Krakow - History School Trip

Day 1 - Fly to Krakow, Old Town walking tour

Arrive in Krakow and transfer to your accommodation by coach. Following a quick lunch, it’s time to start your history school trip to Krakow.

Your local guide will meet you and begin your Krakow guided sightseeing tour in the stunning Krakow Main Square area, one of the first sites chosen for the original World Heritage List. The largest medieval town square in Europe, it is surrounded by historical buildings, including the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice), St. Mary's Basilica, and the Town Hall Tower. The square is a vibrant hub of activity, featuring street performers, markets, and cafés, and has been the centre of Krakow’s public life since the 13th century.

From here, you can admire the resplendent St. Mary's Basilica with the largest medieval altar in Europe and explore Wawel Hill with the magnificent Royal Castle and Cathedral – the main coronation church of Polish kings. Continue exploring medieval Krakow by visiting the students’ quarter to see the oldest Polish university – the Jagiellonian University – and the marvellous courtyard of the Collegium Maius building.

This evening, have dinner in the hotel.

Day 2 - Krakow during WW2: Auschwitz-Birkenau and Kazimierz

It is essential to make the Auschwitz trip from Krakow as part of your learning about WW2 and Jewish history. Board the coach today to Auschwitz-Birkenau for a guided tour of the largest of the Nazi concentration camps. The mass killing of more than 1.1 million people took place here across the two camps during World War II.

Students are able to visit the brick blocks where prisoners were kept, the gas chambers, and the crematorium. They then head to the largest camp, Birkenau (Auschwitz II), to see the Gate of Death, the wooden barracks, and the Victims' Memorial. The carefully researched exhibitions are emotionally charged and thought-provoking. An arresting experience, the Holocaust memorial tour demonstrates to students the depths to which humanity is capable and is a powerful part of your learning about Krakow's World War II sites.

Return to Krakow and meet your guide for a tour of the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter. The richness of Jewish life, culture, and religion is evident, and Kazimierz has become a symbol of Jewish history in Poland. Discover Szeroka Street, the Old Synagogue, Remuh Synagogue, and the 16th-century cemetery. Before World War II, Poland housed the largest Jewish community in Europe. Learn about the history of this district and take the opportunity to enter the Remuh Synagogue. It is the smallest synagogue in the Kazimierz district and the only one still in use. Your tour will also stop at the Galicia Jewish Museum to explore the permanent exhibition, which commemorates the victims of the Holocaust and celebrates the Jewish culture of Polish Galicia.

Unwind from your Polish history tour this evening with bowling before finishing with dinner at your hotel.

Day 3 - Memory Trail: Pomorska Street, Eagle Pharmacy and Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory

Today, you’ll follow the Memory Trail, visiting three branches of the Historical Museum of the City of Krakow to learn the story of Krakow from 1939 to 1945-1956.

You begin at Pomorska Street, where students can visit the permanent exhibition People of Krakow in Times of Terror 1939-1945-1956. It explores the similarities between the two totalitarian systems of Nazism and communism. Pomorska Street was synonymous with the Gestapo. In the Śląski House, students can visit the interrogation cells and understand the depth of suffering they witnessed.

Next is the Eagle Pharmacy. This pharmacy, located in the Krakow Ghetto, was the only pharmacy that functioned in the Ghetto during WW2. The exhibition here is dedicated to telling the story of the annihilation of Krakow's Jews, who met in the pharmacy as a place of salvation.

The third element of the Memory Trail is Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory Museum. This museum presents an extensive and immersive exhibition about the city during World War II, focusing on the Nazi occupation, the fate of the Jewish community, and Schindler’s efforts to save Jews. It provides a personal and detailed account of wartime Krakow, illustrating the complex realities of life under occupation and the stories of resistance and survival. The exhibitions contain powerful film and multimedia narratives.

The trail ends at KL Plaszow. Currently an open-air exhibition, it will become a place of remembrance, developed on the site of a former Nazi labour and concentration camp.

Day 4 - Nowa Huta, Fly Home

Your final destination is in the easternmost district of Krakow, Nowa Huta. Part of the post-WW2 communist utopia project, this Socialist Realist city was constructed under Stalin’s watchful eye and included the gargantuan Vladimir Lenin Steelworks. It was designed to be the model city for the newly acquired communist nation. Five large boulevards surround the Central Square, giving Nowa Huta a distinctive pentagonal shape and emphasising its monumental character. The city offers students a vision of communism as it once was. Students can explore the fully renovated People's Theatre, with its Egyptian-inspired Socialist Realist style and bright neon sign, the monuments to the Solidarity movement, which would bring down communism across Poland in 1989, and learn about the 250 nuclear bunkers that lie beneath the city.

Transfer to the airport before flying home after a deep and moving trip to Krakow.