Day 1 – Arrival in Krakow  

Depart Dublin for your flight to Poland. Arrive in Krakow Balice airport & transfer to your hotel for check-in, overnight at your hotel.

Day 2 – Krakow – Wieliczka Salt Mines  (B/D) 
Breakfast at your hotel. In the morning you will go on a sightseeing tour of the Old Town during this you will discover the beauty of magical Krakow. Walk along the Royal Way and discover the culture of Krakow over the centuries. You will then arrive to the Market Square the biggest of its kind in Europe.  At noon you will hear the Krakow Hejnal (bugle call) played by a fireman trumpeter, who can be seen in a gothic window in the highest tower of St. Mary’s Church. From the tower of Wawel Cathedral, you will be able to touch the larges bell in Poland, the Sigismund Bell, there is  a wonderful view of the Old Town.  

In the afternoon you will go to Wieliczka, the home of the worlds oldest continuously operating company. Salt has been mined in Wieliczka since the 13th Century. On the tour you will pass through the 20 chambers on three underground levels where you will see lakes, chapels with salt figurines, bas reliefs and chandeliers

*Please note that at the beginning of the Salt Mine tour everyone must walk ca 370 steps downstairs. Then there is about 2 hours sightseeing of the salt mine. The way out is by lift.*

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Krakow

Day 3 – Auschwitz – Birkenau & Kazimierz Jewish district (B/D)
Following breakfast in your hotel, you will visit Auschwitz-Birkenau and extermination camp museum, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. Experience one of the most memorable lessons of modern European history. The flower strewn Death Wall, national memorials, the railway line and ramp and the remains of hundreds of barracks, all this forms a moving testimony to the number of lost lives as a result of Nazi atrocities across occupied Europe. After the visit you will head for Krakow.

In the afternoon you will enjoy a tour of the Kazimierz Jewish District, from the 16th Century it became the main cultural centre of the Jewish community in Poland with its unique oriental atmosphere with many of the buildings with Yiddish inscriptions survived and can be view today along with a number of restored buildings, cafes and restaurants. 

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Krakow

Day 4 – Free Day  (B)
Following breakfast enjoy a free day to explore Krakow at your leisure. Overnight in hotel.

Day 5 – Krakow – Czestochowa – Warsaw (B/L/D)
Today you will leave Krakow and travel to Warsaw with a stop in Czestochowa. You will be offered a Lunch in a local restaurant followed by a visit to Jasna Góra Monastery. This is a place of pilgrimage for thousands of people every year, it is the most important Marian shrine in Poland. The focal point is the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin with its miraculous icon of the Black Madonna. After you will travel to Warsaw for Dinner and overnight stay in Warsaw. 

Day 6 – Warsaw (B)
Following breakfast in your hotel, you will enjoy a full day sightseeing in Poland’s biggest city. Talk a walk around the city and view the beautiful sites of the Old Town including St. Johns Cathedral and the Royal castle. 

In the afternoon, visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum, it was opened on the 16th anniversary of the uprising, housed in a former tram power station, it is a monument of industrial architecture. The main elements of the exhibition are large format images, monitors and computers. The planned route presents the chronology of events and runs through a variety of themed rooms. Visitors move through a landscape from the past, walking along granite pavement among the ruins of the annihilated capital. At the heart of the Museum is a steel monument that passes through every floor of the building. The chronology of the Uprising is engraved upon the walls and the sound of a beating heart symbolises the life of Warsaw in 1944.

Dinner on your own and overnight stay in Warsaw.

Day 7 – Warsaw (B) 
Breakfast at your hotel. Enjoy a full day tour to the most beautiful Warsaw’s Parks. Lazienki – one of the most beautiful parks of Warsaw city centre. Formerly a hunting ground, in the 18th Century it was turned into a English style park with formal gardens and a neoclassical Lazienki Palace was built on the park’s lake. Other sites include the Orangery, Myslewicki Palace, the Observatory, Belvedere Palace and a Greek-style amphitheatre. One of its most important attractions is the Frederic Chopin Statue, where Chopin concerts are held every summer.

After Lazienki you will head for Wilanow Palace and Park. In the early 17th Century this Baroque palace and garden was turned into summer rogal residence. After the war it became a museum with a rich collection of Polish portraits, original furniture and interior décor.

Dinner on your own and overnight stay in Warsaw

Day 8 – Depart (B) 
Breakfast at your hotel and check-out. Transfer to the airport for your return flight.

B – Breakfast     L – Lunch     D – Dinner