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Wawel Hill above Kraków in summer

Kraków and the Southern Shrines

Seven nights in Kraków, with Częstochowa, Wadowice, Zakopane and Auschwitz

Nine days from one hotel. Kraków is the base for the whole week, and every shrine is reached as a day excursion, so the group unpacks once.

Departures

Current Tours to Poland

Upcoming departures to Poland. Each group has its own host, dates, and itinerary. The route below is our standard.

All current pilgrimages
The Route

Ten stops around Kraków

Kraków, Kazimierz, Tyniec, Częstochowa, Wadowice, Zakopane, Auschwitz, Harmęże, Łagiewniki and Wieliczka.

Itinerary · EU_PL-9D-01

The Kraków and the Southern Shrines Itinerary

Nine days in and out of Kraków Airport with seven nights in one hotel, no internal flights and no change of room. Your group travels on its own dates, and the itinerary can be adjusted to fit the time you have and the places that matter most to your pilgrims.

DAYS 1–3

Arrival, and the Royal City

Wawel Cathedral in Kraków
Wawel Cathedral on its hill above the Vistula, the coronation church of Poland.
Day 1

Depart the United States

We depart on our overnight flight to Kraków. Dinner and breakfast are served on board.
Day 2

Arrival in Kraków

Our tour escort meets us in the arrivals hall at Kraków Airport and accompanies us by motorcoach to the hotel, our single base for the week. This evening we gather for a welcome dinner to begin our pilgrimage together.Overnight in Kraków.
Day 3

Wawel Hill and the Market Square

Our guide leads us into the old royal capital, beginning on Wawel Hill at the Cathedral, where the silver reliquary of St. Stanislaus stands at the centre of the church. We pause at the Deanery, where the young Karol Wojtyła studied, walk Kanonicza Street, and reach the Market Square for St. Mary’s Basilica and its Veit Stoss altarpiece, the Cloth Hall and the Town Hall Tower. The afternoon is free.Mass is celebrated at Wawel Cathedral. Dinner and overnight in Kraków.
DAYS 4–5

Kazimierz, Tyniec and the Black Madonna

Pilgrims gathered in Kraków
Pilgrims gathered in Kraków, the city St. John Paul II served as archbishop.
Day 4

Kazimierz and the Abbey at Tyniec

We go to Kazimierz, for centuries the heart of Jewish life in Kraków, and visit two of its seven surviving synagogues, the sixteenth-century Remuh and the seventeenth-century Izaak, and then the Oskar Schindler Factory Museum. After free time for lunch we drive out to the Benedictine Abbey of Tyniec, founded in 1044 above the Vistula and the oldest continuously inhabited monastery in Poland.Mass is celebrated in the abbey church at Tyniec, where the Divine Office has been sung for nearly a thousand years. Dinner and overnight in Kraków.
Day 5

Częstochowa and Wadowice

We travel to Jasna Góra at Częstochowa, the hilltop monastery that has drawn the pilgrims of Poland since the fourteenth century, to venerate the icon of the Black Madonna and see the treasury of offerings left by the faithful. We continue to Wadowice, the birthplace of Karol Wojtyła, and visit his family home, now a museum, and the Basilica of the Presentation, where he was baptized in 1920.Mass is celebrated in one of the chapels at Jasna Góra. Dinner and overnight in Kraków.
DAYS 6–7

The Tatras and Auschwitz

Morskie Oko and the peaks of the Tatras
Morskie Oko and the peaks of the Tatras, above Zakopane.
Day 6

Zakopane and the Tatras

We travel south through the highlands to Zakopane, beneath the peaks of the Tatras, where a cable car carries us to a nearby summit for the wide view over the ranges. We visit the wooden Jaszczurówka Chapel, where the young Karol Wojtyła often prayed, and there is time on Krupówki Street before we return to Kraków.Mass is celebrated at the Jaszczurówka Chapel. Dinner and overnight in Kraków.
Day 7

Auschwitz and Harmęże

We make the short drive to Auschwitz, walk the grounds of the former camp in silence, and stand before the cell in which St. Maximilian Kolbe was held and died, having offered his life in place of a fellow prisoner with a wife and children. We visit the Museum of Martyrdom, where St. John Paul II preached on the dignity of every human person in 1979, then continue to nearby Harmęże.Mass is celebrated at the Church of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Harmęże, cared for by his own Franciscan brothers. Dinner and overnight in Kraków.
DAYS 8–9

Divine Mercy, and Home

St. Faustina Kowalska
St. Faustina, whose tomb and relics are kept at Łagiewniki.
Day 8

Łagiewniki and Wieliczka

At Łagiewniki, the home of the Divine Mercy devotion, we pray before the image of the Merciful Jesus and see the convent chapel, relics and tomb of St. Faustina. We continue to Wieliczka and its royal salt mine, worked since the thirteenth century, where generations of miners carved chapels and altars from the rock salt, among them the great chamber of St. Kinga.Mass is celebrated at the Shrine of Divine Mercy, where St. John Paul II consecrated the world to Divine Mercy in 2002. Farewell dinner and overnight in Kraków.
Day 9

Return Home

After an early breakfast we transfer to Kraków Airport for our return flight home, with hearts renewed by the intercession of St. John Paul II, St. Faustina and Our Lady of Częstochowa.

Why leaders choose Canterbury

“Canterbury treats you like family! They handle everything, from creating exciting itineraries to managing calls, registrations, and payments.”

Patrick MadridPatrick Madrid
Catholic Speaker, Author & Host of The Patrick Madrid Show on Relevant Radio®
Krupówki Street at Zakopane lit in the evening
ZakopaneKrupówki Street in the evening, where the highland craftwork is sold.
Dates

Your group travels on its own dates.

Tell us the window you have in mind and we will build the itinerary around it: the time you have, and the places that matter most to your pilgrims.

Your pilgrimage includes

Tour Package Includes

These inclusions can be easily tailored to the individual needs of your group

  • Daily Mass at the churches we visit
  • Round-trip group airfare
  • Airport transfers on arrival & departure
  • 4-Star hotel accommodations
  • Private motorcoach transportation
  • Breakfast & dinner served daily
  • Wine served with some dinners
  • Dedicated tour manager
  • Licensed guiding & admission fees
  • Porterage service at hotels
  • Whisper headsets when touring
  • Tips for hotel & restaurant staff
  • 9 – 5 PM (EST) reservation support
  • 24/7 travel emergency support
  • Canterbury Mobile App
For the group leader

What you get as the group leader

You travel free.

Every group earns complimentary places. The more pilgrims you bring, the more you earn. How complimentary places work

No financial risk.

If the group does not fill, deposits are returned. You owe nothing and neither do your pilgrims. What happens if a group does not fill

We produce the promotional materials.

Flyers, a registration page, and what you need to invite your people. Our guide to promoting a pilgrimage

We handle your pilgrims.

Registrations, rooming lists, payment plans and the phone calls. How leading a pilgrimage works

In your pocket

The Canterbury Mobile App

Every pilgrim in your group gets the app. Their itinerary, hotels and flights, the prayers of the day and a way to reach one another, all in one place and kept current as the pilgrimage unfolds.

  • Group chat

    Your whole group in one thread, so a change of plan reaches everyone at once.

  • Their itinerary

    The full day-by-day schedule, always current, in every pilgrim’s pocket.

  • Hotels

    Where the group is staying each night, with addresses and dates.

  • Flights

    Flight details kept alongside everything else, not in a separate email.

  • Daily prayers

    The prayers of the day, including the Liturgy of the Hours.

  • Shrine passport

    A keepsake record of the shrines your group visits along the way.

  • Live updates

    Times and meeting points pushed to everyone the moment they change.

Photographs
The Market Square at Kraków with the monument to Mickiewicz
The Market Square at Kraków, laid out in 1257 and little changed since.
The towers of St. Mary’s Basilica on the Market Square at Kraków
St. Mary’s Basilica, from whose tower the silver trumpet still sounds the hour.
The monastery of Jasna Góra at Częstochowa seen from the air
Jasna Góra at Częstochowa, home of the Black Madonna.
The Basilica of the Presentation at Wadowice
The Basilica of the Presentation at Wadowice, where Karol Wojtyła was baptized.
St. Maximilian Kolbe in the striped uniform of the camp
St. Maximilian Kolbe, whose Franciscan brothers keep the church at Harmęże.
A chapel carved from rock salt in the mine at Wieliczka
The salt mine at Wieliczka, worked since the thirteenth century.

What group leaders say

“They’re big enough to handle any problem that arises, and small enough to craft truly unique experiences.”

Chris StefanickChris Stefanick
Founder & President of Real Life Catholic
Before you ask

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the best time to travel to Poland?

Groups travel to Poland from late April through to early October. May, June and September give the mildest weather and the longest days, and are the months most groups choose. High summer is warm and busy, particularly at Jasna Góra and in Kraków’s Old Town. Winter pilgrimages are possible and quieter, but daylight is short and the mountain roads to Zakopane can be difficult.

How physically demanding is this pilgrimage?

Moderate. Most days involve two to four hours on your feet, with walking on uneven ground, ancient stone, and steps at archaeological sites. Pilgrims who can manage a full day of sightseeing at their own pace do well. If anyone in your group has mobility limitations, tell us early and we will adapt the days around them. What activity level means.

What is generally not included?

Travel insurance, lunches, drinks beyond those served with included meals, personal expenses, and gratuities for your tour manager and driver. Any of these can be built into your package on request, so tell us what you would like covered and we will arrange it. Passports and visa fees are the one exception and remain the responsibility of each pilgrim.

Why stay in one hotel for the whole week?

Because everything on this route is within a day’s drive of Kraków. Częstochowa, Wadowice, Zakopane, Auschwitz, Łagiewniki and Wieliczka are all reached and returned from in a day, so the group unpacks once on arrival and lives out of one room for seven nights. Groups with older pilgrims, or any group that would rather not spend a week moving luggage between hotels, usually prefer this shape to the Warsaw to Kraków route.

Can our priest celebrate Mass at the churches?

Yes. Daily Mass is built into the itinerary, and we arrange times and locations in advance with each church. Your priest should travel with a celebret or letter of good standing from his bishop or superior. We handle the scheduling.

How many pilgrims do you need for a group?

Most of our groups are between 20 and 50 pilgrims, and we can arrange smaller tours as well. We have also organized pilgrimages for groups as large as 2,500, so whatever size your group turns out to be, we can build for it. Minimum group size for a group flight.

Enquire

Interested in Leading a Pilgrimage to Poland?

A pilgrimage consultant replies within one business day. No deposit or commitment.

    Your Information

    Your Group

    First time? You are in good company. Many of our group leaders start right here, and we guide you through every step.

    Where You Would Like to Go

    Destinations of interest (check all that apply)

    These are some of our most popular destinations, but we build CUSTOM ITINERARIES anywhere in the world. If you do not see your destination, tell us below.

    Italy, Rome and AssisiFrance, Lourdes and ParisPortugal and FátimaSpain and the Camino de SantiagoPortugal, Spain and France togetherGreece and TurkeyThe Holy LandEgypt and Mount SinaiPoland, Prague and Central EuropeMedjugorje and the BalkansIreland and the United KingdomMexico and Our Lady of GuadalupeArgentinaPeruJapan, Nagasaki and AkitaUnited States and Canada shrinesA pilgrimage cruiseSomewhere else, or not sure yet

    When

    Group Size and Budget

    Complimentary places are arranged based on the size of your group. Let us know how many you expect so we can request them from our suppliers from the start.

    A Few Last Details

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