Jewish Warsaw - private tour by retro minibus
Jewish Warsaw - private tour by retro minibus
Look for the artefacts, relics and remainings 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.
Book This ExperienceA glimpse of the journey
Your Itinerary
A curated journey through the experience
Monument to Janusz Korczak
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 minutesGrzybowski 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 minutesProzna 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 minutesFragment 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 minutesKamienica przy Waliców 14
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 minutesChlodna 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 minutesMuranów
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 minutesPomnik 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 minutesPOLIN 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 minutesMemorial 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 minutesUmschlagplatz
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 minutesIncluded
- Professional English speaking local guide
- Transport by retro communist minibus
- Hotel/apartment Pickup and drop-off within a 3 km radius of the city center
Not Included
- Entrance fees to Synagogue and Cemetery (visit is optional)
- Tip or gratuity
Good to Know
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Infant seats available
- 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.
- Classic vintage minibuses are not equipped with air conditioning, and some are not equipped with seat belts (which is legal with classic vintage cars). However, they have a heating system for the winter.
- Most travelers can participate
- The capacity of one minibus is 8 passengers. 5 minibuses are available.
- Transportation vehicles regularly sanitized
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Tickets & Cancellation
You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start time of the experience.