Basic Jewish History and the Warsaw Ghetto Tour

This tour combines short strolls and riding in a comfortable vehicle or public transport.

The tour explores pre-war Jewish life in Warsaw, story of the Warsaw ghetto, memorial sites and a fascinating revival of the Warsaw Jewish community today.

You will start your tour in The Old Town on foot. You will be seeing where Warsaw began and get a brief but pertinent introduction to Warsaw and its history. It’s important for understanding the topography of the city and the development of the Jewish neighborhood over centuries.

Next, you will tour the area of the former Jewish neighborhood and the Warsaw Ghetto:

1. Pre-war Jewish life: Grzybowski square and Próżna, the only surviving Jewish street.

2. Story of the Warsaw Ghetto: remnants of the ghetto wall; building of the Jewish children’s hospital, currently being transformed into the Museum of the Warsaw Ghetto (due to open in 2026); Chłodna footbridge installation (it`s one of ghetto`s memorials); Muranów: a housing project built as a monument to the ghetto; Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes; Miła 18 – memorial of the bunker which served as the headquarters of the Ghetto Uprising commandership; Jewish Memory Lane which leads to a former deportation point called Umschlagplatz.

3. Jewish life in Warsaw and Poland today: visit in the Nożyk synagogue which is the only prewar synagogue preserved in Warsaw.

*Note: before the end of the tour, we will have time to sit down (for lunch or just coffee) and have a conversation about contemporary Jewish life in Poland, its revival, my personal experiences, antisemitism and anything else you might be interested in. It will give you a chance to ask questions that you hope to have answered.

If you wish, the tour can be extended by three additional sites. Just let me know:

Jewish cemetery at Okopowa street – the largest in the world in terms of number of tombstones and world`s biggest collection of Jewish art. It is the only surviving site which fully narrates 200-year history of the Warsaw Jewish community. 

Tour Duration: + 2 hours

Tour Price: + 400 złoty

Entrance fee: 20 złoty/person

Jewish Historical Institute – the biggest Jewish organization in Poland and a repository of UNESCO-enlisted Ringelblum Archive – the largest collection of documentary materials relating to Holocaust. There`s a fascinating exhibition telling the story of a group of people, who – working undercover – documented the plight of the Jews under the Nazi occupation. You will see some of the original documents – the most direct Holocaust account in the world.

Tour Duration: + 1.5 hour

Tour Price: + 400 złoty

Entrance fee: 15 złoty/person

The Zookeepers’ villa – the former home of the Żabińskis, guardians of the Warsaw Zoo during the Second World War. Their story was turned into the book and then movie „Zookeeper’s Wife” starring Jessica Chastain.

You will tour the zoo grounds and the same rooms where Jan and Antonina Żabiński sheltered hundreds of Jews smuggled from the Warsaw ghetto. Not much changed inside since the end of the war. You will see the same piano as the one on which Antonina played a tune to warn those in hiding.

We will walk down to the basement, where the hideout was located. You can still see there an underground tunnel through which they could escape to an abandoned pheasant enclosure.

Tour Duration: + 1.5 hour

Tour Price: + 400 złoty

Entrance fee: 50 złoty/person

Please note:

The Nożyk synagogue, the cemetery and the Jewish Historical Institute are closed during Shabbat (Friday afternoon, Saturday) and on Jewish holidays.

We will be going inside the buildings and this tour includes admission to some places.

You can combine this tour with:

How it works?

You can choose from two options!

Option One:
Walking + Public Transport (distance to walk ca. 4 kms)

Duration:
7 hours

Meeting point:
at a place convenient to you: your hotel, airport, train station etc.

Price:
1400 złoty

What`s included:
Guiding service

Extra expenses:
Public transport ticket – 15 złoty per person
Nożyk synagogue entrance fee - 20 złoty per person (not available on Friday afternoon and Saturday)

Option Two:
Private car (distance to walk ca. 2 kms)

Duration:
5 hrs

Meeting point:
at a place convenient to you: your hotel, airport, train station etc.

Price:
1800 złoty – maximum 4 persons (5-seat car)
2000 złoty – 5-6 persons (mini-van)
2200 złoty – 7 persons and more (bus)
2400 złoty – 20 persons and more

What`s included:
Guiding service
Car service

Extra expenses:
Nożyk synagogue entrance fee - 20 złoty per person (not available on Friday afternoon and Saturday)

Book:
If you like this tour, just drop me a message with your preferred date and time. Let me also know which option of the tour do you choose, how many of you are coming and where are you staying in Warsaw