Central Europe Pearls – Krakow & Prague

  Our group of 5 had a tour of Poland individualized for us, to experience our heritage, religion, history and culture. Everything was so well organized and friendly. We... read more had an excellent bilingual driver/guide and tour guides in various locations. It was truly the trip of a lifetime, arranged in every detail with minimal effort on our parts. I highly recommend Exciting Poland!

  This was the best tour we’ve taken, our first with ExcitingPoland. We chose Pearls because it was highly reviewed on TripAdvisor and it didn’t disappoint. It was well planned and... read more organized. Witek our guide/ driver was knowledgeable, prompt, friendly and had a sense of humor. The local, licensed guides were,too. Of the 16 provinces in Poland we saw 8. Tours, sights and activities were varied - walking, rafting, organ concert, cable car ride to mention a few. The hotels were all well located and the breakfast buffets were great! Dinners were also excellent. Communication with Grzegorz, the tour manager was excellent pre- tour and we received the most detailed itinerary before the tour. The bonus was there were only 7 of us on the tour and we all had a great experience and have fond memories of Poland.

  We cannot rave enough on how wonderful the 'Pearls of Poland' tour organized by Exciting Poland, was! Traveling through the beautiful Polish countrysides and villages to see so many... read more gems of Polish history was fantastic! The driver that Exciting Poland provided was not only safe and knowledgeable about the roads and highways but also offered wonderful commentary on contemporary life in Poland or on any little historic tidbits which we all found interesting. He was a fine companion along the way who found interesting restaurants and was very clear about every direction and meeting time/place. He was wonderful! The city tours were led by good guides too. In particular Ewa in Warsaw was fantastic, and our driver (Grzegorz) gave wonderful tours in Zakopane and Krakow, his hometown. Yola in Gdansk and Pawel in Poznan were also interesting and accommodating guides.

After months of research, we settled on Exciting Poland and its Pearls of Poland tour. Throughout the booking process and afterwards, Mr. Bartecki from the tour office, answered every question or concern I had by email within a day. From what I could see and compare, the tour price was fair and reasonable, especially for the excellent accommodations, fine restaurants, city tours, admission tickets to museums, etc. In the end we felt that it was a fantastic bargain!!! We have already discussed "when we go back" and "next time..." and will no doubt arrange our travels with Exciting Poland.

We are very, very satisfied customers and applaud Exciting Poland for its total arrangements for our September 2015 Pearls of Poland tour.

  - Overall organization: The tour was well organized, with a balance of churches, castles, palaces, museums, and outdoor sites such as a national park or archeological sites. It was a good... read more pace, but we were not rushed. We often walked 5-6 miles/day.
- Schedule/promptness: We never had to wait for our bus, guides, meals. Everything was on schedule. The schedule had appropriate breaks for bathrooms and snacks.
- Guides and driver: Our bus driver Robert drove very safely and comfortably; personally he was very courteous and always helpful, and amazing at navigating difficult parking spaces. Witek is a gem – so knowledgeable, patient, cheerful, good attention to detail and followup. We had complete trust and confidence that he was taking good care of us. For example, in Turon, when we heard about an evening light show at the Copernicus fountain, he walked with us to make sure we knew how to find it and how to get back to our hotel. Someone else might just point and say “over there, three blocks.”
- Hotels: seemed hard to distinguish between 3 and 4 stars; they were all spotlessly clean, very modern and luxurious, well equipped, good wi-fi, and fantastic breakfasts. All located within walking distance of the old town so when we had time on our own we were not stuck in a place where we couldn’t walk to anything. We had a triple room, and they were always adequate.
- Food: Wonderful. The breakfasts are like nothing I have ever seen (buffets with 60+ items) and the dinners were all good. My daughter is allergic is poultry and nuts and they made appropriate substitutions for her.
- Flexibility in accommodating requests: in Gdansk, we noticed a galleon boat ride around the port and our guide helped us with the tickets and adjusted the dinner start time so that we could all go on it.