Help with Poland itinerary
 

A group of 4 ladies in their 70's are planning a 2 week trip to Poland in late September, 2026. We have driven in Europe before but from what I read, it is difficult to do in Poland with street signs in Polish, etc. We'd like a combination of big cities and small towns. Wroclaw and Gdansk look amazing and Krakow as well. Many of the small towns in this blog sound charming. https://abpoland.com/blog/most-charm...owns-in-poland Can anyone suggest an itinerary that combines some big cities and small towns? We are not big on lots of museums- prefer walking neighborhoods etc. I am hoping if driving is difficult we can get to all of them on public transportation. Thanks in advance for your advice.

I can’t recommend an itinerary, but I can recommend that you give Krakow several days. And if you plan on visiting Auschwitz, don’t plan anything else for that day except perhaps a walk and relaxed meal. I’d also recommend a day or two in Warsaw.

Hope that helps!

Assuming a two week trip means 13 nights:

Five nights in Trójmiasto ( Gdańsk, Sopot, Gdynia)
Łódż via Gniezno
Two nights in Łódż
Wrocław via Gniezo
Three night in Wrocław
Two nights in Rzeszów
One night in airport city.

Worth a visit while you are in the area:
Frombork, Biskupin, Baranów Sandomierski, Łańcut, Zamość.

PS. You plan your trips two years in advance?
PPS. Personally, I don't plan trips based on what others find "difficult"

I don't understand the comment about how it is hard to drive in Poland due to road signs "etc." Why would a sign in Polish be more difficult than one in any other foreign language, like Greek or French? Sure, if you know a particular language it wouldn't be bad, but you couldn't know all of them in Europe. But practically, there is the Vienna Convention on road signs that was signed decades ago which makes road signs fairly uniform across Europe. The eorly ones in Polish might be names of towns which is their name, or ones related to tolls or border control, etc. Not basic ones. Because all basic road signs (warnings, directions, etc) are pictures, not words. So I wonder who told you that and what they were referring to. Generally roads themself or traffic in cities may make driving difficult for me.

POland is a large country. That blog has some interested ideas, but I would cross off those in far-flung places, such as SE Polande (and that would hold for Rzeszów, also. ALl the places you name are fairly large cities, of course. I've been to all and like them all. I really like Warsaw, but more for the museums and history, which you don't care that much about (it's out of the way anyway). I like Poznan, also, but again, it is a larger city. I haven't been to Lodz.

The largest cities (in descending order) on your list are Krakow, lodz and wroclaw about the same, then Gdansk. But it's not tiny. So if you want to drive and do small towns, I'd start and end with large cities and not have a car for them. You can't really do that well given Wroclaw is in the middle. It didn't seem that difficult for navigating to me, but then again, I wasn't driving. If you just want to drive a little, maybe fly into Gdansk, then rent the car and visit some smaller towns up in that area down to Wroclaw. (Malbork would be one that is in that blog and would be good). Going south, Gniezno might be considered (population 67K) and it was the first capital of Poland, then SW of Wroclaw would be Paczlow an historic walled city (near the border with Czechia) and also Swidnica (also smaller city of 55K). You'd have to research if these interest you.

If you can manage Wroclaw in a city, you could end up in Krakow and get rid of it, of course, and fly home from there. I flew into Gdansk from the US, but of course I had to connect somewhere, I suspect either BRU or AMS. Same for Krakow, but it's a wellknown city and lots of flight choices.

I don't know how comfortable you are driving in anything but real small towns, though. But in 2 weeks, if you spend at least 3 days+ in 3 major cities (Gdansk, Krakow and Wroclaw), that only gives you a few days for the driving and smaller places. I think 3 days each is enough in those to enjoy yourself, Krakow would be the one I'd give a bit more time to, though. As you are not going to have that full day on your travel day to get there.

The problem is public transportation is fine for the larger towns/cities but not good for small ones. I've only used trains in Poland, probably some bus services around (I did use Flixbus from Poznan to Berlin). You can do Gcanask, Pozan, Wroclaw and Krakow easily enough by train. You'd have to research places like Malbork but then that is going to add more time. It is not that long a trip and I think in that case, there is a direct regional train from Gcansk. So you could do that as a day trip while not moving hotels. That would probably be a good idea if you decide not to drive.

Polish uses the Roman alphabet just like English, no problem reading street signs. Driving there is easy. Roads are in very good condition, but there are not many highways.

I spent three weeks in Poland, never getting out of Malopolska. Many traditional crafts and pastimes such as lace-making, beekeeping, horse breeding, smoking cheese, wooden architecture, floral painting. Countryside is beautiful. Krakow is stunning. First view of the rynek and the cloth hall is draw-dropping.

Here is a link to the Wooden Architecture Trail:

The Wooden Architecture Route in Malopolska

Thanks for all the information you shared and your insights as well. It all makes sense and is very helpful in our planning.