader. Check-in and departure.