Family Tours
Many Jewish heritage travelers journey to Poland to rediscover family roots. Our experts work closely with you to uncover and understand the clues of your family’s past, and then escort you to the locations in Poland and neighboring countries where your family’s stories unfolded. As poignant as it is to read your grandparents’ letters from the last century, it’s something else entirely to walk in the very places about which they wrote.
4 Countries in 18 Days
This family celebrated their daughter’s bat mitzvah by taking a family tour through Eastern Europe. They travelled with Taube Jewish Heritage Tours through Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.
Day One: Warsaw
- Arrival in Warsaw — Your Taube Jewish Heritage Tours’ Driver and Tour Assistant will greet you at the airport and take you to your hotel
- Shabbat Services at the Nożyk Synagogue
- Overnight in Warsaw
Day Two: Warsaw
- Walking tour of Warsaw’s Old Town, Royal Route, the University of Warsaw, and Pilsudski Square
- Free afternoon and evening to explore the city on your own
- Overnight in Warsaw
Day Three: Warsaw – Międzyrzec Podlaski – Parczew – Lublin
- Visit and tour of Międzyrzec Podlaski followed by a visit to Parczew, enroute to Lublin
- Early evening tour of Old Lublin followed by dinner
- Overnight in Lublin
Day Four: Lublin – Zamość – Lutsk (Poland – Ukraine)
- Time in the morning to explore Lublin with a stop at the city archives
- Continue by van to Zamość for lunch and a brief tour of the recently-renovated synagogue and the city’s Renaissance-era market square
- Border crossing at Hrubieszow on the way to Lutsk, Ukraine, we have arranged for your Ukrainian guide to meet you at the hotel in Lutsk
- Overnight in Lutsk
Day Five: Lutsk – Trochenbrod – Druzhkopol– Lviv
- A full day exploring with your guide in Lutsk and Trochenbrod, and a visit to Druzhkopol
- Late afternoon drive to Lviv
- Overnight in Lviv
Day Six: Lviv
- A full-day guided tour of Lviv. Lviv, once part of Poland, offers glimpses of the grandeur of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and pre-war Poland. Lviv, like Kraków, was one of the major cities of Galicia. Your guide will recommend restaurants and other sites for time on your own.
- Overnight in Lviv
Day Seven: Lviv – Łańcut – Kraków (Ukraine – Poland)
- Drive to Kraków with a visit en route to Łańcut with its beautifully renovated synagogue and 17th-century palace and gardens
- Lunch on the way
- Dinner on Krakow’s Main Market Square
- Overnight in Kraków
Day Eight: Kraków
- Guided walking tour of Kazimierz and visit to the Galicia Jewish Museum
- Afternoon and evening on your own – your guide will offer cultural and restaurant recommendations
- Overnight in Kraków
Day Nine: Kraków
- Guided walking tour of Old Kraków with Dr. Karen Underhill, Taube Jewish Heritage Tour program’s Senior Academic Advisor
- Lunch in Old Town
- Afternoon Options: The Salt Mines at Wieliczka (a four-hour excursion), Nowa Huta (a former Communist steel-manufacturing area and Solidarity stronghold in the 1980s), Podgórze (the site of the former Kraków Ghetto on the other side of the Vistula), or Schindler’s Factory Museum
- Overnight in Kraków
Day Ten: Kraków
- Free day in Kraków to relax and explore
- Overnight in Kraków
Day Eleven: Kraków – Warsaw
- Early morning train to Warsaw (approximately 3 hours)
- Afternoon walking tour of Jewish Warsaw
- Overnight in Warsaw
Day Twelve: Warsaw – Treblinka – Tykocin – Białystok
- Depart Warsaw by van after breakfast to Bialystok
- Tour of Treblinka
- Stop in Tykocin en route
- Overnight in Białystok
Day Thirteen: Białystok
- Tour of Białystok with local Jewish community activist
- Afternoon trip to Białowieża (Bisonland)
- Overnight in Białystok
Day Thirteen: Białystok – border crossing at Kuźnica – Grodno (Poland – Belarus)
- Depart Białystok for Grodno
- Tour of Grodno with your local guide who will recommend restaurants and cultural events
- Overnight in Grodno
Day Fourteen: Grodno – Vaukavysk – Slonim – Grodno
- Visit Vaukavysk and Slonim with your guide
- Overnight in Grodno
Day Fifteen: Grodno – border crossing at Kuźnica – Suwalki – Augustów (Belarus – Poland)
- Travel day with a stop for a boat ride on Wigry Lake
- Overnight in Augustów
Day Sixteen: Augustów – border crossing at Szypliszki – Kovno – Vilnius (Poland – Lithuania)
- Travel day to Vilnius with a tour of Kovno
- Overnight in Vilnius
Day Seventeen: Vilnius
- Tour of Vilnius with your guide
- Overnight in Vilnius
3 Day Tour in Poland
TJHT planned this itinerary for a family who wanted to visit their ancestral hometowns of Kłodawa and Łódź to track down their family’s former homes. Prior to their arrival in Poland, they conducted research with the Jewish Genealogy & Family Heritage Center of the Emmanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, as well as with Jewish Polish artist duo MI POLIN.
Day One
Your Taube Jewish Heritage Tours guide will meet you at the Warsaw International Chopin airport. They will escort you to your hotel by taxi and assist you with check in. In the afternoon, they will bring you on guided tour of Warsaw (known as the Phoenix City), including sites such as Warsaw’s Old Town, the Royal Route, the Warsaw University, Pilsudski Square, and the Lazienki Royal Park and Palace.
Day Two
In the morning, we will take you on a guided tour of Jewish Warsaw, including through Grzybowski Square, Prożna Street, Nożyk Synagogue, and areas of the former heart of Jewish Warsaw and sites of the former Warsaw Ghetto. After lunch, a guide will take you through the 1,000 year history of Polish Jews at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. In the evening, you are free to explore Warsaw on your own.
Day Three
Your tour coordinator will go with you on a full day trip to Kłodawa and Łódź. As requested, you will be joined by MI POLIN, a Judaica artist duo, who will work with you on your search for your ancestral homes. We will return back to Warsaw for your flight home in the evening.