Final-year school trip to Kraków and Budapest: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Wawel, the Tatras, Zakopane and the Széchenyi Baths (9 days)

Day 1: Departure from your school and overnight stop in Dresden

• Departure from your school early in the morning, at the agreed time, and daytime drive to eastern Germany via Cologne and Thuringia (about 800 km from Brussels, 9 hours' driving excluding breaks).
• Our drivers drive for a maximum of 3 hours, then take a 30-minute break, day and night; two drivers take turns at the wheel.
• Free lunch during a break on the way.
• Overnight stop in the Dresden area, dinner and quiet evening.

Day 2: Drive to Poland and arrival in Kraków

• Departure after breakfast and drive to Poland via Görlitz and Wrocław (about 530 km, 6 hours excluding breaks).
• Free lunch during a break on the way.
• Arrival in Kraków in the late afternoon and check-in at the accommodation for three nights.
• First walk on the Main Market Square, around the Cloth Hall and St Mary's Basilica.
• Dinner and supervised evening.

Day 3: A day of remembrance at Auschwitz-Birkenau

• Drive to Oświęcim after breakfast (about 70 km, 1 hour 15 minutes).
• Guided visit of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, with an accredited guide (on request).
• Free lunch (hotel packed lunches recommended), then return to Kraków.
• Group discussion time with the teachers about the day.
• Dinner and quiet evening.

Day 4: Royal Kraków and Kazimierz

• Wawel Hill, the castle courtyard and the dragon on the banks of the Vistula.
• Visit to Wawel Cathedral and the Royal Castle (on request).
• Free lunch, then the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, its synagogues and Plac Nowy.
• The Podgórze district, Ghetto Heroes Square and a visit to Oskar Schindler's Factory (on request).
• Dinner and supervised evening.

Day 5: The Tatras and Morskie Oko lake

• Check-out after breakfast and drive to the Tatras (about 130 km, 2 hours 15 minutes).
• Hike to Morskie Oko lake in the Tatra National Park (about 9 km each way, 2 hours' walk there), free lunch by the lake (packed lunches recommended).
• Return to Zakopane and stroll along Krupówki Street, with its wooden chalets and stalls of smoked oscypek cheese.
• Check-in at the accommodation in Zakopane, dinner and supervised evening.

Day 6: Through Slovakia to Budapest

• In the morning, funicular ride up Gubałówka hill for the view over the Tatras (on request).
• Drive to Hungary through Slovakia (about 370 km, 6 hours excluding breaks), free lunch during a break.
• Arrival in Budapest in the early evening and check-in at the accommodation for two nights.
• Dinner, then a walk along the Danube, from the Chain Bridge to the illuminated Parliament.

Day 7: Budapest, from Buda to Pest

• The Buda Castle district, Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion (lower terraces free of charge).
• Visit to the Hungarian Parliament (on request).
• Free lunch at the Great Market Hall, then the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial and the Dohány Street Synagogue (on request).
• Heroes' Square and City Park, with a swim at the Széchenyi Baths (on request).
• Dinner and evening cruise on the Danube (on request).

Day 8: Drive to the overnight stop in Regensburg

• Check-out after breakfast and departure around 8 am.
• Daytime drive via Vienna, Linz and Passau (about 630 km, 7 hours 30 minutes excluding breaks), with two drivers taking turns.
• Free lunch during a break on the way.
• Short walk through Regensburg's old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to the Stone Bridge over the Danube.
• Overnight stop in the Regensburg area, dinner and quiet evening.

Day 9: Return to your school

• Departure after breakfast and daytime drive via Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Cologne (about 720 km to Brussels, 8 hours 30 minutes' driving excluding breaks), with regular breaks.
• Free lunch during a break on the way.
• Arrival at your school in the evening.