Below we would like to present you the possible options of organizing single-handedly trips around Cracow. Our Front Desk clerks will not only offer you advice and help, but will also book you tickets, check the connections, etc.

According to the legend, written down by Wincenty Kadłubek, a 13-century Polish historian, the name of the city comes from the name of Prince Krak. In fact, the origin of the name is less royal: the name “Cracow” comes from the still common and used in dialects word “krak”, meaning “raven”. It’s a onomatopoeic name, formed from the sound these birds make: kra-kra (in Polish). So, initially the name “Cracow” meant “a place with an abundance of crows”. The city lies on the borderline of several geographic areas: the Cracow Gate, the Sandomierz Basin, the Oświęcim Basin and the West-Beskidian Piedmont. The Vistula Valley constitutes the axis of the city.
Cracow is one of the most important cultural centers of Poland, many people consider it to be the cultural capital of the country. It is also one of the most important tourist and historical centers in Europe. The area of the Old City and the Kazimierz District were put in 1978 on the First UNESCO World Heritage List. In the year 2000 Cracow was chosen one of the European cities of Culture. Numerous architectural monuments in the city are the result of Cracow’s long history and a large quantity of functions it fulfilled, while being the capital of the state, a robust city center, a trade center of the region, a university center and a cultural center. Consequently, Cracow is one of the most important European tourist centers with valuable monuments from different ages. Here the visitors will find over 6 thousand historical objects.

A town located in the Oświęcim Basin, where the Soła River flows in the Vistula. In 1940 in the outskirts of the town Oświęcim the Nazis set up a concentration camp KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. The first works were carried out by 300 Jews from the town of Oświęcim. On the 14th of June 1940 the first transport of political prisoners – Poles – reached the camp. In 1941 the Germans started the construction of the IG Farben chemical plant. Due to this all the Jews, who lived in Oświęcim, were moved to ghettos in Chrzanów, Będzin and Sosnowiec. In 1941 also the synagogue in Głęboka Street was demolished. In October 1941 the Germans started building the Bełżec extermination camp, which was the part of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was the largest Nazi center of mass extermination, where ca. 1.5 m people (the exact number is unknown) of 40 nationalities were murdered, mainly Jews (90% of the victims) and Poles. In January 1945 the Germans liquidated the camp. They have blown up the gas chambers and the crematoria. On 27th of January 1945 Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Army. In 1947 on the premises of the former KL Auschwitz-Birkenau the Auschwitz – Birkenau State Museum was formed. In 1998 the Lomdei Misznajot synagogue on the Fr. J. Skarbek’s Square no. 3 was ceremonially passed over to the Jewish Commune in Bielsko-Biała, where the Jewish Education Center was built. The Center’s goal is to memorize the victims of the Holocaust through studies of the history and culture of the Polish Jews on the example of Oświęcim.