Final-year school trip to Berlin and Kraków: the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Wawel, Wieliczka and Auschwitz-Birkenau (8 days)

Day 1: Departure from your school and arrival in Berlin

• Departure from your school early in the morning, at the time agreed with you.
• Daytime drive to Berlin via Hanover (about 650 to 850 km depending on your school), with two drivers taking turns.
• Our drivers drive for a maximum of 3 hours, then take a 30-minute break, day and night.
• Lunch at your own expense during a motorway stop.
• Arrival in the early evening, check-in at the accommodation for three nights, dinner and quiet evening.

Day 2: Historic Berlin

• The Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
• Lunch at your own expense, then Museum Island, Berlin Cathedral and the Gendarmenmarkt.
• Cruise on the Spree through the government quarter.
• At the end of the day, a visit up into the glass dome of the Reichstag (free, with prior registration).
• Dinner and supervised evening.

Day 3: Berlin, a divided city

• The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße, with its preserved section of wall and death strip.
• Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror documentation centre.
• Lunch at your own expense, then interactive visit to the DDR Museum (on request).
• Walk along the East Side Gallery and supervised free time in Kreuzberg.
• Dinner and last supervised evening in Berlin.

Day 4: From Berlin to Kraków via Wrocław

• Rooms vacated after breakfast and drive to Poland (about 350 km to Wrocław, 4 hours).
• Lunch stop at your own expense in Wrocław, on the vast Rynek, looking out for some of its famous bronze dwarfs.
• Drive on to Kraków (about 270 km, 3 hours).
• Check-in at the accommodation for three nights, dinner and quiet evening.

Day 5: Kraków and the Wieliczka salt mine

• The Main Square, the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) and St Mary’s Basilica, from which the trumpet call (hejnał) sounds every hour.
• Up to Wawel Hill and visit to the cathedral and the Royal Castle (on request).
• Lunch at your own expense, then drive to Wieliczka (about 15 km) and visit to the UNESCO-listed salt mine, with the Chapel of St Kinga carved out of salt (on request).
• Dinner and supervised evening in Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter.

Day 6: The Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial

• Drive to Oświęcim (about 70 km, 1¼ hours).
• Visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, with a museum educator, compulsory for groups (on request).
• Lunch at your own expense (packed lunches recommended).
• Return to Kraków, time for discussion with the teachers, then visit to Oskar Schindler’s Factory (on request) or supervised free time.
• Dinner and last supervised evening in Poland.

Day 7: Drive to Dresden

• Departure after breakfast and drive to Germany via Wrocław and Görlitz (about 560 km, 6½ hours excluding stops).
• Lunch at your own expense during a stop on the way.
• Arrival in Dresden in the late afternoon and walk through the old town: the rebuilt Frauenkirche, the Zwinger and the Brühl Terrace (exteriors).
• Overnight stop in or around Dresden, dinner and quiet evening.

Day 8: Return to Belgium

• Departure after breakfast.
• Daytime drive back to Belgium (about 650 to 900 km) with regular stops, with two drivers taking turns.
• Lunch at your own expense during a stop on the way.
• Arrival at your school in the evening.