Krakow and its History    12 Sep 2023 - 4 Nights  -  £825

TWO EXTRA ROOMS AVAILABLE AS OF 15 JULY 2023

Krakow, is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. The city dates to the 7th century and was the official and proud capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities (and we agree!), Kraków is one of the most unique destinations in the world and its Old Town has deservedly been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After a wonderful visit in Spring 2019, Acetours are absolutely delighted to be returning in 2023, departing 12th September for four nights.

Of course, we have a host of things lined up for you. We take you on a guided tour of the city on foot and offer other optional tours on foot or by coach to Auschwitz, the Saltmines, Schindlers Factory and “Underground Krakow”, a new tour exploring the city hidden beneath the Krakow of today. See below for details.

Please note: Whilst this escorted tour is suitable for almost everyone, we must point out that there is quite a bit of walking over cobbled streets, few of which are “on the flat”. The hotel caters for those with limited mobility but the tour itself is not ideal for those with heightened walking difficulties. If you are unsure, please call us and we will do our best to advise.

Hotel Golden Tulip Kazimierz

We have chosen the Golden Tulip Hotel this year, as it offers modern accommodation and a good location. It's a  good 20 minutes walk to the main square but, included in your fare, is a tram pass for the duration of the stay and you can be in the centre in just a few minutes. The stops are close by.

Meals

Accommodation is on a bed & breakfast basis but we have included three evening meals at local restaurants, two of which are a 15-minute walk from the hotel. The third is close-by. We will be walking to the restaurants. Taxis can be arranged at your own expense, although it is still five-minute’s walk to the taxi rank. This leaves you one night to choose where you wish to go to. You can join your hosts, if you wish, on that free evening, although you will have to pay for your own meal and drinks.

Three evening meals will be taken at local restaurants, with one evening on your own.

What’s included:

• Return flights from Belfast to Krakow with Easyjet

• Cabin luggage included – please see below

• Private transfers by mini-coach airport-hotel

• 4 nights in 4* Golden Tulip Kazimierz Hotel, Krakow

• Bed and breakfast

• 3 evening meals in local restaurants

• 2 x 2½ hour walking tours with local guide

• Escorted by Acetours throughout

• Full ATOL financial protection

What’s not included:

Travel insurance (compulsory), drinks or any other meals not included above, optional extra excursions, gratuities or any items of personal expenditure.

Flights: Easyjet (These times are provisional and subject to change)

Tues 12Sep23 Dep. Belfast Int’l 09.55am Arr. Krakow 1.45pm

Sat 16Sep23 Dep. Krakow 11.20am   Arr. Belfast Int’l 1.15pm

Baggage Allowance – Hand luggage only

Easyjet do not put a restriction on weight, just size. Max 56 x 45 x 25cm. You also have allowance for one under-seat bag, 45 x 36 x 20cm..

Note: We have found in recent years that few of our customers bring much luggage for short city-breaks, so there is no point in paying for it. If we don’t include it, we are not charged, so we don’t charge you! Please feel free to make your own mind up. If you wish to book some checked luggage, we can offer this at £70 return to upgrade your large carry-on to a checked bag of up to 20kgs.

Fares

£825 based on 2 sharing, B&B & 3 evening meals. Single supplement £200

Excursions

Krakow Old Town (Included in fare)

Kraków’s old town luckily survived the Second World War, and so you can feel the ambiance of the days when it used to be the capital of Europe’s largest country. Stunning, magnificent, romantic, charming, fun, friendly and most of all cute… there are countless words to describe Kraków, but none of them entirely show its spirit. Come and join us for a tour around a city that hasn’t changed much from the Middle Ages to find out why it was included on the first ever UNESCO Heritage List!

We will journey through the city’s legendary beginnings and its development in the Middle Ages. We will show you where to look to find the city at the height of its power and glory in the 15th and 16th centuries where its streets were walked by Copernicus himself and the city was the capital of the biggest country in Europe, sometimes called United States of Europe.

Duration: about 2.5 hours

Auschwitz £42

Should one visit Auschwitz? It is a difficult question, and a deeply personal one. For many people, be they pilgrims on a private journey, backpackers exploring eastern Europe, historians, travellers or native Poles, it is a must. The proximity to Krakow makes a visit to the museums a very real option – the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) is an hour and a half journey by bus from Krakow. And certainly, having seen the camps (regardless of how many other groups are also filing through) few will regret the experience. The camps and their legacy are an indelible part of today’s world and visiting them is both sobering and edifying.

The basic structures of both camps have survived, and the experience of these is amplified by several exhibitions about the major victims of the atrocities, chiefly the Jews, but also Poles, Gypsies and Russians. There are many different exhibits, and the apparatus of the camps, as well as the personal belongings left behind by the victims, will speak for themselves.

We will drive to the museum at Auschwitz from Krakow and have a tour with a museum guide – all are experts on the camps and their legacy. The tour will also include nearby Birkenau (the expansive satellite of the Auschwitz camp), which for many visitors makes a more powerful impression than the first. The guides are knowledgeable and spirited locals and will make sure you get the most out of your tour.

Duration: All morning with early start, or all afternoon with lunchtime start. TBA

Kazimierz and Schindlers Factory Tour £42 (To be confirmed)

A Jewish world without Kazimierz would be as empty as a body without a soul. Poland is a place where Polish Jews and Polish Catholics lived together side by side for generations. The Jews had been present in Poland and Kraków since the very beginning. Their population grew rapidly over time, thanks to the religious tolerance and social autonomy they were granted here. The Jews, who had been expelled from countries all around Europe, found their home in Poland.

Here, in Kazimierz, Jewish history quickened, both in terms of culture and learning. Up until the mid-16th century, there was no other place in the Jewish world more significant than Kazimierz. Even today, Jews from all over the world travel to Kazimierz and Poland to find roots of their spirituality.

By the end of the 1930s, the Jewish community of Kraków constituted about 25% of the city’s population. This vibrant and diverse community was almost totally destroyed during the Second World War.

Discover the rich history, culture and traditions of Polish Jews; sadness and nostalgia for the pre-war, lost world, and excitement while becoming a witness to the rebirth of Jewish life. It is here in Kazimierz where the biggest Jewish Festival in the world takes place being the best proof that life and culture is always stronger than death and destruction!

Then, come with us on a journey back to the times when Kraków’s Main Market Square was called Adolf Hitler Platz and the city itself was called not Kraków but Krakau. Find yourself in a kind of 3D cinema where everything is designed to make you feel, hear and even smell the history of Kraków during the Second World War. Yes, you are now in Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory.

Walk among the city’s inhabitants on the cobbled streets of wartime Kraków, feel overwhelmed by the omnipresent existence of the enemy, enter narrow passages and overpopulated apartments in the ghetto, find weapons in a resistance house, feel the horror of being imprisoned and interrogated, try to imagine your life in hiding and finally feel the bittersweet joy of being liberated by the Soviet army. This will be, in a word, an emotional journey through lives of Kraków’s citizens under the Nazi occupation. Be with them from the beginning, through the 1,968 days of the occupation. They will tell you their stories, and also share some of the ones told to them by their parents and grandparents. We hope that these stories will stay with you forever.

Goosebumps and chills guaranteed!

(PS. Your ticket will also include entrance to the Memory Trail in the Ghetto and the Eagle Pharmacy, which you can visit either afterwards or at your leisure over the coming days.)

Duration: Walk 2 hours and factory 1.5 hours approx..

Wieliczka Salt Mine Tour £42

Wieliczka Salt Mine is one of the most precious and fascinating Polish monuments. The first tourist trail in Wieliczka was established as early as the beginning of the19th century. A couple of centuries later the salt mine was designated as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites (1978). The underground path leads through numerous drifts, galleries and chambers, where traces of mining activity have been preserved, as well as examples of art, theme compositions relating to the history of the mine and its legends. Wieliczka is the world's largest mining heritage museum with a collection encompassing unique pieces of mining equipment reflecting the development of mining techniques from the Middle Ages until today. Moreover, the microclimate of the mine has a beneficial impact on visitors who suffer from asthma and allergies. The tour starts with a descent of 64 meters by stairs. You are then led through a number of chambers and shown underground lakes, shrines and salt monuments. The trip finishes at the level of 135 meters below the surface and the return to the surface is by lift.

Duration: Whole morning or afternoon. TBA

Krakow Beers Tour £35

There’s no doubt – beer is the foundation of human civilization. Doesn’t sound right? Archaeologists have proved that people were already brewing beer long before they invented bread. BEERS OF KRAKÓW tour shows you the place of this city, and of Poland, in the world of beer.

The tour combines stories about how the favourite drink changed the world’s history and how it builds the Polish national identity, with professional tastings of a huge variety of Polish traditional and craft beer styles and, last but not least, with a basic sensory course, thanks to which beer will never taste the same again. During this tour, we visit iconic places for bar lovers and home brewers and take you off the beaten track to explore new tastes and real local atmosphere of the Kraków’s ‘after hours’ life. We also give you the chance to try at least 8 samples of craft beers, presenting Polish impact on the complex evolution of drinking. Expect a professional approach, not another Pub Crawl…. in a pretty fun way, though!

Krakow Underground £15

Visiting the tourist route in the Rynek Underground, one will become familiar with the history of Kraków from before the foundation of the city. The oldest history of the site is exemplified by reconstructions of 11th-century burials presented in the exhibition. A picture of the pre-charter settlement destroyed during the Tartar raid of 1241 emerges from the original foundations of cottages from the late 12th and early 13th century, and reconstructions of goldsmith’s and blacksmith’s workshops.

Visiting the exhibition, you can get to feel the atmosphere of a mediaeval market. While visiting, we are accompanied by the hubbub of bargaining. Moreover, the exhibition is enriched with interesting models and multimedia – touchscreens, holograms, projections and documentary films presented in the spaces of the cellars under the Cloth Hall arranged especially for that purpose. 

This is a self-guided tour, which you can do at your own pace. It starts just 6-7 minutes from the hotel, at the main square.

Duration: 1 - 2 hours approx..