World War II Capitals

Day 1 – Budapest

Welcome Unitrippers to this trip through Europe for young people!

We start our trip in Budapest. This first day will be where we will all get to know each other and depending on your arrival time in Budapest, you will be able to take a walk to get to know the city with the rest of the group. Don’t worry if you have a last minute flight as we will visit the city at the end of our tour.

Would you like someone to accompany you on this tour? Encourage her with a Unitrips GIFT CARD  as a gift this Christmas.

Day 2 – Budapest – Vienna

After getting to know each other the day before, we set off to visit our second destination of the tour: Vienna!

We will check-in at our accommodation and then head out to explore this fantastic city that will leave you enchanted as Vienna has so much to offer. You will visit the Belvedere Palace (where you can admire Klimt’s “The Kiss”), see the Tree of Hearts at Maria-Theresien-Platz … and feel like Princess Sissi in the Schonbrunn Gardens. You will be able to contemplate its majestic buildings such as the Opera House, the Parliament and many others that will leave you in awe.

Day 3 – Vienna

Guten morgen!
Today on this tour of Eastern Europe we will have to wake up early to make the most of the day.

You will have the opportunity to choose whether to join an optional bus tour of Vienna or to walk through the center of the city on this part of our Europe for Young People tour.
On the bus you will visit all the main sights of Vienna, from the Prater and the old lady with the Ferris wheel, to the Danube, then along the Ringstrasse, admiring its beautiful 19th century monuments.

*Optional Activity:

• Bus Tour Vienna

Did you know that…

• Vienna was the cultural capital of the 19th century. The Habsburgs financed all kinds of artists, and that’s why their Opera House is one of the most famous in the world.
• Vienna was fortunate to escape Russian hegemony in 1955 and become a neutral country. That is why Austria today is a much richer and more developed country than its neighbors.
• Take a look at the traffic lights in the city, and you will notice something very curious.

Day 4 – Vienna – Prague

Vitejte v Cesku!

Another day, another country, another language, another currency on our trip to Eastern Europe. You will be lucky enough to get to know the Florence of Bohemia, Cesky Krumlov, a charming town that only with Unitrips you can get to know.
From here we will continue our European adventure heading north to the golden city, Prague, where you will be seduced by the elegant narrow streets of its historic center and the dazzling castle.

Do you know all its legends?

Legends of Prague

Day 5 – Prague (New Year’s Eve party)

Before enjoying the New Year, wrap up warm and enjoy a stroll through the Old Town… We will take you through the Wenceslas Square, universally known for being the scene of the “Prague Spring”, to discover the most famous astronomical clock in the world and crossing the Vltava River by the Charles Bridge, knowing one by one the 30 famous baroque sculptures, we will arrive at the foot of the largest castle in the world, where he was living a world reference of literature: Kafka.

Still have energy? Then you still have to discover the New Town, also of medieval origin, and the old Jewish Quarter.

We hope you are not too tired today, because there are still the New Year’s celebrations. Every year, people from all over the world come to Prague to celebrate, because of the charm of the city and the low price of its beer. Are you going to miss it?

Click here to discover places in Prague.

*Optional Activity:

• For more information about New Year’s activities ask the group leader.

Did you know that…

• Prague Castle is rated as the largest ancient castle on Earth. And it is here that the Bohemian monarchy and the presidents of the Czech Republic stayed. In its visitable infrastructure, the Golden Alley, the Black Tower and the White Tower stand out.
• The Czech Republic is the country where most beer is drunk per capita per year. Beer is part of their daily culture, there are so many brands of beer, that it would be impossible to try them all, even drinking 10 a day during the whole tour. Impressive!

Day 6 – Prague – Kutna Hora* – Prague

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

After the celebrations, today we offer you the opportunity, during this trip to Eastern Europe, to get to know another jewel of the Czech Republic: Kutna Hora. World Heritage City, for its historic center and its peculiar church of bones, which is located in the cemetery of the town.

*Optional Activity:

• Excursion to Kutna Hora

Did you know that…

• One of the most important jewels of the city of Kutna Hora are the religious temples which are considered to be among the best churches in the Czech Republic, that’s why you can’t miss them.
• Kutna Hora has a macabre touch, since it is nothing more and nothing less than a church built and decorated with the bones of 40,000 people who wanted to be buried there.

Day 7 – Prague – Berlin

After giving it our all in Prague, we will continue our trip to Eastern Europe. We will go even further north and the temperatures will drop even further! Germany and its capital, Berlin, await us.

Berlin, after being almost completely destroyed during the Second World War, has had to reinvent itself and has succeeded especially since 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the unification of the West and East side of the city. Since then, due to the low cost of living, it has attracted urban artists from all over Europe, and that is why today it is possible to admire the best graffiti of the continent.

If time and schedules permit, on the way to Berlin we will stop in Dresden, known as “Florence on the Elbe River”. There we will be able to taste a delicious German “wurst” and also appreciate the baroque architecture of this city.

Did you know that…

• The origin and meaning of Berlin is “marshy land” because the land on which the city is built was swampy in nature.
• The Berlin TV Tower, which is 368 meters high, is the second tallest tower in Europe, and not only that, you can climb 200 meters up the tower, where it has a restaurant that makes a complete turn on its own axis every 30 minutes.
• Although the only iconic gate that remains in the city today is the Brandenburg Gate, at one time it boasted 18 entrance gates.

Day 8 – Berlin

“Ich bin ein Berliner”, i.e. “I am a Berliner” is what JFK said in ’63 to show solidarity with the Soviet policy that was sinking this city. Today it will be your turn to repeat this phrase and spend a day being a Berliner.

Today in this trip to Eastern Europe, you can choose whether to spend a day with us to know every last detail that hides behind the buildings of Berlin, especially the famous Reichstag, the Parliament of Germany, next to it you will see the icon of Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate, and the famous Holocaust memorial.

From there we will continue to Checkpoint Charlie, coming across a portion of the old Berlin Wall destroyed in ’89, surely the most important political event in Germany in the last 50 years. If time permits we will reach the famous Alexanderplatz, where you can climb the other symbol of the Berlin skyline, the Berlin TV tower.

*Optional Activity:

• Bus Tour Berlin

Day 9 – Berlin – Krakow

Today is travel day on our trip to Eastern Europe, and crossing the snowy plains of central Europe, we will arrive in another country that has been the scene of many battles and bombings throughout World War II: Poland. Almost all of Poland’s cities have been totally destroyed, and very few remain with an intact historic center. One of them is Krakow, Kraków in Polish, where, weather permitting, we will arrive as soon as possible to enjoy its beautiful old town.

Did you know that…

• From a political and historical point of view, Poland is the most unfortunate country in Europe in the last two centuries, having been invaded by Germany, Russia, Czech Republic and Austria.
• At the same time, they were never invaded by either the Romans or the Turks.
• Poland is the most Catholic country in Europe, especially among young people.

Day 10 – Krakow – Auschwitz – Krakow

Today on this trip to Eastern Europe, we propose to get up early for an optional activity, a visit almost mandatory if we are doing the tour of the Second World War.
Next to Krakow, an hour and a bit away, you can find the only concentration camp that was saved from the self-destruction of the Germans, who tried to erase the evidence of the existence of these camps.
Auschwitz is a place of memory and reflection, where a guide will show us the atrocities of the Nazi regime and the physical and moral destruction that the Jews had to endure (activity usually in English).

For those who prefer to stay in Krakow we leave below some useful information about the city.

*Optional Activity:

• Excursion to Auschwitz concentration camp.

Day 11 – Krakow

Krakow is the cultural reference of Poland due to its history: here you can enjoy different areas developed in different eras that have not suffered significant damage during the Second World War. The historic center of medieval origin, is perfectly preserved and it is possible to walk along the royal road that runs from the north to the south of the city, starting with the Barbican, passing the market square, the largest and most beautiful of the city where stands the Cathedral of St. Mary and ending with the legendary Wawel Castle overlooking the Vistula River.

South of the castle developed in the nineteenth century the Jewish quarter, the most active and characteristic district of the city. This neighborhood became a ghetto during the Nazi rule and is where the famous Schindler acted, a German who saved thousands of Jews by lying to the German authorities and that the director Steven Spielberg took to the movies.

In addition Krakow also has a district of communist architecture known to urban planners around the world, Nowa Huta, a highly developed industrial area.

*Optional Activity:

• Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Day 12 – Krakow – Orava* – Budapest

Today on this trip to Eastern Europe for young people we will start by heading towards the impressive Tatra Mountains that mark the end of Poland and the beginning of Slovakia. The drive on a national road is particularly pleasant for nature lovers.

In Slovakia we will stop in a small village called Oravsky Podzamok, where one of the most beautiful castles in Europe stands on the top of a rock: the Orava Castle (optional entrance) where the first Dracula movie “Nosferatu” (1922) was filmed.

After this visit, we will continue our tour in the direction of Hungary, where we will visit the last city on our extensive list – Budapest.

*Optional Activity

• Visit to Orava Castle

Day 13 – Budapest

All good things come to an end… and after this exciting trip to Eastern Europe, the time has come to say goodbye… hopefully you will come back for another Euroadventure!

Did you know that…

• If we look at the statistics we will see how the holocaust affected Hungary, one out of 10 victims of this horrible historical moment was of Hungarian origin.
• The most famous Ruin Bars are the Szimpla Kert or the Instant, all of them decorated with everyday objects but in an eccentric way that gives the place an alternative touch.
• If you have time and you like ice skating, the rink next to the Heroes’ Square has 12,000 square meters!

Included:

• Travel by comfortable private bus to the destinations mentioned in the program.
• 13 days and 12 nights of travel
• Accommodation in the best hotels and hostels all over Europe:
• 2 nights in Budapest
• 2 nights in Vienna
• 3 nights in Prague
• 2 nights in Berlin
• 3 nights in Krakow
• 12 breakfasts
• Multiple rooms (double or single on request)
• All transportation, parking and tolls expenses
• Group leader during the whole trip
• Assistance throughout the trip
• Tours in the mentioned cities with tour leaders
• And more surprises….

Not included:

• Everything that is not mentioned in “Includes”
• Transport to the starting point
• Travel insurance and cancellation insurance
• Flight tickets
• Entrance fees for monuments and attractions
• Visa fees or other administrative costs
• Transport within the cities (metro, taxi etc.)
• Optional activities

Optional Activities, extras:

• Excursion to Kutna Hora
• Bus Tour Vienna
• Bus Tour Berlin
• Auschwitz Concentration Camp Tour
• Wieliczka Salt Mine
• Visit to Orava Castle
• And much more

(You will be able to book your extras once you have booked your trip, through an App to which we will give you access).

Each optional activity requires a minimum of 40 participants.