Poland on the tracks

Welcome to Poland !
Arrival to Warsaw. Transfer to the hotel and check-in.

Dinner in a local res­taurant or hotel.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Warsaw.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Visit Warsaw — the capital city of Poland. During this tour, we will visit the most important spots in the city and will have an oppor­tunity to become acquainted with the some­times tragic past of Warsaw and the history of Poland. We will start our tour by vis­iting the Old Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the New Town. We will con­tinue our journey to Krasinski Palace, the Supreme Court building and the Warsaw Uprising Monument. After that, we will go to the Lazienki Royal Park where we will see the famous monument ded­icated to Frederic Chopin where we will have an oppor­tunity to relax in the beau­tiful rose garden and among the dazzling natural ele­ments of the park. You will truly forget that you are in a major European Capital City.

Who when they were young did not want to work on the railways? In Stacja Museum, you can fulfill this dream! The museum dis­plays unique uni­forms, railway models, old tele­phones, tickets from over a century ago and many other treasures. But the most impressive are the trains and loco­motives – some of them are the only examples in the world.
The Station Museum is housed in the his­toric building of the former Warsaw Main Railway Station – until 1967 the most important station in the capital. The complex sur­vived World War II almost unharmed and to this day it impresses with its ori­ginal track layout, being the only existing memento in the capital of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway, which once con­nected the Russian Empire with Europe.

Dinner in a local res­taurant or hotel.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Warsaw.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Transfer to Warszawa Centralna train station.

Travel by train to Poznan.

Arrival to Poznan Glowny train station. Transfer to the hotel and check-in.

Poznan sight­seeing. The tour starts from a visit to the Brama Poznania (Porta Posnania). Here you can dis­cover the story of the begin­nings of the Polish state and the Cathedral Island. This iner­active museum presents the history in a modern way, with mul­ti­media and light.

Then visit to the gothic Cathedral on the Ostrow Tumski island, place of baptism of Poland in 966. Passing the Chrobry Bridge, we enter the splendid Old Town famous for the renais­sance Town Hall dom­in­ating over the Market Square. Stroll along charming streets to dis­cover the impressive baroque church and the Franciscan Church with a mini­ature model of medieval Poznan. Further walk to the Freedom Square sur­rounded by 19th century his­torical buildings: National Museum, Raczynski Library, Bazar Hotel and Arcadia.

Dinner in a local res­taurant or hotel.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Poznan.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Transfer to Gniezno — Poland’s first capital. With an impressive cathedral over­looking to the charming Old Town avenues, it holds an important place in the royal and reli­gious history of the country.

Transfer to Biskupin — the best known archae­olo­gical reserve in Central Europe. When first dis­covered it was thought to be early evidence of a West Slavic set­tlement, but archae­olo­gists later con­firmed it belonged to the Biskupin group of the Lusatian culture from the 8th century BC. Visit to the oldest set­tlement in Poland. The undoubted advantage of Biskupin is showing “living history”. You can see not only recon­struc­tions of houses from thou­sands years ago, but also learn about the habits of the people who used to live here, their work and crafts­manship. However, you do not gain this know­ledge by listening to lengthy lec­tures, but by yourself par­ti­cip­ating in the daily activ­ities of our ancestors.

After the sigt­seeing we con­tinue our trip to Wencja by narrow gauge railway! It has been a char­ac­ter­istic element of the Paluki land­scape for over a century. Today it is used by tourists, but in the 19th and 20th cen­turies it was the main means of transport in the region. The railway trans­ported agri­cul­tural produce, mail and various goods, it was also a means of pas­senger transport — the inhab­itants of Paluki used it to travel to work, school and shopping. The funicular started its oper­ation in 1894. The network of con­nec­tions was about 80 km long. Regular pas­senger trains ran until 1968.

Visit to the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum in Wenecja (Polish Venice), an open-air museum col­lecting and exhib­iting steam loco­motives, pas­senger and freight cars, trolleys, rail­way­men’s tools, sig­nalling equipment, con­tents of an old waiting room, old maps. The Museum has col­lected numerous steam loco­motives. One of the oldest is the German one made by Orenstein & Koppel in Berlin in 1900. The Tx-1116 loco­motive made by Henschel & Son (Kassel, 1918) and the Tx4-564 loco­motive made by Hanomag (Hannover, 1923) are also very inter­esting. A real rarity is the Belgian loco­motive No.2179 made by Les Ateliers Metallurgiques Nivelles with the unique wheel arrangement 4–6‑2 (“Pacific”), and the only one which has steam brakes. Transfer back to Poznan.

Dinner in a local res­taurant or hotel.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Poznan.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Transfer to Rogalin and sight­seeing the splendid land­scape gardens with the biggest oak trees col­lection in Europe. Nearby you can admire the rococo — neo­clas­sical palace of Raczynski family dating from 18th century.

Visit to the Roundhouse in Wolsztyn. This is still an oper­a­tional loco­motive depot from which, each day, steam loco­motives are sent out on scheduled ser­vices on the routes to Poznan and Leszno. The round­house was built in 1907 and con­tinued to grow till the 1970’s. Currently there are about 30 items of rolling stock, unique loco­motives and his­toric car­riages. One of the most valuable is the “Beautiful Helena” loco­motive, No. Pm36, dating from 1937 with a top speed of 130km/h.

Transfer to Wroclaw.

Dinner in a local res­taurant or hotel.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Wroclaw.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Welcome to magic Wroclaw – the city of 100 bridges. Its rich history and medieval char­acter attracts mil­lions of tourists every year. The sight­seeing starts by the main entrance of the 13th century Cathedral of St. John the Baptist located on Ostrow Tumski island — the oldest part of Wroclaw. Walking along Odra river bank, we ascend the “Polish Hill” offering the splendid view over the city. Nearby there is the Panorama of the Battle of Raclawice Museum presenting one of the biggest 360o pan­oramic battle scenes in the world, nowadays one of the nation’s symbol. The next pearl on our route is Aula Leopoldina – rep­res­ent­ative baroque hall at the Wroclaw University. Stroll around medieval cobble­stone streets leads to the Market Square, one of the largest in Europe, sur­rounded by old tenement houses with the gothic Town Hall in the centre.

Transfer to Wroclaw Glowny train station.

Travel by train to Krakow.

Arrival to Krakow Glowny train station. Transfer to the hotel and check-in.

Dinner in a local res­taurant or hotel.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Krakow.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Krakow is the cul­tural capital of Poland with Old Town listed as UNESCO Heritage. During the tour you would see Barbican and defensive walls with Florian’s Gate, the Main Market Square with Sukiennice Cloth Hall, St Mary’s Church and Town Hall Tower. We would proceed to the Jagiellonian University, pass by Archbishop Palace (where John Paul II used to live) as well as St Andrew’s Church and St Peter and Paul’s Church to reach the Wawel Hill.

We invite you to the culinary workshop of “obwar­zanek, the tra­di­tional bajgle of Krakow. Perhaps “obwar­zanek” will be the first thing you will try upon arrival to Krakow. In the Live Obwarzanek Museum you will attend a baking workshop in which you’ll bake your own Obwarzanek. These incon­spicuous par­boiled dough rings have been part of city’s history for over 600 years. Beloved by cit­izens, tourists and pigeons! It’s been known since medieval times – kings ate it, knights ate it, even Wawel’s dragon ate it! Learn more and dis­cover what makes them unique during 1h long obwar­zanki making workshop. Each par­ti­cipant gets a piece of dough and leaves with their very own obwarzanek.

Dinner in a local res­taurant or hotel.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Krakow.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Transfer to Oswiecim (Auschwitz-Birkenau)

All over the world, Auschwitz-Birkenau has become a symbol of terror, gen­ocide and the Holocaust. It was estab­lished by the Nazis in 1940, in the suburbs of the city of Oswiecim (Auschwitz in German) which, like other parts of Poland, was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. A visit to con­cen­tration and exterm­in­ation camp museum might help you to com­prehend what incom­pre­hensible. Transfer back to Krakow.

Dinner in a local res­taurant with folk music.

Accommodation in a cent­rally located hotel in Krakow.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Transfer to Balice airport in Krakow.
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