School trip to Kraków and Oświęcim: the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, Kazimierz and Schindler’s Factory (6 days)

Day 1: Journey to Poland

• Departure from your school at the agreed time, in the late afternoon.
• Overnight journey to Poland with two drivers on board: our drivers drive for 3 hours at most, then take a 30-minute break, day and night.

Day 2: Kraków, the royal city

• Arrival in Kraków in the morning and luggage drop at the accommodation.
• Walk through the old town: the Main Market Square, the Cloth Hall and St Mary’s Basilica, where the hejnał rings out every hour.
• Afternoon: Wawel Hill and its ramparts.
• Guided tour of the Royal Castle and Wawel Cathedral (on request).
• Check-in, dinner and overnight stay at the accommodation.

Day 3: Kazimierz and the Podgórze ghetto

• Breakfast at the accommodation.
• Discovering Kazimierz, the former Jewish quarter, its synagogues and squares.
• Guided tour of the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz (on request).
• Afternoon: Ghetto Heroes Square in Podgórze and its memorial of empty chairs.
• Visit to the exhibition “Kraków under Nazi Occupation 1939–1945” in Oskar Schindler’s former factory (on request).
• Visit to the Eagle Pharmacy, run by Tadeusz Pankiewicz inside the ghetto (on request).
• Dinner and overnight stay at the accommodation.

Day 4: The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial

• Breakfast at the accommodation.
• Drive to Oświęcim (about 1 hour 30 minutes).
• Guided tour of Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau with an educator-guide from the Memorial (on request).
• A moment of silent remembrance and laying of flowers or candles at the International Monument in Birkenau.
• Return to Kraków, dinner, then a discussion time with the teachers so everyone can share what they felt.

Day 5: Kraków on foot

• Breakfast at the accommodation.
• A day without the coach, entirely on foot: compulsory rest time for the drivers.
• Walk through the Planty park, which rings the old town, then along the Vistula.
• Visit to the Collegium Maius, the oldest building of the Jagiellonian University (on request).
• Visit to the underground museum beneath the Market Square (Podziemia Rynku) (on request).
• Free time in small supervised groups in the old town.
• Dinner and overnight stay at the accommodation.

Day 6: Back to Belgium

• Breakfast, then the journey home with two drivers on board and regular breaks (at least 30 minutes every 3 hours).
• Return to school late in the evening.