Final-year school trip to Kraków and Warsaw: Wawel, Kazimierz, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Wieliczka and Warsaw Old Town (8 days)

Day 1: Departure from your school and drive to Saxony

• Departure from your school early in the morning, at the time agreed with you.
• Daytime drive to Germany (about 650 to 900 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.
• Overnight stop in the Dresden area, dinner and quiet evening.

Day 2: Arrival in Kraków

• Departure after breakfast and drive to Poland via Görlitz and Wrocław (about 560 km, 6½ hours excluding stops).
• Lunch at your own expense during a stop on the way.
• Arrival in Kraków in the late afternoon and check-in at the accommodation for three nights.
• Dinner, then a first supervised walk on the illuminated Main Square (Rynek Główny).

Day 3: Kraków, from the Main Square to Wawel and Kazimierz

• The Main Square, the Cloth Hall (Sukiennice) and St Mary’s Basilica, from which the trumpet call (hejnał) sounds every hour.
• Visit to St Mary’s Basilica and its Veit Stoss altarpiece (on request).
• Up to Wawel Hill: the cathedral and the Royal Castle (on request).
• Lunch at your own expense, then a walk through Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, with its synagogues and lanes.
• Dinner and supervised evening.

Day 4: 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 in mid-afternoon, time for discussion with the teachers, then supervised free time.
• Dinner and quiet evening.

Day 5: The Wieliczka salt mine and drive to Warsaw

• Rooms vacated after breakfast and drive to Wieliczka (about 15 km).
• Visit to the UNESCO-listed Wieliczka salt mine, with its galleries, underground lakes and the Chapel of St Kinga carved out of salt (on request).
• Lunch at your own expense, then drive to Warsaw (about 300 km, 3½ to 4 hours).
• Check-in at the accommodation for two nights, dinner and supervised evening.

Day 6: Warsaw, the city destroyed and rebuilt

• The Old Town, entirely rebuilt after 1945 and listed by UNESCO, the Market Square and the Barbican.
• Visit to the Royal Castle (on request).
• Lunch at your own expense, then visit to the Warsaw Rising Museum (on request).
• Trip up to the 30th-floor terrace of the Palace of Culture and Science (on request).
• Dinner and last supervised evening in Poland.

Day 7: Łazienki Park and drive to Germany

• Walk along the Royal Route (Krakowskie Przedmieście) and through Łazienki Park, with the Chopin Monument and the Palace on the Isle (exterior).
• Departure in the late morning and drive to Germany via Poznań (about 570 km, 6½ hours excluding stops).
• Lunch at your own expense during a stop on the way.
• Overnight stop in the Berlin area, dinner and quiet evening.

Day 8: Return to Belgium

• Departure after breakfast.
• Daytime drive back to Belgium (about 650 to 850 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.