Jewish Warsaw - private tour by retro minibus with hotel pickup

4.9
(10 reviews)

3 hours (approximately)
Pickup offered
Offered in: English

Look for the artefacts, relics and remains of the Jewish culture in Warsaw. This 3 hours private tour with the retro minibus lets you explore much more than the typical walking one. The tour covers all of the essential sites from the Jewish Ghetto, the story of the Uprising in 1943, main scenes like the Ghetto Heroes memorial, and the places off the regular tourist path.

Just after NYC, Warsaw was the most significant Jewish city in pre-war Europe and second on the planet. World War II took its toll - Nazis flattened the Jewish district and most of Warsaw. From many places en route, especially worth mentioning are Grzybowski Sq. with Prozna St., the piece of the ghetto wall, Umschlagplatz, Mila 18, POLIN museum neighbourhood and Janusz Korczak monument. Visit to the Synagogue and Cemetery is optional. Many things on this private tour are up to you, but you can rely on the guide regarding preparation, experience, and historical knowledge.

What's Included

Professional English speaking local guide
Hotel/apartment Pickup and drop-off within a 3 km radius of the city center
Transport by retro communist minibus
Entrance fees to Synagogue and Cemetery (visit is optional)
Tip or gratuity

Meeting and pickup

Pickup points
You can choose a pickup location at checkout (multiple pickup locations are available).
Pickup details:

Pickup service from hotels, Airbnb and apartments is available up to 3 kilometres from the city centre. If your hotel/apartment is farther or inaccessible by car, our advisor will suggest the closest and most comfortable meeting point. Please note that transfer from and to the hotel counts into the total time of the tour. Therefore, sometimes it is better to meet the guide in the city centre rather than spend time transferring from the far-located pickup spot.

Itinerary

Duration: 3 hours (approximately)
  • 1

    After the hotel pickup, the tour starts at the memorial of Janusz Korczak. He was a Polish-Jewish educator, children's author, and pedagogue. After many years as director of an orphanage in Warsaw, he refused to escape and stayed with his orphans until their end in the Treblinka extermination camp.

    5 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 2
    Grzybowski Square

    Next is the Grzybowski Square. It represents Warsaw in Nutshell - the city which changed dramatically during the XXth Century, witnessed two World wars, two totalitarian systems, and, finally, notable changes and re-uniting Europe in the early XXIst Century. It was a Jewish part of Warsaw, and thanks to Próżna street, one can still find traces of the past.

    20 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 3
    Prozna Street (Ulica Prozna)

    Próżna street is a historical street in Warsaw, Poland. It is the only former Warsaw Ghetto street featuring four tenement houses. The street is one of the few fragments of "Jewish Warsaw", in which the ambience of the old Jewish quarter is revived during the Festival of Jewish Culture – Singer’s Warsaw. The festival has been held annually every September in Próżna Street and Grzybowski Square since 2004.

    10 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 4
    Fragment Of Ghetto Wall

    A few fragments of the Ghetto Wall running between the properties are preserved, as well as the walls of the pre-war buildings that marked the border of the ghetto. The three best-known parts of the wall are located in the former small ghetto, although some are periodically not accessible: the guide takes you to one of them.

    15 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 5

    The Waliców street tenement house is, as we say, the last ghost from the Ghetto since it remains a ruin up to now. Also - there is a fragment of the Ghetto wall preserved in the same place.

    15 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 6
    Chlodna Street

    In 1941 Ghetto was divided into two parts by Chłodna street, used for East-West transfer traffic. The wooden bridge was built near the intersection of Chłodna and Żelazna streets to link two parts. It reached the third floor of the buildings, which allowed the “Aryan” trams, German military transports and cars to pass beneath it, as we can see in many photographs.

    10 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 7

    The next stop is the Muranów district. Again, the first impression is that it is just a regular neighbourhood filled with squared blocks of flats. But there is much more from the past to be discovered with the help of a guide.

    15 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 8
    Pomnik Bohaterow Getta

    The monument of the Ghetto Heroes and Polin museum are two symbolic and essential places where your guide takes you. Both are located near the spot where the first armed clash of the 1943 uprising took place. Yet, at the same time, it is where Polish, Jewish and German nations reconciled through several events throughout the last 50 years.

    20 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 9
    POLIN Muzeum Historii Zydow Polskich

    POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word Polin in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a legend about the arrival of the first Jews to Poland.

    5 minutes Admission ticket not included
  • 10
    Memorial at Mila 18

    There are two more places to visit. First is 18 Mila street, where the underworld smugglers constructed their hideout in 1943. On 8 May 1943, three weeks after the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when the Nazis found the bunker, there were around 300 people inside. Few escaped, while the rest decided to commit suicide; their remains are buried in that basement.

    10 minutes Admission ticket free
  • 11
    Umschlagplatz

    The last place visited on tour is also the scene which marks the end of the Jewish community in Warsaw. It is the Umschlagplatz, a train station where Nazis used to load Jews and transport them to the Treblinka extermination camp. Finally, in peace, one can uncover the memorial and buildings at Stawki street, which witnessed those horrifying scenes in 1942.

    15 minutes Admission ticket free

Additional info

  • Service animals allowed
  • Public transportation options are available nearby
  • Specialized infant seats are available
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels
  • Car is used mainly for transfers between locations where guests walk with their guide.
  • This tour can be booked instantly online for adults and children over 150 centimetres (4,9 ft). However, if you want to book a tour for a shorter child, please contact the tour operator to check the availability of seat boosters, which are obligatory in Poland.
Supplied by Warsaw Behind the Scenes

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Tags

Half-day Tours
Private Sightseeing Tours
Cultural Tours
Historical Tours
Classic Car Tours
Religious Tours
Seasonal
Short term availability

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

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Rating

4.9 Based on 10 10 reviews
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