The Vistula Experience
Poland's river of saints, kings, and heroes.
Why Vistula?
The Vistula (Wisła) is the longest river in Poland. Its headwaters form in the Tatra mountains and it flows through Kraków, past Warsaw and into the Baltic Sea. It has carried life to Poles for over a thousand years and nearly every place we visit on this journey is close to its banks: Wawel Castle, the churches of Kraków, the shrines of Warsaw.
We named this pilgrimage after the Vistula because like the river itself, this journey connects disparate, rich moments of Polish faith and history into one continuous story, to carry you on a journey that connects you to Poland's saints, kings, and heroes.
We built this trip different than others: No motorcade, 50+ group size, or celebrity at the front of the bus.
The hero of this journey is you: the pilgrim.
Vistula is a small group of Catholic pilgrims, done the way we experienced. We take a maximum of 19 people, travel by either public or private transportation, and are with you when you land in Warsaw and stay with you until you head out of Krakow. Your guides are Americans who lived in Poland for nearly three years. We know the people, the places, and enough of the language to make everything simple for you.
We aren't sending you to Poland, we are taking you with us.
Your Guides: Peter & Erin Van de Voorde
Most travel experiences are curated for cheap-and-fast. Ours is built for depth and because we resided here, we've built the relationships and experience to bring you a better, more formative experience.
Cześć (hello!) We are Peter and Erin. We lived in Kraków with two (then three!) toddlers for nearly three years not as tourists, but as neighbors. Our children went to Polish schools. We learned the language, built lasting friendships, and joined a real community of families. We discovered that Poland is a country that rewards those who show up with patience and attention, and gives very little to those who rush through.
The Vistula Experience is built on the grand adventure of those years. We know which priest to call, which families will open their home, which mountain paths are worth the climb, and which moments deserve silence rather than explanation. You won't be handed off to strangers. We will be there: every day, every dinner, every hard conversation (especially after Auschwitz).
The Journey
A Catholic formation pilgrimage through Poland's most formative cities and pilgrimage sites over nine days, private transportation, and encounters you will carry home. The then-newly elected JPII visited Poland in 1979, over nine days changed the world. This 9-day experience retraces many of those steps and the places where they trod, from his childhood, adolescence, adulthood, priesthood, and his life of sanctity that was deeply formed by Poland's rich culture, history, and characters. JPII is perhaps the best known, but is in great company with other saints, kings, and heroes. Come and meet many of them on this trip!
People Encountered
This is not a trip only about places. It is a trip about people who live in them, and walking in the footprints of their lives: the virtue, the sanctity of Poland's sons and daughters over the past millennium have something to say to you about yours:
- The Warsaw Uprisers
- St. Maximilian Kolbe
- Bl. Jerzy (George) Popiełuszko
- Our Lady of Częstochowa
- St. Faustina Kowalska
- St. Kinga of Poland
- St Jan z Kęt (John Cantius)
- St. Jadwiga (Hedwig), King of Poland
- St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów
- St. John Paul II
- Bl. Jerzy Ciesielski
- Bl. Jan Tyranowski
- St. Jacek (Hyacinth) of Poland, O.P.
What's Included
Airfare and personal incidentals not included. Travel protection strongly recommended.
Upcoming Catholic Pilgrimages to Poland, Seats Limited
Christmas Octave & New Year's in Poland
Poland at Christmas is unlike anywhere else in the world we've experienced. The markets, the Masses, the candlelight, the silence of Auschwitz in winter. It is a season that rewards people who show up present and unrushed.
This Catholic pilgrimage is for men and women traveling on their own, ages 35–50. Every person in the group joins through an application process you can initiate below. You will know before you arrive that the people around you are serious about their faith and their lives.
We will celebrate Christmas together. We will ring in the New Year together. You will come home having encountered Poland's saints and heroes, alongside people worth knowing.
Poland Pilgrimages: June 2027
For Married Couples
Marriage is a beautiful calling and vocation, a call that deepens with time, with sacrifice, and with encounter.
This Catholic pilgrimage to Poland is built for married couples who are serious about their marriage and their faith. We travel as a small cohort of no more than ten couples through the cities and sites that shaped the saints: Kraków, Warsaw, Auschwitz, Jasna Góra, Wadowice, and more. John Paul II began his priesthood ministering to young adults, accompanying married couples, and laying the groundwork for what became the Theology of the Body. His experience in Poland's cities and mountains has a profound voice even today for yours.
The formation conversations are built around your life together. You will leave Poland knowing something you did not know when you arrived about the saints, about the country, and about each other in a shared experience you can carry across the rest of your marriage.
For Families
The saints of Poland are not distant figures in stained glass. They are recent. They are specific. And they were, many of them, young.
This Catholic family pilgrimage to Poland is for parents and children who want more than a history lesson. Every person has the opportunity to be an apostle to others, children included. The scouts of the Gray Ranks were teenagers who kept their oath when keeping it could mean death. The young fighters of the Warsaw Uprising carried ammunition through sewer tunnels. While not admirable to be in battle, they show that all have a part to play. Kolbe, Popiełuszko, Faustina all sacrificed for others, witnessing to the beauty of marriage and family life. These are people whose choices your children will stand next to, in the actual places where those choices were made.
Poland's culture is different from American culture and experience, and those differences have a great deal to offer and teach Americans about their own communities. Poland will do something to your family that no classroom can and we will be there to make sure you don't miss it.
This trip has been a dream of ours since we experienced Poland ourselves, and we are delighted to share it with others. You won't regret getting on an airplane (we'll help you prepare!) with your family, and building an incredible family summer together.