Poland Travel Forum

Hello !!

We want to make a tour trip by our car in Poland , June , 2011, and if someone could advice us about the most interesting places we can see in only six days in the beautiful Poland we should be very grateful . Thank you in advance for your help :).

Hello,

In my opinion the most touristy cities are probably Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Poznan, Lodz and Szczechin, with Gdansk being my favourite city.

I can also recommend to visit less touristy cities like Lublin and Przemysl in tthe very east of the country.

What are you interested in and do you already have a rough itinerary?

Greetings from Germany

HORSCHECK

Dear HORSCHECK , since I put the question on this forum , I am looking to your pages refering Poland and your notices about it. So I thank you very much for your quick replay ! Already I am thinking to visit Gdansk , so dear to you and you have strong reasons to like it , because it is amazing .Also I want to see Zakopane and the Tatra mountains.If you have any suggestions , please fell free to give them to me, I will very happy to receive them. Thank you again !!:)

Hi,
I am assuming you will be driving from Romania.
If so, then you should definitely visit Zakopane, Krakow, Wieliczka salt mines, next you can proceed north towards Gdansk with overnight stop in Kazimierz Dolny.
That is a lot for 6 days however if you are planning to get back to Romania
You need min 2 days for Zakopane, 2 days for Krakow, 1 day for Wieliczka, 1 overnight stop in Kazimierz Dolny, 1 day for Gdansk, and 1 day for Sopot and Gdynia.
That is the minimum if you won't go to any museum (as they take more time) and only walk around the towns.

I think you should determine first which border crossing will you be using coming and leaving Poland. That would help determining what to see without "waisting" time for cross country drives.
Poland is about 10 hours drive each way (south/north or east/west) at least from my experiences, and I lived there for 25 years and know the roads more or less.

My dear Jawnuta, thank you very much for your replay , it is very useful for me and I think I will build my itinerary like you suggested me .Thank you very much again !

Hi!

I recomend eastern Poland - beautiful old cities like Lublin, Przemysl, Zamosc (renaissance pearl - listed to UNESCO), Kazimierz Dolny, Sandomierz. These cities/towns are very beautiful.

If You will be in Gdansk I recomend to visit also Torun (Gothic city, UNESCO site) and extremely interesting Chelmno town nearby.

Enjoy!!:)

Buna Ziua,

I don’t know what is your interest in travel to Poland.

I usually go the other way round- to or through Romania. Romanian mountains, wooden art (including architecture) and Saxon villages and towns are really unique in Europe. As a Romanian I wouldn’t go to Poland for overcrowded (especially on weekends and high season –starts from 23.06 this year) mountains. If I were you I would easy skip Zakopane (even no Peles castle there) and Tatry (even more crowded than Bucegi).
I would advise to visit some wooden churches for any other foreigners but not to a Romanian- you have far more interesting wood style than we (but if you want to compare- there are some located en route.
Some Polish guidebooks compare Brasov to Krakow - you can easily judge it yourself on your way.

Coming back to mountains. I can only think about one, which are completely different (but still too crowded)- from Romanian ones, that are Stolowe ( The Table) close to Czech border between Wroclaw and Praha. They are a bit similar to neighbourhood Czech Rock Towns, Ceski Raj (feel like in paradise) or Czech-Saxon Swiss. N.B Wroclaw only 70 years ago was the third biggest town in Germany and still has an interesting main square. I like also small Klodzko and the surrounding area.


Giant Czestochowa monastery further north on the way to Warszawa is pretty stunning. It shows the power of the religion in Poland. Between Krakow and Czestochowa lies Jurassic Park (hahaha- we call it Jura or Wyzyna Krakowsko- Czestochowska)- the land of limestones valleys and castles and ruins plus something called as a desert- Pustynia Bledowska (just for half an hour stop if really interested). Mind you these limestone valleys and rocks are different and smaller than Cheile Turzi or Rametului.
If you are even more interested in the church (some say too) power phenomenon you can also see the church in Lichen and the statue in Swiebodzin- by building this, no doubt, we posses the world championship in kitsch.
Furhther north from Warszawa we have something which you no doubt don’t have- lakes and lowlands rivers surrended by forests. You can enjoy- canoeing in warm, sunny days (lot of rent a kayak facilities). The most known river routes are Hancza, Rospuda, Krutynia, Drweca, Wda. Polish Baltic seaside has always cold water and is always overcrowded in summer. However Slowinski National Park moving dunes (even if Kuronian in Lithuania are even bettere) once impressed me (you can rent a bike and make a nice trip alongside the seashore or a 30km loop including the folk art museum).
Between Warszawa and Gdansk Malbork and Torun are worth to visit.

No doubt it is too much for six days. No matter if you start from Constanca, Iassi, Bucuresti Caransebes or Oradea. So, why not to spent all six days in Krakow area including trips up to Wroclaw (3 hours by car), Warszawa (3 hours by train)?
There is also something to see on the way like Aggtelek/ Slovensky Kras caves, Kosice, Bardejov, Levoca, Slovensky Raj (another paradise).

This is only an overview. If you want more/different information just ask.

Drum bun,
Maciek

Maciek , hello !!..
Your reply made me to laugh a lot. I liked the comparation between our countries !! Of course I want to see your country, Romania I know very much and I know it in all the details possible. Last year we spent our holidays In Czech Republic and we was very excited .We discovered many new places and new people and this is the most important thing . Thank you for your rows and advices . They was very helpful for me , and I will not give up to visit Poland :). Thank you again!!

Maciek , hello again , your replay is wonderful , complete and full of charm !!

Sihi , thank you very much for your kind and warm reply, indeed there are a lot of reasons to love this part of Poland , I saw your pictures and I am very anxious and eager to see these places . Thank you again !!

So if you like comparisions you can and you can't compare Malbork and Hunedoara.
Due to the fact Polish roads and style of driving is quite similar to Romanian it's much better to discover Poland piece by piece. It's quite a lot for far more than 6 days to discover between Krakow and Przemysl (and for many the temptation for Lviv visit is irresistible) with some UNESCO heritage places (Czestochowa further north still only 2 hours by car).
Wieliczka and Bochnia salt mines are similar and different than Salina Praid ones. The salt in Poland, as all know, was a gift from Transilvania by princess Kinga.
Polish mountain people are just Romanians in asylum- you can see it in their music, costumes and some vocabulary.
You can easily make a loop like:
Zakopane- (Debno church, Chabowka railway museum Rabka wooden church museum?,Dobczyce castle)-Krakow,Wieliczka (Staniatki,Niepolomice) Bochnia, (Debno castle,Wisnicz,Lipnica)- Tarnow-Łancut-(Przeworsk,Lezajsk)-Jaroslaw,Przemysl,Sanok,Dukla.
Nowy Sacz, Stary Sacz, Krynica have something as well.
Kalwaria (Wadowice-mainly for Jan Pawel 2, Zator, Babice-Lipowiec), Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Pszczyna, Cieszyn, Sandomierz (Ujazd ruins, Koprzywnica).Pieniny, Ojcow, Babia Gora or Magurski national parks are up to 150km from Krakow.
Certainly, I wouldn't go from Romania for most of above places but it can give you some ideas and your stop overs.
I don't know if all of it is interesting as it is quite personal issue and depends on individual interests- you can check all this places on the Internet in advance. I can imagine that one can stay only a single day in Krakow itself but another one will spend here 6 days with some trips around (Tyniec, Dolinki (sounds a bit Romanian like dolina) Podkrakowskie.

If you want to know more/different, you know what to do.

I have forgotten abour Gorce N.P. also between Zakopane-Krakow (just only to be a litlle bit more precise).
I see you will come from Moldavia. The route via Ukraine is beautiful but the border crossing time is unpredictable, which can spoil the trip. So the route through Hungary and Slovakia is more efficient.

Maciek , thank you very much, indeed I thought myself to choice the way through Hungary and Slovakia .Yours advices are very useful !!

It was just only on overviev. It didn't cover many my personal gems like Betliar palace or Spisky Hrad and Kapitula in Slovakia.