Description:

During the tour we will take you back in time and tell a story starting from modern Warsaw to the city origins. You will begin with a visit to downtown where skyscrapers dominate the horizon. Among these business towers you will find once the highest building in Poland – Palace of Culture, nicknamed ‘gift of Stalin”, built only to prove Soviet domination.

Walking north-east you will go through the former Jewish district, where the only survived synagogue, the Nożyk synagogue, can be found. Before the II World War Jews accounted for 30% of the city’s population but almost 90% of them perished during the Holocaust. We will then continue walking along KrakowskiePrzedmieście, the most elegant Warsaw street with its beautiful palaces and churches. We will finish a tour by closing our circle in the Old Town, where it all began. The Royal Castle, market square, Warsaw cathedral and the medieval city walls will all await you there. Warsaw Old Town owes its revival to the devoted inhabitants that largely rebuilt this historic place with their bare hands. Great enthusiasm of the people of Warsaw and this very accurate reconstruction are appreciated globally and was included on UNESCO World Heritage List.

During this tour you will:

Befriend Warsaw mermaid, city’s symbol for over 700 years
See Palace of Culture, Warsaw’s landmark, nicknamed ‘gift of Stalin”
Understand why Belle Epoque residences, skyscrapers designed by star architects and communist housing stand side by side, even at one small square
Hear the story of the only still standing prewar synagogue and relicts of the ghetto

Description:

Praga is one of the best preserved pre-war neighbourhoods of Warsaw which escaped WWII demolition. Walking the streets of Praga you can see original 19th century tenement houses, backyard shrines and even hear some local dialect! It used to be a multicultural neighborhood where Poles, Jews, Germans and Russians lived side by side. Though most of these people are gone, we can still trace its multicultural heritage by visiting Catholic, Jewish and Russian Orthodox places of worship and everyday life.

We will meet you next to the Catholic cathedral of Praga, then walk on cobbled streets packed with 19th century tenements. Passing by the monument of Pragas’ folk street bands we will reach the center of pre-war Jewish part of the district with original buildings of mikveh (ritual bath) and massive Jewish school. Just few steps away, at Targowa street, we will visit Różycki Bazar, once a huge market, where for more than 100 years the heart of Praga has been beating. A must-do thing at Różycki is tasting pyza, potato dumpling, a local speciality served inside a glass jar. After pyza-break, we will head to the Orthodox church of St. Mary Magdalene, a monumental remnant of the Russian period.

During this tour you will:

See a goose bigger than an elephant (for real)
Discover shrines hidden in the backyards of 19th century tenement houses
Admire the most beautiful Orthodox church in the city
Feel the local, genuine atmosphere of Praga

TIPS:

• Add a visit at Polish Vodka Museum (70 PLN/each) located in carefully restored vodka factory from 1890s. You’ll know how Polish vodka is being produced and, quite obviously, get to taste best Polish brands.
• Try some local specialities in one of the alternative bars and cafes at Ząbkowska Street. Opary Absurdu (Ząbkowska 6) isourfavorite!

Description:

Juliana, the queen of the Netherlands, when she saw the Palace of Culture said „small, but tasteful”. A bit controversial opinion for a building 230 meters (750 feet) high, made of 40 millions of bricks and 28 thousands m2 (almost 7,000 acres!) of marble. Nicknamed „Stalin’s gift” once symbolised Soviet oppression in post-war Poland. Today, it dominates Warsaw’s horizon and like an Indian totem can be visible from almost every part of the city. After years Soviet architecture seems to be overscaled: people criticise its pushy style designed to preach „the only rightful ideology”, but at the same time it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in Warsaw. During our walk we will try to find out to what extent communist authorities managed to build ideal socialist capital not only in the urban way but also in the pursue to change the society.

We will start next to the Charles de Gaulle monument which stands in front of the former Polish Communist Party headquarters. Then we will walk through Ministerial District to see impressive building of Ministry of Agriculture which looks entirely like a palace moved from ancient Rome. We will also see Marszałkowska Housing District, a shining example of residential area for „new socialist man”, decorated with typical Soviet motifs like huge statues of workers, miners, bricklayers and other heroes of everyday life. Finally we will get to Palace of Culture and Science, the main symbol of communist era and still the highest building in Poland.

During this tour you will:

Visit the Constitution Square, where most of the communist demonstrations including Labour Day Marches took place
Discover the variety of ways how to use architecture for propaganda purposes
Understand how one man was able to lay 61 000 bricks a day
See a forgotten VIP balcony of First Secretaries of Polish Communist Party

NOTE:

• Interested in having a bird’s-eye view of Warsaw? Add a visit to the Palace of Culture viewing terrace for 20 PLN per person
• Fancy a Polish meal on the tour? Just tell us and we will have a bite in “Bar Mleczny”, “milk bar”, the most popular type of a bar during the Communism.

Description:

On the eve of the WW2 Warsaw was a vibrant center of Jewish life and culture. It was the world second largest Jewish community after New York, home to almost 370 000 Jews, one third of city’s population. This world was almost completely annihilated during the Holocaust, with most of the community murdered by Germans in the gas chambers of Treblinka, few hours away from Warsaw. But the Jewish life, though much ruined, has managed to survive. Join us on an amazing journey of discovering the richness of prewar life, horrors of the Holocaust and the energy of contemporary Jewish life, still in process of reshaping itself.

We will start by visiting unique remnants of the ghetto wall at Złota st., then walk to Grzybowski square with the only still standing prewar synagogue built by the Nożyk family. In the second part of our tour we will visit Jewish Historical Institute and see the Ghetto Heroes Monument. This unique memorial from 1948 stands in front of the recently opened Museum of the History of Polish Jews, known as POLIN Museum. Then we will walk the Memorial Route to Miła 18, where in May 1943 Mordechai Anielewicz, commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took his own life. We will end by the Umschlagplatz where Jews were rounded up before being taken to trains bound for Treblinka.

NOTE: in order to make the most of the tour, we recommend using our efficient public transport (15 PLN for a 24h ticket). We could use also TAXI.

Ticket for Jewish Historical Institute – 15 PLN per person

During this 4 hour tour you will:

Visit a house once divided by the ghetto wall
Discover the diversity of the prewar Jewish Warsaw with more than 440 prayer houses
Walk one of the just few streets that survived the war
See a unique floor with traces of the explosion of one of the biggest synagogues in Europe

Tour extension:Jewish Cemetery – one of the best-preserved Jewish cemeteries in the world. A walk through the cemetery provides an extraordinary opportunity to gain insight into the very diverse beliefs, culture and customs of Warsaw Jews, Orthodox Jews, Hasidim, Reform Jews, socialists and the greatest Warsaw entrepreneurs. Great rabbis, scientists, writers and people of culture are buried here. (additional 1.5-2 hours)We can also visit cemetery instead of any of other parts of the tour.

During the one day tour you will have a chance to see all most significant and characteristic Warsaw landmarks!
We will take you back in time and tell a story starting from modern Warsaw to the city origins. You will begin with a visit to downtown where skyscrapers dominate the horizon. Among these business towers you will find a highest building in Poland – Palace of Culture, nicknamed ‘gift of Stalin”, built only to prove Soviet domination. On the 30th floor there is most- famous viewing terrace with outstanding panorama of the whole Warsaw and surroundings.

Walking north-east you go through the former Jewish district, where the only survived synagogue, the Nożyk synagogue, can be found. Before the II World War Jews accounted for 30% of the city’s population but almost 90% of them perished during the Holocaust. We will then continue walking along KrakowskiePrzedmieście, the most elegant Warsaw street with its beautiful palaces and churches. We will finish a tour by closing our circle in the Old Town, where it all began. The Royal Castle (will be happy to show you interiors), Warsaw cathedral and the medieval city walls will all await you there. Warsaw Old Town owes its revival to the devoted inhabitants that largely rebuilt this historic place with their bare hands. Great enthusiasm of the people of Warsaw and this very accurate reconstruction are appreciated globally and was included on UNESCO World Heritage List.

After a lunch break in one of restaurants in the Old Town we would like to take you to the beautiful Royal Garden of Łazienki. It is famous of its flower carpets, peacocks and squirrels running over trees and roofs of 18th century palaces which luckily avoided WWII destruction. On the way to Łazienki we will show you the former Polish Communist Party headquarters, Parliament building and even an evergreen palm tree, a local meeting point.

During this tour you will:

Befriend Warsaw mermaid, city’s symbol for over 700 years
Climb on the 30th floor of Palace of Culture to enjoy panorama (ok, you can use a lift;))
See Royal Castle with its royal chambers and historical Parliament assembly hall where the second oldest constitution on the world was enacted
Walk through ŁazienkiRoyal Garden. If you wish we can also visit interiors of Palace on the Water and Baroque court theatre, one of six such buildings in the world

REMARK/NOTE:

• Please note that tickets to the Royal Castle (50 PLN) and viewing terrace (20 PLN) are not included in the price. Tickets to the palace interiors in Łazienki Garden are not included as well. But entrance to the Garden is for free and garden itself is the biggest treasure
• Tasting a ravioli-like Polish pierogi or żurek (sour rye soup) is a must-do! During the tour we will take you to our favorite spot. Please mind that lunch is not included in the price
• What about visiting Wilanów Palace, known as Polish Versailles? Additional 2 hours

• we suggest traveling by public transport (inexpensive and very well-functioning) – daily ticket: PLN 15 (we can also use taxis if you prefer)