The Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna and Prague: Honoring the Jewish Heritage travel tour from Tauck Tours will bring all the amazing Jewish history of Poland, Hungary, Austria and Czech Republic to life. This Jewish Heritage tour will have you immersed in the Jewish culture these to which these amazing countries are home.
14 Days • fr. $9,690
our Jewish Heritage tour begins at 6 PM at the Hotel Bristol, Warsaw. A transfer is included from Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport to your historic hotel on Warsaw's fashionable "Royal Route." Meet your travel companions and your Tauck Director at tonight's welcome reception and dinner with a regional flair in the hotel, a Warsaw landmark for over a century.
Dinner
HOTEL BRISTOL, WARSAW
As the first full day of your Jewish Heritage tour begins, join our local guide for a Warsaw city sightseeing tour to sites that honor and commemorate the Jews who were deported or killed during World War II. Visit the Nozyk Synagogue, the only synagogue that survived the war, out of 400 in the city. Meet and talk with members of the Geneaology Department at the Jewish Historical Institute for insights into geneaological research. Learn about what life is like today for the city’s Jewish community at the Taube Center for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland.
After lunch and free time on your own, drive to the POLIN Museum (Museum of the Polish Jews) with stops at the Ghetto Heroes Monument and Umschlagplatz, the site where Jews were gathered and deported to Treblinka in freight cars; take a guided tour of the museum, where interactive exhibits tell a narrative history of Jews in Poland, once the largest Jewish community in the world.
This evening, Chopin’s music comes to life at a private piano recital at the Polish Music Library or the Porczynski Gallery, followed by a dinner featuring typical Polish cuisine and folkloric entertainment at a local restaurant.
Breakfast, Dinner
HOTEL BRISTOL, WARSAW
Traditional villages and farms roll past as you wind your way through the country’s heart to Cracow, considered one of the finest medieval cities in Europe, for a two-night stay. A millennium ago, Cracow was the capital city of Poland; its historic center (Old Town) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Enjoy lunch in a local restaurant before a photo stop at the factory of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who saved the lives of over a thousand Jewish workers in his employ, as portrayed in the film, Schindler’s List. Stop at the Plaszów camp en route to your hotel; also depicted in the film, this infamous concentration camp held more than 150,000 civilians prisoner during the war, thousands of whom perished here.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
SHERATON GRAND KRAKOW
In Cracow this morning, drive through Kazimierz, the city’s former Jewish Quarter (holidays permitting); once a separate town that dated back to the 14th century but was nearly destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, this historic district is currently undergoing a renaissance as its synagogues and churches are restored and new cafés, bars and bistros pop up. Schedule permitting, a look inside the somber 15th-century Old Synagogue Museum reveals a wide-ranging treatment of the history of Cracow’s Jews.
This afternoon, journey to the poignant memorial and museum at Auschwitz, 40 miles southwest of the city, for a guided tour of the site where so many perished, including Blocks 4, 5, 7 and 11; board a coach for a visit to the Birkenau camp.
Tonight's dinner in Cracow’s Jewish Quarter includes traditional Klezmer music.
Breakfast, Dinner
SHERATON GRAND KRAKOW
Travel from Poland through the scenic Tatra Mountains, stopping for lunch in Slovakia en route to Hungary. Arrive in Budapest, where you'll have dinner tonight – with wine included – aboard Tauck's private dinner cruise on the Danube River for a unique view of the Hungarian capital's historic architecture, illuminated at night. Spend the next three nights in the heart of this remarkable city.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
KEMPINSKI HOTEL CORVINUS BUDAPEST
The Danube River divides Budapest into two distinct areas, Buda and Pest. Today, Tauck’s locally guided sightseeing shows you the best of Pest, sprawling along the eastern banks of the Danube. View the city’s historic embassy district; City Park; and adjacent Andrassy Avenue, one of Budapest’s main shopping boulevards, lined with elegant 19th-century mansions and townhouses and itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Join us for a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter with an inside visit to the synagogues at Dohány and Kazinczy (holidays permitting).
Spend the afternoon at leisure exploring as you wish, then attend prayer and a Q&A with a Rabbi during exclusive, private access in the Frankel Synagogue. Enjoy dinner at your hotel this evening.
Breakfast, Dinner
KEMPINSKI HOTEL CORVINUS BUDAPEST
Today includes a guided tour of Hungary’s neo-Gothic Parliament building in Pest, an icon of Budapest’s skyline. Crossing over to Buda, you can practically feel the history that’s been made inside the Gothic Matthias Church, among the city’s most notable sites, where the last two Hungarian kings were crowned. Check out the imposing Fisherman’s Bastion looming over the Danube, and stroll the quaint lanes and cobblestone streets of Castle Hill, perched above the river’s western bank.
Sample local Hungarian cuisine at a restaurant in Buda, then join us for a guided tour of the Holocaust Memorial Center, formerly a synagogue, now a memorial and museum dedicated to the more than 500,000 victims of the Hungarian Holocaust.
Breakfast, Lunch
KEMPINSKI HOTEL CORVINUS BUDAPEST
Travel today on Tauck's Jewish Heritage tour from Hungary through Slovakia en route to Austria, stopping in Slovakia’s ancient capital city, Bratislava. Discover 17 centuries worth of history along the cobblestoned, vehicle-free streets of the city’s Old Town on a walking tour with our local guide who provides in-depth commentary about the Jewish Holocaust in Slovakia. Following lunch, you will have time to explore the sights on your own.
Your journey continues to Vienna, Austria, for a three-night stay; enjoy dinner à la carte tonight in your landmark hotel in the heart of the city, the Hotel Bristol, Vienna.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
HOTEL BRISTOL, VIENNA
Discover a Jewish perspective of life in Vienna that goes back over 800 years on a comprehensive city tour today. Once one of the most prominent centers of Jewish culture in Europe and gradually recovering since 1945, the city’s Jewish population was almost entirely deported and murdered in the Holocaust. Start your exploration in Leopoldstadt, an ancient center of Jewish life in Vienna and currently a modern-day hub; see Hundertwasserhaus, a colorful landmark named for the spirited half-Jewish artist who designed it. Visit Heldenplatz, where the “Anschluss” (Germany’s annexation of Austria) was proclaimed in 1938. Later, enjoy a guided tour of the Belvedere, a museum in Belvedere Castle. The remainder of the day is free to explore Vienna as you wish.
Breakfast
HOTEL BRISTOL, VIENNA
Today's guided Jewish heritage tour of Vienna includes visits to the Stadttempel (the only synagogue in the city that survived World War II), the Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial, and the Jewish Museum in Judenplatz, the historic Jewish Quarter.
Following lunch, take a self-guided tour of the Jewish Museum at Palais Eskeles, whose collections showcase Austrian Jewish life.
This evening, enjoy dinner at the renowned Café Landtmann – the quintessential Viennese coffee house since 1873 – then attend a private classical music concert in a historic Viennese palace.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
HOTEL BRISTOL, VIENNA
Depart Vienna and cross the border into the Czech Republic en route to Prague, the ancient capital of today's modern Czech Republic. Upon arrival, embark on a private cruise on the Vltava River, including lunch and a Q&A with a concentration camp survivor; then set off on a tour of Prague's medieval Old Town and the iconic Charles Bridge. Spend the next three nights at The Grand Mark Prague, a former 15th-century Baroque palace in the heart of one of Europe's best-preserved historic cities.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
THE GRAND MARK PRAGUE HOTEL
During World War II, German propaganda led the world to believe that Terezin – located about 38 miles northwest of Prague – was a model village built to protect the Jews, safekeeping them from the war. The ruse worked to the detriment of nearly 200,000 men, women and children who passed through its gates on their way to concentration camps or probable death inside. Your guided visit here includes the Memorial of National Martyrdom, the Small Fortress, a former Gestapo prison, and the Museum of the Ghetto. Have lunch in a nearby restaurant and return to Prague for an evening spent as you wish.
Breakfast, Lunch
THE GRAND MARK PRAGUE
Begin the day with an exclusive-to-Tauck, privately guided tour of the opulent Baroque libraries of Strahov Monastery in the heart of Prague, restored to their 17th- and 18th-century glory. Then meet up with your local guide to explore the Josefov District, Prague’s historic Jewish Quarter. See the Jewish Cemetery, dating back to medieval days; the Old-New Synagogue, founded in the 13th century; and Pinkus and Maisel synagogues (holidays permitting).
Spend a free afternoon discovering sights that interest you most in the well-preserved city of Prague. Tonight, join us for a special evening at historic Lobkowicz Palace at Prague Castle, with a reception, a “Princely Collections” tour and a gala farewell dinner.
Breakfast, Dinner
THE GRAND MARK PRAGUE
Tauck's memorable Jewish Heritage tour ends in Prague, Czech Republic. A transfer is included from The Grand Mark Prague to Prague's Václav Havel International Airport. Please allow a minimum of 3 hours for flight check-in.
Breakfast
All rates listed are per person based on double occupancy and are subject to change without notice. Your land package pricing will be confirmed and guaranteed once your deposit is received and applied to the booking, except where price increases may result from increases in government taxes or fees. Room configurations are subject to availability. Guests added to your party after the booking are priced at the prevailing rate at the time they are added.