In this 8-day tour to Poland, we visit the sites of the former ghettos in Warsaw, Lublin and Krakow alongside two purpose-built death camps (Treblinka, Belzec), and two multifunctional camps that were both concentration camps and death camps (Majdanek, Auschwitz). We look at the struggle of both the Jews and non-Jewish Poles against their oppressors, visiting the scenes of Ghetto Uprising in 1943 and the memorial to the Warsaw Rising in 1944. You will see the shift from complete physical destruction of ghetto and camp to the actual remnants due to the rapid advance of the Soviets. However, the tour is not limited to the serious and emotive history of the Holocaust, with its clear message for future generations. We also enjoy expert guided tours of the historic cities of Warsaw and Krakow. We sample much of the local culture and visit the world-famous salt mine at Wieliczka. Each evening we will dine in a different local restaurant to enjoy a wealth of a rich local cuisine. The topography of the sites we visit involves a fair amount of walking: at Auschwitz/Birkenau you will cover almost 8 miles over the course of the day, but that is necessary to achieve a full appreciation of the subject.

Read reviews of this tour by past travellers

Under Communism, in Poland it was traditional to refer to ‘six million Poles murdered during World War II’, a figure that referred to 3 million non-Jewish Poles and 3 million Polish Jews. Those Polish Jews were murdered in ghettos, forests in the east of the country, or purpose-built death camps set up after the German occupation of Poland. By far the largest of these was Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which was the site of over one million deaths, mainly Jews brought here from all over Europe. The smaller, purpose built 'killing' camp of Treblinka, where Warsaw's Jews were taken, was said by its commandant SS-Obersturmführer Franz Stangl to be able to murder over 1000 people per hour at its peak. With the positioning of the Majdanek camp on the outskirts of Lublin, the Germans made no effort to disguise the killings, its slave labour, brutality, shootings and crematorium being plainly visible to passers-by. The overarching narrative of the tour is about the shift from Polish Jews to European Jews and the evolution of policy from concentration camps to death camps.

Day 1 - Depart

Fly from London to Warsaw before checking in to our central hotel for two nights (or make your own arrangements to join the tour at the hotel). (D)

Day 2 - Warsaw

A busy day exploring the Polish capital on foot to explore the key sites associated with the former ghetto and its subsequent uprising: the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Umschlagplatz (a holding area set up by Nazi Germany) and the Warsaw Jewish cemetery, one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the world.(B,D)

Day 3 - Treblinka & Lublin

This morning we drive to the extermination camps at Treblinka, where between 700,000 to 900,000 Jews lost their lives. Operational between July 1943 and October 1943, more Jews lost their lives at Treblinka II than at any other death camp, other than Auschwitz. Spend time in the small but informative museum before visiting the memorials to those who lost their lives. We spend the night in Lublin, a city which had a large pre-war Jewish population and which served as the administration centre for Action Reinhardt. (B,D)

Day 4 - Belzec & Majdanek

Our day will begin at the concentration camp of Majdanek, just on the outskirts of Lublin, where approximately 80,000 people from 28 different countries lost their lives. Today it is a well-preserved Nazi concentration and death camp where we find barracks, guard towers, gas chambers, crematoria, museum, “Gates of Hell” memorial and the mausoleum memorial, a gigantic structure which contains the ashes of victims beneath it. Continue to Belzec, the small but lethal death camp, where between 430,000 & 500,000 Jews lost their lives in six-months with as a few as 7 people surviving. Our hotel for the evening is based in Rzeszów. (B,D)

Day 5 - Krakow

This morning we drive to Krakow where we take a change of pace and emphasis with an afternoon orientation tour of Krakow's Old Town and its busy street life. Check-in to our hotel for three nights.(B,D)

Day 6 - Auschwitz and Birkenau

An early start as we are immersed in a comprehensive tour on foot of the concentration and death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. To enter the camp of Auschwitz, one passes under the infamous inscription 'Arbeit Macht Frei' mounted upon its main gate, before visiting the exhibitions in the surviving prison blocks.

In the afternoon we visit Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz II, the purpose-built camp that had hundreds of barracks and 4 massive gas chambers and functioned as the epicentre of the Holocaust during 1943 and 1944. The day at Auschwitz and Birkenau explores two large camps and will involve a good amount of walking.

This evening you are free to find your own restaurant for dinner and perhaps explore Krakow. (B)

Day 7 - Kazimierz and Wieliczka

Before WW2, some 70,000 Jews lived in Krakow, mostly in the suburb of Kazimierz, which we explore on foot before visiting the Galicia Jewish Museum. There will also be an opportunity for an optional unaccompanied visit to the museum situated in the former Oscar Schindler's Factory. As a finale to the tour we visit the awesome 700-year-old salt mine at Wieliczka, its labyrinth of 300km of tunnels revealing chapels, underground lakes and a museum. (B,D)

Day 8 - Home

Transfer to Warsaw airport for our scheduled group return flight to London or perhaps extend your stay in Poland. (B)