RS Best of Poland tour reports

If you get a chance check out Wroclaw. Just walk around the city, the architecture is beautiful and there are plenty of bars and cafes to drop into. The food is cheap and delicious as well. One of my favorite things to do is to go gnome hunting. There are hundreds of small gnome statues around the city, pick up a map from a tourist shop and follow the trail to see how many you can spot in a day. It was also named Europe's capital of culture and there are plenty of festivals and exhibits scheduled for this year.

We will be spending 3 nights in Wroclaw after our RS Poland tour. I’m very excited to explore that city. Even though Wroclaw is not covered in the RS books, I was able to find plenty of online resources and feedback from this forum to make it a must see town to visit.

I’m still hoping to find some folks willing to give some feedback from their RS Poland tour.

Hi, I was on the Best of Poland tour in May. Our tour group consisted of 14, 10 women and 4 men. We had a great time and I really enjoyed the tour. There is so much history in Poland and each city has its complex story to tell. By the end of the trip I was getting a bit worn out from hearing about Jewish history in Poland. It’s a bit overwhelming however It’s important history to remember. Another lady and I skipped the tour in Krakow that included the Schindler’s List factory. Others on the tour raved about it, so maybe it was a bad decision to skip it.
The food was fabulous, even with all the walking, I gained weight. In Krakow we divided up into small groups and went shopping for perogie ingredients and then went back to our guide’s apartment to make fresh perogie for dinner. It was a lot of fun.

If you go to the page to register for the tour, there are a lot reviews now posted.

Vanessa, I’m glad you had a great trip. Thanks for pointing me to the review section on the tour page. Sounds like everyone so far is a fan of the new tour.

Would you be able to list the hotels you stayed at in Toruń and Warsaw?

Any standouts from breakfast offerings, or pretty standard fare?
How were the group meals and dinner options? Do you remember any of the restaurants?

I’m wanting to better understand the start/end times of the group walks each day and where you end up at the end of the walk, so I can make sure I’m most efficient with my free time planning (I’m a go-go-go see everything that you can type of traveler). Especially for Warsaw and krakow. Can you share some notes?

What were some of your favorite group or free time experiences?

In Toruń our hotel was the Hotel 1231. It was inside the old city wall with a short walk to the old town. In addition to the group walk, we went to the gingerbread museum in the evening to learn about gingerbread making and we got to bake our own cookie. It was very entertaining.
In Warsaw we stayed at the Chopin Boutique B&B. It’s a funky place. The owner has renovated the hotel in the style during the Soviet occupation of Poland. My room was very basic, but comfortable. The owner is very supportive of the Ukrainian’s and has hired many to work in the hotel. The food was great at the hotel. One nights meal was prepare by the Ukrainian ladies in the kitchen and was Ukrainian dishes rather than Polish.
Very delicious!
I’m sorry I don’t remember the names of the restaurants for dinner, but they all served great food, and lots of it. I never left hungry.
With regard to the breakfasts, I would say they were standard for Europe, rolls, meat, cheese, yogurt, fruit, etc.
We did have frequent free time in the afternoon. People broke off and did different things. I personally just enjoyed walking around the old towns, soaking up the culture. I love taking pictures of architecture, so that is mostly what I did.
Each morning we got started between 8:00 and 9:00 am. Either getting on the bus or walking to the next sight.
I hope this helps.
Vanessa