Hi,

there is one Fodorites here who either lives in PL or has expert knowledge. Unfortunately I cannot remember his or her name.
In case you don't get immediate good responses, just top up your own threat once in a while so it won't sink down.

In general, train travel is quite slow in Poland. Long distance coaches usually offer a good alternative, often even cheaper while faster.

Maybe you can just google bus travel Poland, or wait for more precise advice.

Hi !
I am not extremely familiar with train travel, I usually prefer buses for personal reasons. But but I did a 3+ weeks' long trip in Poland on January/February 2011 and I used trains to travel among places. I did Warsaw-Torun-Malbork-Gdansk-Poznan-Wroclaw-Krakow-Warsaw. I think your estimates for duration of the trips are about correct on the slow trains, check if there are any of the intercity more expensive but faster trains too, I think there might be one for Krakow-Wroclaw. In general trains were not too bad, not very good either. On some of them toilets were at mediocre state to say the least, but otherwise no major problem other than the luggage one. I had a large piece of luggage and in most cases there was no space to store it other than overhead. I was afraid it would fall onto my head while there and it was difficult to lift it my self anyway, so when possible I was just trying to put it on the floor near my seat if there were no people around- or on the corridor near by, but sometimes I was disturbing people. If you do not speak polish I strongly suggest to check train shedules in advance, print a copy of the route and what stops are involved. plus ask your hotel reception to write down a little note for you to hand on the ticket booths. Most train stations' staff did not speak a word in English especially on the smaller towns and it was hard to communicate. On larger towns inside train station, there is a separate "international office" I think with a sign of "i" or something outside, some English is spoken there. It is still a bit hard to obtain info on your platform etc though,so try to learn a couple of key phrases in Polish. That helped me a lot, for example in Torun different members of staff were pointed me in different platforms and I was nearly lost in a simple 4 racks train station. I asked a gentleman in Polish "Platform? Malbork?" and this is how I found out where to go. Note that a few people knew this train was heading to Malbork. At first I was confused even after the gentleman's advice. It turned out my train was going to an X city so had X city on the sign in front, then had a 30 minutes break in this city, before the very same train turning on X city's train to Malbork/Gdansk, and if I did not have the train shedule in print, I wouldn't be able to figure it out.

By the way you might want to read discussion here:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g274856-i1119-k4040527-My_experience_in_Poland-Warsaw_Mazovia_Province_Central_Poland.html
and/or post yor inquiry in Trip Advisor too, Many experienced trabelers and locals contribute on the forums there.

We did the exact same itinerary as you, only in reverse. We drove between all these cities and found it easy. Our car was rented in Vilinus and we dropped it off in Krakow. This was before drop-off fees, about five years ago. In Warsaw, we stayed in a Sheraton, that included a great breakfast. Not too far from the old town, but I recall a Marriott that was closer to the old town. You can find information on three of the cities for download on this site. www.inyourpocket.com and country info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland

Thank you all for such quick responses. One item I did not note, but will be of immense assistance, is that my mother is polish so no language issues here and I understand it better than I can speak, but I expect the speaking will come back pretty quickly as this was my native language while a toddler growing up in Chicago. I think I'll look into the bus alternative as well as private car service. And thank goodness for Trip Advisor, that's how I ended up selected my hotels. If anyone has used a private driver service I'd be interested in a recommendation.

We took a one week tour of Poland last September. We are not normally tour people but after reading about all the problems with the trains and. since we spoke no Polish, we settled on the tour.

We actually had a wonderful time on the tour but became more aware of the infrastructure limitations in Poland. Good roads are few and they are well travelled and therefore very crowded so lots of traffic.

But we really enjoyed Poland (Warsaw, Czestochowa, Auschwitz, Zakopane and Krakow) and hopefully will get back again.

There are trains between Warsaw and Krakow that take 3 hours. Wroclaw to Krakow is 5 hours.

A friend used a fellow named Andrew in Krakow. Here's his site to get his email address for prices.

http://www.tour-service.pl/

Adrienne, thanks for Andrew's info - I'll check out his service offerings.

I've found a sight (it's in Polish tho), that provides the options for various transportation from Krakow to Wroclaw, the least in length is the bus, 4 hours! It actually surprises me as bettyk indicated the state of the roads are not as up as other countries, I would have thought the trains would be less time.

Now I just have to get mom here to translate...LOL - never did learn how to read Polish....

Trains make lots of stops - that's why they often take longer.

Regarding the bus - I took one round trip from Krakow to Zakopane. There is no place to put your legs!! You can't stretch them out in front of you (unless you're quite short). I'm 5'6" and couldn't get my legs under the seat in front of me as the seat back comes down quite far. You're stuck in one position for the duration of the trip. It was over 2 hours to Zakopane and I was lucky to get 2 seats together for myself so I could sit sideways and stretch my legs.

Even though the train takes longer you can get up and walk around, making the trip so much nicer. If I had a choice of 4 hours on a bus or 5 hours on a train I would take the train every time! Bring some good books (not much scenery) and some drinks and snacks. The 5 hours will pass much quicker than you think. It's a lot better than being on a plane.

delvino - what hotels did you book? I truly enjoyed Poland and would love to go back one day.

If you are interested in private guide sightseeing I used a guide in Wroclaw and Krakow. Both of whom were good.

Keep in mind that driving from Krakow to Wroclaw takes just under three hours. Mostly on a motorway. We have driven that route and we found it easy to navagate. Just as we have driven the rest of the cities you will be visiting. We had no problems and you will save time. Always get a little anxious on entering a city, but these cities we had less problems that others we have driven into. Anyways, a highlight in Warsaw, was a Chopin concert in the park on Sundays. [FREE] With hundreds of rose bushes in bloom, listening to his music, it was magical. I recall it started at 1pm and getting there a half hour earlier afforded us a seat on a park bench. The benches are set in a rectangle in front of the stage. Enjoy your trip. Richard

adrienne,

The bus option I am looking at for the Crakow to Wroclaw ride is a large greyhound type bus, which should be reasonably comfy. Since we are all rather short (I'm 5'2" and mom is less, and hubby a bit more), I'm thinking if it is as good as the interior picture looks, this may be the option.

We are staying at Hotel Stary in Cracow, Hotel Monopole in Wroclaw, and Hotel 1231 in Turon; probably will stay at a Hilton in Warsaw - not sure on that one yet.

Definately want to take in some concerts, and think that shouldn't be difficult in in Turon, seeing how that's Chopin's birthplace. We'll also do a day trip from Wroclow to check out the ancestral home.

The bus I took was a large one where you put your luggage underneath the bus. It was the seats that were a problem. But you're much shorter so perhaps you will be able to get your legs underneath the seat in front of you.

In Wroclaw, did you look at the Qubus Hotel? I stayed there and the rooms were large and the bathroom was the best one of the trip! The heated towel rack was turned on and the shower had a seat (although we removed it for our use). The rate last year was about $92 per night but this did not include breakfast. They charged a lot of money for breakfast but there are places in the square where you can get a reasonable meal. It's a short block off the square so much closer than the Monopole.

In Warsaw I stayed at the Helmet Hotel, across the river from old town. The hotel was fine but there were very few options for restaurants in the area. It's a business hotel so very typical.

I tried to see the location of the Warsaw Hilton and got a message that I had to get a google key to view the map. That's bizarre!

The Chopin stuff looks interesting. I would have loved more time in Poland.

The Krakow hotel looks perfect!

You can easily find train times using the journey planner at the German Railwasy website www.bahn.de (English button top right).

The polish site for inter-city trains is www.intercity.com.pl

Trains link all main centres and are usually comfortable and cheap. Major cities are linked by InterCity trains (IC. EC and EIC) with carpet and air-conditioning, though cheaper fares apply to the less fancy 'TLK' trains.

It's not normally difficualt to buy tickets at the station.

If you can get a deal on the Polonia Palace Hotel in Warsaw, take it! It's a lovely hotel close to the Central Station and the Palace of Culture & Science. We absolutely loved this place and the service was impecable. We paid 96 Euro for the 1 night we were there and that was booked through the travel agency where we booked our tour.

When you get to Torun and you are in a restaurant, be sure to try the 'lard' on your bread.

I took the train between Wroclaw and Krakow and it did take a long time, but I can't remember how long. The trains in Poland can be really bad, they go really really slowly, that's why it takes so long (maybe they are afraid they'll fall apart). And then they make a lot of stops, sometimes for no reason that I can recall. Some of the trains in the CR can be slower than the bus, also, due to stops, but the trains are worse in Poland.

Iris,

LOL - I'm sure mom will gobble that one up. My aunt & uncle, God bless their souls, would spread bacon grease on their rye for bk. Ahhh the memories of true rustic polish food are fading with the older generation. It's no wonder we all have to watch our weight, expect for my brother who ate like an Atkins diet, a pound of bacon for bk and nothing till dinner.

LOL....

Adrienne, I'm struggling with identifying the best area for a base in Wroclaw, it's much easier to figure out where the action in in Cracow, but maybe I've not located the right map. And if anyone knows where I can get my hands on an actual detailed street map of Cracow, Wroclaw, Turon, and Warsaw and can point me in that direction I'd be ever grateful. Seems everything is on an Ap, well I don't have an Iphone yet, and the one I'm getting is a work phone.

Look at a google map of Wroclaw and find Rynek - that's the main square. Any place just around it to the east or south is good. I'm not sure what is north of Rynek as I didn't venture over there.

I have a bunch of maps that I scanned to print (my printer doesn't copy very well any more so I get a better image if I scan first and then print from the scanned image). I can send them to you if you send me an email (see my profile for my email address). For some of the maps I used an old Rough Guide - the new Rough Guides did not have maps that were as clear as the old ones. A friend swears by the Rick Steves maps which I have. So I have Warsaw, Wroclaw, and Krakow for you. I also have Poznan but you're not going there.

I looked at the map on the Hotel Monopole site and it looked like it was quite a few blocks away from the main square. When I looked at mappy it showed that the hotel is almost a kilometer from the main square for a pedestrian. You might want to consider the distance for your mother.

In general I stayed in lesser hotels on my trip as I traveled on a lower budget, but I wanted some luxury and relaxation at the end of my trip and landed a quite good deal through booking.com for LeMeridien Bristol, maybe one of the most historical hotels in Warsaw (this and Polonia...). It is a Starwood hotel with an old world feeling and you can't bit the location on Krakowskie Przedmiescie street- Exactly next to President's Palace and only 7 minutes walk to Castle Square and historical center on one direction, 10 minutes walk to Nowy Swiat and commercial shopping/dinning/business area the other direction. Bus to the airport stops exactly opposite the hotel too. You may want to look further into this option.

For tourists who are in Poland and want to know the country, places standard and exclusive of the largest cities of Poland, we invite you to visit our company operating in the territory of Poland. You can find us in the larger cities and resorts. In addition to the standard places we offer participation in festivals, picnics, fairs, concerts. If you are interested in some attractions such as bars typical of the city, or specific clubs, we will try to find them for you. All this we offer for only 5 € per hour for the whole group, but taking care of the high quality of our services to groups containing 6 or more persons, we offer the services of two guides to take care the needs of each members of the tour.

In our page you can book our services and find full information about us: www.guide4you.com.pl

http://polrail.com/sections/store/rail_passes.html

Here's the Polish Rail website link. There is a drop down with the schedules and ticket prices. We've taken them before and the ones we took were nice, comfortable and clean.

Polish Rail Official website ( which has timetables etc ) http://www.pkp.pl/
Trains in general are faster then cars / buses ... example Warsaw - Torun by train is less then 3 hours by car minimum 4hours and if driven according to speed limits be about 5hours.
In Summer you maybe getting extra traffic, so again train be quicker. Recommending 1st class since those in many cases are by seat reservation so you have a guarantee of having a seat.