Service 05 · from $9,000 per couple · 7–10 days
You land in Poland. Everything after that is ours.
This is the journey the rest of the ladder leads to, and the one most families take last — after the village is found, after the records are read, after they know whose gate they will be standing at.
What is included
Everything between the airport in Poland and the airport in Poland. The list below is what the price covers, not a menu of upgrades.
- Private car and driver from Kraków, Warsaw or Rzeszów, and an assisted border crossing in both directions
- Hotels, meals and every internal transfer for seven to ten days
- Specialist insurance with war-risk and medical-evacuation cover, in force before you land
- A written safety protocol for your specific route, with shelters identified for every day
- Translation at every conversation — the archive, the village council, the woman at the gate
- The village day: the house or its site, the church, the cemetery, and relatives at a set table where they exist
- A photographer and videographer through the key days
- A film of the journey and a printed photo book, delivered after you are home
How the journey is built
- The research comes first
- We do not run journeys to villages that have not been identified. Whatever you commission, the ground is prepared months ahead: the village confirmed, the records read, the grave located, and — where they exist — relatives approached and asked whether they want to meet you.
- Then the days are shaped around you
- Itineraries are built to the slowest member of the party, not to a template. Shorter days, fewer transfers, a car that reaches the cemetery gate. Every plan carries a spare day for the border and one unhurried afternoon in the village rather than a schedule to keep.
- Then you come home with it in your hands
- You leave with the film, the photo book, the documents and the addresses of people who now know you exist. If you want the family grave kept afterwards, it simply continues.
Price: from $9,000 per couple — and what moves it
- How many of you travel: four to eight people costs less per person, not more
- How many days, and how far apart the villages are — some are an hour from Lviv, some a day
- Hotel standard, which is genuinely your choice and the largest single variable
- Whether research still has to be done before you arrive
- Whether you want the film and photo book, or only the journey
Journeys run May through September and we take a small number of families per season; planning starts four to six months ahead. You pay 25% to hold your dates, 50% one month before travel, and the final 25% only after you are home. If the security picture worsens before you travel, your dates move or your money returns — your choice, written into the contract.
This is right for you if
- You want to stand in the village yourself, not watch it on film
- You would rather one person be responsible for every hour than assemble it from a forum
- You are travelling with family across two or three generations
- You want the days documented properly, because nobody remembers a day like that clearly afterwards
It is not right if
- Your village lies east or south of our western perimeter — we will not go, and we say so before taking money
- Health or mobility makes the roads unwise: we will tell you honestly and offer the filmed visit instead
- You hold Ukrainian citizenship and are a man aged 18 to 60 — the exit rules under martial law come first, and we check this in writing before anything is booked
Questions about the journey
How much does a roots tour to Ukraine cost?
From $9,000 for a couple over seven to ten days, everything included from the moment you land in Poland: driver, hotels, meals, insurance with war-risk cover, translation, the village days, a photographer, and a film and photo book afterwards. Larger family groups cost less per person.
Is it safe to travel to western Ukraine?
Nobody honest answers that with a plain yes. We work only in the western regions, hundreds of kilometres from the fighting, with a written protocol, war-risk insurance and a shelter plan for every day — and every government advisory still tells you not to come. Read our full safety protocol and decide for yourself; some families read it and choose the filmed visit instead.
How far ahead do I need to book?
Four to six months, and for a summer journey that means writing to us the previous autumn or winter. Research comes first, then dates, then logistics — and the season is short, May through September, with a small number of families per season.
Can my children and grandchildren come?
Please bring them. Groups of four to eight travel at a lower cost per person, and the village day lands differently when three generations stand at the same gate. We shape the days so that the oldest and the youngest can both survive them.
What if the situation changes before we travel?
Your dates move or your money returns — your choice, stated in the contract rather than left to our judgement. If a journey must shorten while underway, the itinerary pulls westward or ends early and unspent days are refunded.
The rest of the ladder
You can start anywhere on it, and stop after any step.
The village is still there. The people who remember your name are in their eighties.
Tell us the family name and where you are travelling from. We will tell you what would need to happen first, what the journey would look like, and what it would cost.