It is becoming increasingly popular to celebrate New Year and Christmas not in a family circle with a TV or with friends in a restaurant, but to go on a trip. To this end, you can visit the ski resort in the Carpathians or in the Swiss Alps or one of the cities of Europe, where the celebration of the New Year is a national holiday.
In this article we will become acquainted with the peculiarities of the New Year and Christmas in Poland, with popular holiday tours and prices for them.
Features of the New Year and Christmas in Poland
Why do many people want to spend New Year's and Christmas holidays in Poland? And all because here you can have a lot of fun to celebrate the New Year and combine it with the rest at a ski resort and visiting local attractions, spending all this not too much money. Conducting New Year's holidays in Poland is popular among families with children and youth, as the ratio of price and quality of services is very encouraging for tourists. The popularity of Poland is also due to the fact that it can be reached not only by plane and bus, but also by quite inexpensive railway transport.
Christmas and New Year holidays in Poland, as in any Catholic country, begin on December 24 and continue until January 2. And if they prefer to celebrate Christmas in their home environment, they must visit the temple without fail, then they mark the New Year with the whole country: they organize festivities in the street with concerts, dances, competitions and fireworks, drinking a national drink from huge barrels - a gzhanets made on the basis of mulled wine .
In Poland, there are several options for meeting the New Year:
In the large Polish cities (Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw), beautifully decorated with lanterns, garlands and angels, you can meet the New Year on the street with the locals under the main tree or order a table in the restaurant where you will be treated to old Polish national dishes.
At the ski resorts (Zakopane, Bialka Tatranska, Krynica, Shirk), where you can connect a merry New Year celebration, active recreation on the mountain slopes and health promotion in the water park or in the thermal pool.
In the local sights: the Salt Mines in Wieliczka, near Krakow, the medieval knight castles of Malbork and Frombok, on the mountain lake Morskie Oko, etc.
New Year tours to Poland
Travel agencies during the Christmas and New Year holidays offer two types of tours:
- New Year's tours - with a visit before the New Year, for his celebration in Poland;
- Christmas tours - with departure after January 2.
Depending on the number of days, mode of transport, type of hotels and attractions visited, the cost of tours varies from 150 euros and above.
For example:
- New Year's tour with departure on December 30, designed for 4 days and 3 nights with accommodation in a hotel without meals or BB, including the celebration of the New Year in Krakow, a visit to the resort of Zakapone and one sight (for example, Wieliczka Salt Mine) will cost 145 euros + 80 euros for New Year's Eve dinner + 50 euros on excursions + road.
- Christmas holiday for young people after New Year's Eve, designed for 7 nights and 8 days, with accommodation in a three-star hotel with half-board meals, including rest in a ski resort (skiing and sledging) in Zakopane and evening discos, will cost 350 euros + the rental of equipment and additional activities.
But since Poland is part of the Schengen area , before planning a trip it is necessary to obtain a Schengen visa of category C (the so-called tourist visa).