• A professional and qualified tour leader
• A second leader on the ascent of Ryzy for groups of 10 or more
• Single timed airport transfers on arrival and departure
• All accommodation as described
• Meals as detailed in the Meal Plan
• All land transport required by the itinerary

• Travel insurance
• Tips
• Some meals as detailed in the Meal Plan
• Miscellaneous expenses - drinks and souvenirs etc.

TRAVEL TO YOUR DESTINATION

If flying from the UK there are low cost airlines available to the start and from the end of your holiday.

To benefit from full financial protection, ease your holiday planning, and avoid dealing with airlines, we can book scheduled flights from the UK as part of a flight inclusive package. Scheduled flights are usually more expensive that low cost alternatives, however potentially less stressful if your flight is cancelled or delayed. If you book flights through KE Adventure Travel we will offset the carbon of your flight.

The group will meet at Krakow Railway Station in the afternoon of Day 1.

On Day 1 there will be a group, escorted transfer on public transport from Krakow Airport into the centre of Krakow.

On Day 8, there will be a group escorted transfer from the hotel in Krakow back to Krakow Airport in the early morning.

Anyone may join the group transfers by prior arrangement. Travelling as a group or on public transport saves energy. If this is not practical, we can provide private transfers at an additional cost. Taxis are also available.

Hotel contact details and an emergency number will be provided with your booking confirmation.

7 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 5 dinners are included in the holiday price. Where there is a wide variety of dining options we have not included these meals in the price preferring to leave the choice of where to eat and the budget for these meals to you. We recommend that you allow from £7 to £20 for each of these meals for a total of 2 lunches and 2 dinners.

Many places on this holiday have drinkable water from the tap to fill your personal water bottles. Please check with the leader at the various locations. Please take purification tablets or a filter bottle (such as a Water-To-Go bottle) for days when drinking water out of the tap is not available. We do not encourage the purchasing of single use plastic bottles.

In the hotels in Zakopane and Krakow, breakfasts are normally buffet style with cereal, fruit, eggs toast and a selection of cheeses and meats with bread.  Both Zakopane and Krakow have a very wide range of restaurants with international cuisine plus inexpensive cafes and local fast-food outlets.  In the huts, breakfasts are usually bread with a selection of meats and cheeses and sometimes cooked eggs and ham.  Dinners normally consist of filling, home-made soups, pasta, goulash etc.  Packed lunches of sandwiches and fruit are also provided at each of the huts.  Additional snack food items, such as chocolate bars, can be purchased at the huts alongwith beers and soft drinks.  Beer has been brewed in Krakow for the last thousand years and is excellent.  The city has an abundance of pavement cafes and local bars to sit and watch the world go by.

Whilst we can cater for vegetarians, albeit sometimes with a more limited choice, we cannot always provide special diets.  Due to the nature of some of the trips that we operate and the countries in which we operate them, it can be very hard (and sometimes impossible) to cater for a wide range of dietary choices and you may have to supplement your diet with food/snacks from home.  If you have specific dietary requirements please do speak to our sales team and they will be able to advise you whether or not we will be able to offer your specific choice.  Please note that we are unable to provide separate menus and cannot accept liability for any problems arising from special dietary requirements or intolerances.

During this holiday the group will spend 1 night in a hotel in Zakopane and 1 night in a hotel in Krakow. Accommodation in these places is twin sharing with either en-suite or shared facilities.

There are 5 nights staying in huts, which are mostly maintained by the Mountaineering Association of Slovakia. These are wooden or concrete structures usually with 4-6 bedded rooms or dormitory style with communal facilities, which usually include restaurant area, toilets and showers. Hot water at these huts is normally provided by solar heating and in some huts may be available only for a limited period each evening. In the more inaccessible mountain huts, facilities will be more rudimentary - each hut does have mains electricity and some have basic, although sometimes unreliable, wifi.. Sleeping bags are not required at the huts, as bed sheets and blankets are supplied. However, you may wish to carry a cotton or silk sheet sleeping bag.

If you are travelling by yourself, you will be paired up with another single client of the same sex for the 2 nights in the hotels. Single rooms for these 2 nights are available for a supplementary cost. If you are planning on extending your holiday additional nights at the group hotel are available on request.

The group will be led by a professional and qualified tour leader. For larger groups on Rysy a second leader will accompany the group.

The altitudes attained on this holiday are not extreme and the maximum altitude attained is no more than the equivalent of a pressurised cabin on an international flight. You may ‘feel’ the altitude the first time you trek above 2000 metres but all that is required is a slower pace to compensate. You should pay particular attention to your hydration levels while trekking above 2000 metres.

The local currency in Poland is the Polish Zloty and in Slovakia it's the Euro.  We estimate that the equivalent of £150 should be sufficient to cover your incidental expenditure including tips for local staff, drinks and souvenirs, it is possible to purchase beer, wine and soft drinks at all the huts in Poland and Slovakia.  An approximate split is £100 changed into Polish zloty and 60 euros for your time spent in Slovakia.  Please be aware you will need your Polish Zloty and Euros before you start trekking.  Euros, dollars and sterling can be changed into Polish Zloty at the airport or in Krakow centre.  Cash in Polish Zloty can be withdrawn from ATMs on arrival at the airport, in Krakow centre and in Zakopane.  Please do not bring travellers cheques as these can be time-consuming to exchange.

Tipping is the accepted way of saying ‘thank you’ for good service.  It is important to remember that tipping is voluntary and should be dependent on good service.  On this trip we recommend that you give a tip to your guides on the trek and also on the city tour of Krakow.  We estimate that €20 – 25 per person will be sufficient for these tips.

Since you will be carrying all the personal equipment you need for this trip you should make every effort to keep this to a minimum and we recommend that you have a trial walk with your packed rucksack.  With careful planning and considering that you will not have to carry a sleeping bag, it should be possible to keep the weight of your sack down to 8 or 9 kgs / 20 lbs.  It is possible to leave any items not required on the trek at the group’s hotel in Zakopane.  Please note we have a walk of around ¼ mile between the bus station and the group’s hotel in Zakopane and we therefore recommend that you travel with only your rucksack and an additional small fold-away bag to store travel clothes etc which you wish to leave at the hotel.

For each holiday there is a minimum number of participants required to enable it to go ahead. Once the minimum number is reached, the trip status will change from 'Available' to 'Guaranteed to run'. You can check the trip status for each departure in ‘Dates and Prices’ table. Other than in exceptional circumstances, we will not cancel a trip once it has achieved this guaranteed to run status and so you are free to proceed with your international flight booking and other travel arrangements.