Poland – The land of UNESCO Treasures

DAY 1
WARSAW (D)
HISTORIC CENTER OF WARSAW – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1980

During the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, more than 85% of Warsaw’s historic centre was destroyed by Nazi troops. After the war, a five-year reconstruction campaign by its citizens resulted in today’s meticulous restoration of the Old Town, with its churches, palaces and market-place. It is an outstanding example of a near-total reconstruction of a span of history covering the 13th to the 20th century.
Orientation walk through the narrow cobble-stone streets of the Old Town with its historical churches and romantic tenement-houses. You will feel the breath of history while your walk though the historic part of Warsaw and enjoy your welcome dinner at one of the local restaurants beautifully located in the Old Town Market Square.

DAY 2
WARSAW (B, D)

A half day tour of Warsaw, a fascinating blend of old and new energy. See the Old Town beautifully rebuilt after the WW II with the impressive Royal Castle, the seat of kings of Poland; Jewish sites and drive along the historical Royal Route. Evening drive to one of Warsaw’s palaces for a fantastic journey through Frederic Chopin’s compositions. Enjoy a private piano concert with glass of wine during the interval. You will listen to the world-famous Chopin’s works played by one of the leading pianists in Poland.

DAY 3
WARSAW – TORUN – MALBORK – GDANSK (B, L)
TORUN – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1997

The town owes its origins to the Teutonic Order, which built a castle there in the mid-13th century as a base for the conquest and evangelization of Prussia. It soon developed a commercial role as part of the Hanseatic League. Walk through the historic part of Torun. It’s Old Town has been included in the UNESCO list thank to the most impressive 13th century Town Hall, superb churches and streets uncovering Torun’s past glory.
Continue your drive to MALBORK – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1997
This 13th-century fortified monastery belonging to the Teutonic Order was substantially enlarged and embellished after 1309, when the seat of the Grand Master moved here from Venice. A particularly fine example of a medieval brick castle, it later fell into decay, but was meticulously restored in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the conservation techniques now accepted as standard were evolved here.

DAY 4
GDANSK-GDYNIA-SOPOT (B, D)

The Tricity, an urban complex extending along the Bay of Gdansk is one of Poland’s largest tourist attractions.
Gdansk, a Hanseatic town more than 1000 years old and a birthplace of the Solidarity Trade Union. Walk along the Old Town with the famous Artus Court – a building used for Hanseatic League meetings and one of the most beautiful courts in all the Hanseatic cities. Gdynia, a young port city, a center of shipbuilding, electroengineering and martime industries. The yacht harbour at the south side of the South Pier is a mecca for sailors. Walk along the South Pier with historical ships-museums and Oceanographic Museum. Sopot, the smallest town of the Tri-City agglomeration is a seaside resort and spa of the Gulf of Gdansk. Once described as the Riviera of the North. The tour shows the outstanding beauty of this town smothered in greenery and full of elegant villas, pensions and hotels built in 19th and at the beginning of 20th century. A famous Sopot pier should not to be missed, as it is the longest wooden pier in Europe.

DAY 5
GDANSK – WROCLAW (B, L)

Morning departure for Wroclaw. A city situated in the middle of the Silesian Lowland, where the Odra River branches out to form 12 islands and a city with one of the most beautiful and largest Market Squares in Poland and its Town hall that is recognized as a gem of Gothic-Renaissance urban architecture.

DAY 6
WROCLAW – SWIDNICA – WROCLAW (B, D)
Centennial Hall (Hala Ludowa) – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 2006

Half day tour of Wroclaw – start at the Market Square with the beautiful buildings and the Town Hall, that are recognised as gem of Gothic-Renaissance urban architecture. See the magnificent Aula Leopoldinum, one of the most magnificent chambers of the Wroclaw University. Rich Baroque decors from the 1st half of the 18th century makes Aula Leopoldinum one of the most spectacular Baroque interiors in Poland.
The Centennial Hall (Jahrhunderthalle in German and Hala Ludowa in Polish), a landmark in the history of reinforced concrete architecture, was erected in 1911-1913 by Max Berg. The Centennial Hall, a multi-purpose recreational building, is a centrally-planned structure situated on the Exhibition Grounds. The Centennial Hall is a pioneering work of modern engineering and architecture.
Drive to Swidnica.
See the Church of Peace in Swidnica – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 2001 – the largest timber-framed religious building in Europe, was built in the former Silesia in the mid-17th century, amid the religious strife that followed the Peace of Westphalia. Constrained by the physical and political conditions, the Church of Peace bears testimony to the quest for religious freedom and it is a rare expression of Lutheran ideology in an idiom generally associated with the Catholic Church.

DAY 7
WROCLAW-OSWIECIM-KALWARIA ZEBRZYDOWSKA-KRAKOW (B, L)

Morning departure for Krakow.
En route stop in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannierist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and a Pilgrimage Park – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1999
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a breathtaking cultural landscape of great spiritual significance. Its natural setting – in which a series of symbolic places of worship relating to the Passion of Jesus Christ and the life of the Virgin Mary was laid out at the beginning of the 17th century – has remained virtually unchanged.
Lunch en route at a local restaurant. Continue with drive to Oswiecim to see Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945) – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1979
The fortified walls, barbed wire, platforms, barracks, gallows, gas chambers and cremation ovens show the conditions within which the Nazi genocide took place in the former concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest in the Third Reich. According to historical investigations, 1.5 million people, among them a great number of Jews, were systematically starved, tortured and murdered in this camp, the symbol of humanity’s cruelty to its fellow human beings in the 20th century.
Arrival in Krakow for overnight.

DAY 8
KRAKOW (B, D)
Krakow’s Historic Centre – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1978

The historic centre o f Krakow, the former capital of Poland, is situated at the foot of the Royal Wawel Castle. The 13th-century merchants’ town has Europe’s largest market square and numerous historical houses, palaces and churches with their magnificent interiors. Further evidence of the town’s fascinating history is provided by the remnants of the 14th-century fortifications and the medieval site of Kazimierz with its ancient synagogues in the southern part of town, Jagiellonian University and the Gothic cathedral where the kings of Poland were buried.
A morning visit to the Wawel Castle – the royal residence and the seat of Polish kings and tour of Krakow’s Old Town with the Main Market Square with magnificent houses and palaces.
Afternoon drive to WIELICZKA SALT MINE – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1978
This deposit of rock salt in Wieliczka-Bochnia has been mined since the 13th century. Spread over nine levels, it has 300 km of galleries with works of art, altars, and statues sculpted in the salt, making a fascinating pilgrimage into the past of a major industrial undertaking.
Dinner at a local inn in Wieliczka and drive back to Krakow for overnight.

DAY 9
KRAKOW – LIPNICA MUROWANA – LANCUT – RZESZOW (B, L)

Morning tour of KAZIMIERZ DISTRICT – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1978
Further evidence of the town’s fascinating history is provided by the remnants of the 14th-century fortifications and the medieval site of Kazimierz with its ancient synagogues in the southern part of town, Jagiellonian University and the Gothic cathedral where the kings of Poland were buried.
Drive to see one of the wooden churches of southern Little Poland region.
LIPNICA – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 2003
The wooden churches of southern Little Poland represent outstanding examples of the different aspects of medieval church-building traditions in Roman Catholic culture. Built using the horizontal log technique, common in eastern and northern Europe since the Middle Ages, these churches were sponsored by noble families and became status symbols.
Continue to Lancut. Lunch at a local restaurant. Visit the magnificent interiors of Lancut Palace – which is likely to be the best known aristocratic residence anywhere in Poland. It is one of the largest and holds one of the most extensive and diverse collections of art. Drive for overnight in Rzeszow.

DAY 10
RZESZOW-LEZAJSK-ZAMOSC (B, D)

Morning drive to Lezajsk to see the beautiful organs of the Lezajsk Cathedral and continue your drive to Lancut.
Continue to ZAMOSC – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1992
Zamosc was founded in the 16th century by the chancellor Jan Zamoysky on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the Black Sea. Zamosc is a perfect example of a late-16th-century Renaissance town. It has retained its original layout and fortifications and a large number of buildings that combine Italian and central European architectural traditions.
Tour of the Zamosc city called the Pearl of the Renaissance or Padua of the North.
Dinner at one of the local restaurants.

DAY 11
ZAMOSC-GRABARKA-BIALOWIEZA (B, L)

Departure for Bialowieza. En route stop in Grabarka – a pilgrimage site for the more than one million members of the orthodox Church in Poland, the largest center of this religious group in our country. The top of the Hill of Penitents is surrounded by several thousand wooden penitential crosses brought here by pilgrims. Nearby is a small Orthodox church and the only Orthodox convent in Poland.
Continue your drive to Bialowieza with lunch en route. Upon arrival in Bialowieza accommodation at your hotel.

DAY 12
BIALOWIEZA (B, L)
Bialowieza Forest – on the UNESCO HERITAGE LIST since 1979

Situated on the watershed of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, this immense forest range, consisting of evergreens and broad-leaved trees, is home to some remarkable animal life, including rare mammals such as the wolf, the lynx and the otter, as well as some 300 European Bisons, a species which has been reintroduced into the park.
Full day tour to Bialowieza National Park to observe the bisons. Bialowieza Forest is one of the unique primeval forests in Europe and for the past centuries was a favorite hunting ground, now mainly ground for nature scientists. Enjoy your picnic lunch by the lake. Drive to Hajnowka for short tour of the Orthodox Church and a choir concert. Back to your hotel in Białowieża.

DAY 13
BIALOWIEZA – TYKOCIN – WARSAW (B, D)

Morning drive to Warsaw. En route stop in Tykocin to see one of the best preserved synagogues in Poland, which holds the Jewish Museum and the Talmudic House, now a regional museum. See the 18the century Baroque Holy Trinity Church and the Market Square lined with old wooden houses, some of which are more than 200 years old.
Lunch at a wooden inn „Dworek nad Lakami”. Upon arrival time on your own to explore the city and do shopping. Farewell dinner at one of the local restaurants.

DAY 14
WARSAW (B)

Transfer to the airport for your flight back home.