I am traveling alone to Krakow,Poland near the end of May and specifically want to spend time at Auschwitz photographing for a project I am working on. I also want to visit Oppeln which is north of Krakow (I believe) as it is my father's hometown.
Can anyone give me information on a safe place for a woman alone to stay in Krakow? I would like some place where I can interact with the people. No sterile hotels where one feels so isolated. Is it possible to hire a guide to take me to Oppeln? Anyone know how this could be arranged? Thank you for any response!

Hi,
What you want to look up is Opole (Opole was under the Prussian dominance during the partitions and therefore the city was renamed in German to Oppeln).

Here's the city's Web site:
http://www.opole.pl/
These days Opole is known for its annual Polish Song Festival.

I found 4 daily connections by the Intercity train from Krakow Glowny (station name) to Opole Glowne (again, station name)
http://www.intercity.pl/scripts/trai...mp;x=0&y=0

As for Krakow accomodations I will be staying at the Pension Trecius this summer. It looks really cozy and I read a ton of great reviews on the place.
Check out the Web site and see if this is somewhere you would like to stay.
Btw, Pension Trecius location and prices are great too.
http://www.trecius.krakow.pl/

One last thing, there is another post on this Poland forum titled "Suggestions for Krakow Itinerary." There are a lot of tips on their on what to see and where to eat in that incredible town.

Here's the link to the Intercity train connections in English:

http://www.intercity.pl/scripts/trai...p;x=37&y=8

I also recommend the Globtrotter Pension in Krakow. It came highly recommended by Trip Advisor when we made the choice back in the fall & loved the hospitality, cleanliness & proximity to the main square.Price was right.

And as a side note to Caroline, we would all be very grateful if you'd take a look at www.tinyurl.com. If you bookmark that site, then copy and paste long urls into it, it will provide you with a nice short one you can then copy and paste here. That way we'd eliminate these out of proportion threads that have to be scrolled back and forth to read and/or to post.

Please don't take this as a criticism, but rather a helpful hint -- many of us have only learned about this site recently, but it has become an invaluable tool in posting.

I would think any decent hotel near the central market place would be fine and safe enough. I stayed at the Pod Rosa which was lovely, but may be more than you want to spend. I think the Polski is often recommended around that area, and is cheaper.

I actually am not a big fan of tinyurl because I prefer to see the real URL and to know what it is. They may not keep them forever, either. In either case, there is nothing wrong with Caroline's posts IMO, and they don't mess anything up on my computer, not even making the posts a funny size. Everything looks very normal to me.

Here's the link to "Suggestions for Krakow Itinerary":
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34773892

adding to as usual Caroline1 great info I would recommand checking with Auschwitz Museum before actual arrival for any of more extensive tours :
http://www.auschwitz.org.pl/html/eng...nie/cennik.php
where you may have more access to what otherwise is closed - or have more detailed info on specific subject of your interest.
Where standard tour is about 3hrs - those be definitly longer and with much more info provided.

Krakow! We stayed at the Europeski Hotel. Cost $40 each. Price included a suberb/sumptious breakfast! Traffic is difficult. We had a van and driver/guide. Cost was minimal...Please check with Oswiecim/Auschwitz Museum about taking pictures or doing research. Depending on the nature of your project you may want to consider contacting someone in the same field at the Jagiellonian University for research help. The Polish government is now proposing to re-name the museum. It will be something like, Nazi-Germany Concentration Camp!