Program is tentative and subject to change. Connect with our Customer Care Team by calling: (888) 230-6008 Mon.-Thur. from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET).
YOUR journey
J² crafts journeys of inspiration, education, and Jewish connections to Israel and worldwide. We are guided by a simple but powerful concept: No two trips are the same; each experience should be personal, meaningful, and backed by superb service. Travel is not just about the places you visit, but the connections you make along the way.
Registration online is currently closed. If you are interested to join this journey, please contact Stacey Block at: stacey@buffalojewishfederation.org or reach out to our Customer Care team at: customercare@j2adventures.com
*Late-registration will be based upon availability.
Art & Culture 
Heritage 
Local Specialists 
Food & Wine 
Social Justice
THE EXPERT
Program Itinerary
DAY 1
DEPARTURE
Tue. Apr 2, 2024
- Depart the USA.
Overnight: Flight
DAY 2
THE START OF A SPECIAL JOURNEY
Wed. Apr 3, 2024
- Arrive at Warsaw International Airport and transfer to your hotel.
- 2:00 p.m. Meet for an orientation with your tour educator where you will review your itinerary and group themes and share group and personal goals.
- Visit the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, located in the center of what once was the Warsaw Ghetto.
- Check into the hotel.
- Short walk through Warsaw’s Old Town. Established in the 13th century and destroyed by the German army during WWII, it was meticulously rebuilt using the original stones.
- Enjoy a welcome dinner at local restaurant MOMU.
Overnight: Warsaw
Meals: Dinner
DAY 3
THE WORLD THAT WAS & THE WORLD THAT IS
Thu. Apr 4, 2024
- Visit the Gensha Cemetery, one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the world. Revive the names on the unique tombstones of famous Jewish leaders, artists, rabbis, and intellectuals.
- Visit the Nozyk Synagogue, the last remaining pre-WWII synagogue in Warsaw.
- Take a guided visit to the remains of the Warsaw Ghetto. At Mila 18, we will commemorate the doomed uprising and at Umschlagplatz, the holding area before transportation to the Treblinka death camp.
- Explore the Ringelblum Archives, an eye-witness record of life and death in the Warsaw Ghetto.
- Many of us know that our families and descendants once lived in Poland but understand little else about their lives and experiences. Meet the people who can help change that. The Jewish Genealogy & Family Center assists people from around the world in discovering their roots in Poland. We’ll hear about how they search for clues, information, and insights that help rebuild family stories.
- Visit atop the Palace of Science & Culture: a very large symbol of past Soviet Power, one of Europe’s tallest buildings from which you can get a 360-degree views of modern-day Warsaw. The Palace also hosted performances by notable international artists, such as a 1967 concert by The Rolling Stones, the first by a major western rock group behind the Iron Curtain.
Overnight: Warsaw
Meals: Breakfast
DAY 4
THE JEWISH STORY OF WOLOMIN
Fri. Apr 5, 2024
- Check out of the hotel.
- 8:00 a.m. Private breakfast with Piotr Szulc, a local Pole deeply invested in Jewish History research in the city of Wolomin. Hear about his involvment with School for Dialogue and his involvement in sharing the Jewish History of Wolomin.
- We will walk the streets of Wolomin and connect with the town's Jewish history for what once was a flourishing Jewish community until World War II.
- Return to Warsaw.
- 1:46 p.m. Depart Warsaw on a train to Krakow.
- Packed lunch, en route.
- 4:00 p.m. Arrive in Krakow, check into the hotel and prepare for Shabbat.
- Optional Shabbat services at the Rema synagogue (Orthodox).
- Shabbat dinner with Klezmer live music at the quaint Klezmer-Hois restaurant in the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter.
Overnight: Krakow
Meals: Breakfast, Packed Lunch & Dinner
DAY 5
SHABBAT IN KRAKOW
Sat. Apr 6, 2024
- Explore the Main Market Square, Krakow’s city center and one of the best public spaces in Europe today. It combines modern street life with medieval architecture. One of the largest medieval squares still in existence, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Visit the Wawel Royal Castle. This palace was the magnificent home of Poland’s kings and rulers from 1038-1536 and is a key symbol of the nation’s culture and independence. Highlights of the visit will include the stunning grounds and cathedral.
- Visit the Galicia Jewish Museum.
- Cross the bridge to the site of the Podgorze ghetto, from where many were deported to the death camps or were killed in 1943 when it was liquidated. See the following sites:
- The Oscar Schindler Factory Museum tells the story of Krakow and its residents under Nazi occupation from 1939 to 1945.
- The Krakow Umschlagplatz memorial, now called Ghetto Heroes Square, which was the center of the Podgorze Ghetto. Its “lonely chairs” are a monument to those who have vanished.
- The Under the Eagle Pharmacy, a pharmacy inside the ghetto run by Tadeusz Pankiewitz. We’ll hear how this Polish-Catholic pharmacist saved many Jews and was subsequently recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous among the Nations.
- Experience the authentic local cuisine and culture on a fun tasting tour.
Overnight: Krakow
Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
DAY 6
LAYERED MEMORIES AND THE PATH THAT BINDS THEM
Sun. Apr 7, 2024
- Explore the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter. Once the heart of Jewish life in Krakow for 500 years, the quarter is now one of the city’s most attractive and Bohemian areas. Our tour will include:
- The Altshul. Built in the 15th century, this is the oldest synagogue still standing in Poland.
- The Rema Synagogue, named after Rabbi Moses Isserles (the “Rema"), a great Talmudic scholar and codifier of Jewish law. It is one of the few synagogues in Krakow that is still active today.
- The Rema Cemetery, where many renowned rabbis, including the Rema himself, are buried.
- The Tempel Synagogue. No longer used as a synagogue, it instead hosts artistic events and is a key venue in the revival of Jewish culture in the city.
- Drive to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Poland’s most popular attractions. Guided visit through this underground labyrinth of tunnels and shafts, which houses a salt lake and many intricate statues and creations (including an entire chapel) chiseled out of salt.
- Return to the hotel.
Overnight: Krakow
Meals: Breakfast
DAY 7
THE DESTRUCTION OF EUROPEAN JEWRY
Mon. Apr 8, 2024
- 7:30 a.m. Depart the hotel and drive to the Auschwitz–Birkenau complex, the largest of the Nazi concentration and extermination centers and in all its inhumanity. Over 1.1 million people lost their lives in the Auschwitz camps.
- 9:30 a.m. Visit the first camp built at Auschwitz, a mass concentration camp. Here, we’ll visit the Auschwitz museum which contains powerful artifacts and haunting footage of the lives and deaths of prisoners.
- Group lunch at the museum cafeteria.
- We will then make the short drive to the Auschwitz II death camp, also known as Birkenau. Largely untouched since the war, it provides intimate insights into the tragedy of the Holocaust. We’ll reflect here on the personal stories of some of the Jews held and killed here and read accounts from survivors.
- Visit the Oswiecim Synagogue which stood as a silent witness to the Holocaust.
- Return to the hotel.
- At the Krakow Jewish Community Center, we’ll talk with JCC deputy director Sebastian Rudol, and members of the local community, over dinner.
Overnight: Krakow
Meals: Breakfast, Packed Lunch & Dinner
DAY 8
FROM KRAKOW TO VIENNA
Tue. Apr 9, 2024
- Check out of the hotel and drive to Brno, the second largest city of the Czech Republic.
- Learn about the long history of Jews in Brno and visit the Agudas Achim Synagogue.
- Continue your drive to Vienna.
- Arrive in Vienna.
- Take a panoramic orientation tour along the Ringstrasse, the main avenue circling the city center, for a view of the city's main landmarks
- Check into the hotel, with evening at leisure.
Overnight: Vienna
Meals: Breakfast
DAY 9
WONDERFUL VIENNA
Wed. Apr 10, 2024
- Walking tour of Vienna, the city of Music: our introduction to Vienna will explore its rich musical History, including important influences from important Jewish figures, as we walk through Vienna's city center and pass some of the city's main landmarks.
- Tour of the Judenplatz, a center of Vienna’s Jewish life.
- Visit the Jewish Museum’s underground wing at the Judenplatz.
- Visit the Stadttemple Synagogue, the only synagogue in Vienna to survive Kristallnacht and World War Two. Hear about the synagogue’s role in Vienna’s Jewish life today.
- See "The Kiss" and other famous paintings by Gustav Klimt at the Belvedere Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Europe’s most beautiful Baroque buildings.
- Enjoy a farewell dinner.
Overnight: Vienna
Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
DAY 10
OPTIONAL EXTENSION OR UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
Thu. Apr 11, 2024
- OPTION 1: RETURN HOME
- Check out of the hotel and transfer to the airport.
- Return flight to the USA.
- OPTION 2: EXTENSION IN VIENNA
- Walking tour of Leopoldstadt: Look for signs of the large Jewish community that once lived in Leopoldstadt, an island in central Vienna. Stop by the Carmelite Market, which includes kosher shops among its many stores and stalls, to see how Jewish communal life in Leopoldstadt is beginning to make a comeback after its destruction during World War Two.
- Tour Nachsmarket, the city’s biggest food market. Enjoy a light lunch on own at the market.
- Travel to the heart of the Habsburg Empire with a visit to the Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens.
- Return to the hotel.
- 8:00 p.m. Attend a live classical concert at the historic Sala Terranea of Mozarthaus.
Overnight: Vienna
Meals: Breakfast
RATES & LODGING
participants
20+
Cost p/p in double room
$4,995
Cost p/p in single room
$5,665
Additional touring day and night in Vienna:
+ $500 per person sharing a double room Registration closed
Warsaw: Indigo Nowy Swiat
- Nights: 2
- Room Category: Standard
- Hotel Website
Krakow: Indigo Old Town
- Nights: 4
- Room Category: Standard
- Hotel Website
Vienna: Hilton Plaza
- Nights: 2
- Room Category: Standard
- Hotel Website
What to expect
- 8 nights' accommodations.
- 8 days of touring with a tour educator and local guides, in a luxury, air-conditioned bus.
- 1st class train ticket from Warsaw to Krakow.
- Separate luggage transfer from Warsaw to Krakow.
- All arrival transfers at the Warsaw airport.
- Daily breakfast, 2 lunches & 5 dinners.
- The J² adventures App available on the App Store & on Google Play (active 7 days before your departure and throughout your trip).
- Water on the bus.
- Porterage at the hotels.
- All site entrance fees & program fees as per your final program.
- Flights to & from Europe.
- Credit card fees.
- Gratuities are excluded. For groups of 20 and more participants traveling to Central Europe: We recommend the following guidelines for tipping (amounts are in US dollars): Jewish Tour Educator: $12 | Local Guide: $10 | Driver: $5. Amounts are per day per person.
- Departure transfers to the Vienna airport.
- Extra touring day and night in Vienna (11th of April).
- COVID related expenses, including tests.
- Evening transportation when dinner is not included.
- Amendments to the program: In the event that any sites, programs or meals etc. are added to the program, an additional fee may be required.
- Personal extras: Items of personal nature such as laundry, wines, mineral water, beverages, coffee, tea, food other than the table d’hotel menu, passport and visa fees, insurance, and foreign port taxes, unless otherwise specified.
- US and foreign airport taxes, Q fuel surcharge and border taxes when applicable.
- Please review our terms & conditions (T&C’s) or request that we send you our full T&C’s. Until you do that, here is the small print, and other stuff you may want to know:
- Validity | All prices quoted are based on exchange rates as of the proposal date and are subject to change without notice. Rates are per person and are based on shared twin room occupancy.
- How to Make a Reservation | The quickest way to make a reservation is to register online or contact us by email. We accept VISA, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is required in order to complete the registration process.
- For any assistance with this registration process or other trip-related queries, please email Customer Care: customercare@j2adventures.com.
- Payments | The balance of your payment is due 90 days before your trip begins, or as specified in your invoice. You will receive an email reminder 2 weeks before this date. Various payment options are available as follows:
- Credit card | We accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Please check with your credit card provider regarding international processing fees. We are unable to process payments of over $1,000 over the phone. Please submit payment online via a credit card or by wiring funds via your bank.
- Domestic bank wire transfer | Payment should be wired in the same currency that is listed on your invoice. Please add the name of your group or invoice number as a reference and forward a copy of the transfer receipt by email. The bank transfer should clearly state the beneficiary’s name on the wire transfer.
- J² Adventures reserves the right to automatically cancel your reservation on that date and it may be subject to reconfirmation should the final payment not be received.
- Cancelation Policy | All cancelations need to be made in writing. The cancelation fee depends on the date when we receive written notification of your request to cancel your booking. Please note that the deposit is non-refundable.
- Cancelation fees | Cancelations made 90 or more days prior to departure incur the loss of the deposit. Cancelations made 89 to 46 days prior to departure incur the loss of 50% of the full trip cost. Cancelations made 45 days or less prior to the departure incur the loss of 100% of the full trip cost.
- Cancelation fees may also include: Hotel or supplier cancelation fees. J² Adventures reserves the right to adjust its terms of payment, including cancelation policies and initial deposits.
DISCOVER NEW WORLDS.
JEWISH JOURNEYS.
A family vacation to Israel. An adventure of a lifetime traveling with friends to Morocco. A trip to Poland or Portugal with your community. What do these trips have in common? No matter where you go, you will come back with a fresh perspective and appreciation of the place you visited as well as a heightened awareness of your identity as part of the global Jewish community.
J2 STUFF.
We have everything you need to know before you go. Check out our Instagram my_j2adventures for cool updates and interesting tidbits.
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