The ultimate experience in your genealogical adventure.
If you wish to receive a tailor-made offer, please fill out the PO Genealogy Tour request form
Download the booklet about preparations for a Polish Genealogy Tour
We invite you to contact us by email: [email protected]
Phone: 0048 664 407 089 (6:00 AM to 4:00 PM EST)
PolishOrigins organized its first Polish Genealogy Tour in 2004. Since then it has become our core competence and our biggest source of pride and passion.
Read a few comments from our guests:
“I can’t emphasize enough, to anyone considering a trip to Poland, how it will excite and change you. Just beware that once you go, you may want to return many, many more times. My third visit is already planned out.”
“Something magic or spiritual comes into play that makes it unlike other journeys.”
“This was a trip of a lifetime and the gift of family was more than I could have hoped for from this trip.”
And how about you? Have you ever dreamed about visiting the places where your ancestors were born and raised, experiencing both the hardships and joys of their everyday life? Have you wondered if it is still possible to find living relatives in Poland and meet them personally? How many questions about your family history are still without answers?
We are here to help you realize these dreams and find answers to many family history questions.
Here is the basic information about our Polish Genealogy Tours:
Where?
We organize Genealogy Tours throughout today’s Poland, as well as in western Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Slovakia. All our guides speak fluent English and can read and interpret old records in Polish, Latin, Russian, and German (dependent on your ancestral area and your guide’s specialization).
When?
The best time to come is when it is warm and the daylight is long. In Poland this means March through October. You can come in winter, but even without snow the days are shorter and colder, and on-site research may not offer the same experience or results as in warmer months.
If you are coming to Poland for a short time, note that genealogy research is best done during weekdays. Archives are closed on weekends, although weekends can be better for meeting people at home if you are searching for cousins.
May, June, September, and the first half of October are our busiest months (also excellent for traveling and often with lower airfares), so the sooner you book for these months, the better.
What is included?
Make a plan. You will work with our tour management team to build your plan based on your expectations and the information you provide before the tour. You do not need to know everything about your family history. The tour lets you see, touch, and walk in your grandparents’ places and hear their language spoken. It can be a great adventure and often the best opportunity to discover much more about your past through on-site research, and possibly find living relatives. The minimum information is usually the places where your forefathers lived and the approximate emigration period. Much of this can be found in passenger arrival records (Ellis Island, FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, and others).
Preparation for the research. We analyze your family documents and prepare by locating the correct parishes and places where research can be performed during your visit. Typical research locations include parish offices, civil registry offices, state archives, diocesan archives, historical societies, online databases, and interviews with local people. We do not perform research on the spot before the tour unless we mutually agree to do so.
Genealogy guide service throughout the tour.
- Contacting, negotiating, and building relationships with local civil and church officials to perform genealogy research and learn local history.
- Research of family records in parish offices, diocesan archives, state archives, civil registers, cemeteries, and digital resources.
- Searching for living relatives based on discovered information and conversations with local people.
- Oral and written translations of family documents, letters, photo inscriptions, and interpretation during meetings with relatives. See an example of what can happen during a PO Genealogy Tour (part 1) and the next day (part 2).
Plans can change within minutes or hours if needed. Unscheduled stops and side trips are welcome and often add to the excitement, especially when they lead to an ancestral home site or the discovery of relatives. This level of flexibility is not available on big group, ready-made trips with strictly fixed itineraries.
Driving and guiding throughout the journey, often in rural areas. All our guides are also your drivers, and a passenger car is at your disposal during the tour. We do not recommend self-driving. Polish country roads can be unpaved or poorly marked, most cars have manual gearboxes, and you would need to focus on driving instead of the experience.
Accommodation. We include accommodation in our offers. In bigger cities we can arrange tourist class (3-star) or more luxurious (4- and 5-star) hotels depending on your budget, with a preference for smaller, boutique hotels. In smaller towns and villages we recommend inns, B&Bs, and agritourism houses to experience everyday life and real Polish hospitality.
Other services as per your needs. We are flexible and open to your suggestions. We can add local tourist attractions, local tour guides, and other services. This is your tour.
Creating and preparing your itinerary is free of charge. Costs apply to services provided in Poland such as accommodation, transportation, and guiding. You will receive the trip price and all details prior to arrival. If you have any questions, please contact us.
If you would like to combine genealogy with tourism, we can plan your whole holiday. Find out more about our other PolishOrigins Tours.
Blog
Click here to check the status of previous tours described in our blog
If you want to record your tour, we would be happy to do this together with you on our blog. Clients who blogged their tours found it a unique way to express their thoughts during the trip and to give friends and relatives daily updates.
Of course, blogging is optional and not related to any other terms of the core service. You can always write after your tour.
Costs
The total price of the tour depends on the specific itinerary. Fill in the PO Genealogy Tours request form to receive a tailor-made offer. Our fees, as well as prices in Poland, are in Polish zlotys (PLN). You can check the current exchange rate here. Returning guests are entitled to a 5% discount on the final price. Discounts do not combine.
You can always contact us by email at [email protected] or by phone at 0048 664 407 089 (between 6:00 AM and 4:00 PM EST) to ask additional questions.
To better understand what to expect, read and watch our guests’ Testimonials and Blog, or ask a question in our Forum.
Webinar: What to Expect
Timestamps
- 0:00 – Introduction
- 1:34 – Who we are and what we do
- 2:44 – What are these tours
- 4:06 – How this really works
- 6:12 – Best time to visit
- 7:50 – Genealogical aspects of a tour
- 11:07 – If you are interested in Poland (Group Tour)
- 12:23 – Summary
- 13:27 – Questions
- 14:14 – Is a week enough or is it best to stay longer?
- 15:54 – Typical price range for a week
- 17:55 – How do we move around Poland?
- 20:59 – When I submit a request, how fast do you respond?
- 23:45 – How much research is needed from travelers?
- 26:33 – Is there a charge to obtain a proposal?
- 28:04 – Do you need a visa to Poland?
- 29:52 – How about Belarus?
- 30:57 – How much information about my ancestor do I need?
- 32:03 – How parish priests react when you want to look for documents
- 33:47 – How can I contact you?
- 35:29 – What about group genealogy tours?
- 38:11 – What about a person with allergies?
- 39:43 – Are we able to find ancestors who went missing during WWII?
- 41:55 – Any restrictions for travel to the Rzeszów–Przemyśl area?
- 42:35 – What about deportees’ records?
- 44:46 – Do you contact parish priests before visiting?
- 45:46 – What if the priest is not there?
- 46:43 – How to contact us for more information
- 47:12 – Summary of the webinar