チェンストホヴァ・ブラック・マドンナ

The exposition of the Black Madonna, the wonderful and insightful guide, who took us around the complex and explained everything very well, in good English. Our driver Michael was also great an patient, waited for us until we finished the tour and had a bite to eat

Very interesting. Easy to get to, good for a few hours visit. Suitable for all ages. Highly recommended.

We had an excellent driver, Stevan. He picked us up at our apartment. Very polite, young, personable university student. It was raining, which later turned to sleet and snow but he was a good driver. Our tour was led by Father Ramon, which was quite remarkable.

A visit to the Pauline Monastery at Jasna Gora is worth a visit whether to see the imposing fortress or on pilgrimage to see the Black Madonna. This is the most sacred pilgrimage in the very Catholic Poland. There will be crowds there. Taking in the incredible cathedral or the Black Madonna chapel are both mystifying. Our guide really shared her faith, as a proud Pole, in explaining the history of the monastery and the current challenges of the Polish Catholic church. There are masses in English and also there are opportunities for Penance. The tour guides from Krakow as well as the onsite guides were incredible. Well done. The weather was quite interesting in September. When our tour group walked into the monastery, the sun was shining. As we approached the chapel, it began to rain. While we were in the chapel and church, it began to hail. When we exited, there was sleet. Wow. Maybe the heavens were having fun with us. Great Day and excellent tour. This is as incredible place of faith.I hope to return some day.

Jasna Gora is a very interesting place. A monostery, Basilica, museums and the chapel with the Black Madonna icon. My guide was exceptional. It was clear she loves her job and has deep belief.

We had a very nice day out to Czestochowa. Peter, our driver, was fantastic. The highlight was the tour given by the Pauline monk who had a very witty sense of humor. 'Look at the line for the confessionals...lots of sinning going on'.

We loved our day trip to Częstochowa. Our driver, Miki, picked us up at the hotel on time and was a joy to talk with during the drive. When we got to Częstochowa, we met with a monk who gave us a tour of the Monastery and walked us up to the Black Madonna. After the tour we had some free time to eat lunch and explore. We met Miki back at the van for the drive back. Overall it was an excellent day!

This was an amazing experience and well worth it!! You have to go early and have mass in front of the Madonna! So moving.

We booked this as a private tour from Krakow and we were very happy with the day. Booking was very easy and we felt we got great value for our money. Our driver Tomek was great; he arrived on time, his minivan was impeccably clean and he explained the itinerary perfectly. He spoke English perfectly and we really enjoyed our conversations with him. Once we arrived a local monk from the Jasna Gora monastery took over as our guide, he was very knowledgeable and funny and got us really close to the Black Madonna despite the amount of people there. Although the private tour option is more expensive than a group tour, having a private tour for a religious site was a really nice experience. I felt free to enjoy the experience as a Catholic myself, and because it was just us, it felt personal and relaxing and the conversation with the monk and with Tomek was really interesting and engaging. We learned a lot about life in Poland in a comfortable, informal way. Thank you!

Booked the Private tour provided by Cracow Local Tours (or CLT) via Tripadvisor / Viator. No hitches, easy booking. Confirmation email received, with option to cancel until 24 hours before travel. Called the helpful reception on the day of travel who gave the vehicle details to look out for. The driver David arrived on time to pick us up from Radisson Blu. David came across as very friendly and helpful, introduced himself to the group, helped us all into the A/C Volkswagen minivan, explained the plan for the day and set off on the 2 hour travel. It was that clear he enjoyed his music playlist on Spotify but gave us the option to select our own collection to play on the on-board bluetooth music system. His interests in 80's music, hiking, sport and travel gave us plenty of topics to talk about during the long trip and back. On arrival, David accompanied us to the tourist information centre, waited with us for the guide as we were early and then handed us over to the guide. Before leaving us, he gave us instructions and his contact number to arrange the meeting on completion of the guided tour. David also kindly gave us directions to the Pilgrims house for lunch before return. Recommended value-for-money lunch option. The tour guide was a lady called Joannah who spoke very good English and was clearly passionate as well as very knowledgeable about the Black Madonna, the monastery, its religious history and the importance of the icon in Polish history. She took us on a very well-organised tour of the site, allowing us time to take photographs or take rest in between. She was very good in the way she explained what to expect at each stage including the revealing of the icon and the walk around the icon (which is done on knees by Polish Catholics). The whole tour went at a relaxed pace; we did not feel rushed at any stage. The return trip found most of the party taking a comfortable nap in the cool van while David and I found common topics of interest in the music playlist on his phone, enjoying the music from 80's & 90's. Thanks for a very enjoyable day trip. Strongly recommended.