Bagbabe53

I am researching my family's genealogy in Poland (may also have some ancestry in Kaunus, Lithuania) and have also found some info on my husband's Polish Jewish side (we did the heritage leg of the trip for his Italian side last year and it was great) in Warsaw. I also know where my maternal grandmother's village is in extreme SE Poland near the Ukrainian border. Have also received my DNA results.

Re: us, healthy, active, and retired in our early 60s. Have traveled extensively in western Europe and lived there for several years many years ago in the military. Spent nearly a month in Italy last October. Neither of us speak Polish, but are willing to put in some time with Rosetta Stone and carry some translation apps on our phones. We enjoy the usual cultural and historical stuff (cathedrals, museums, picturesque countryside), seeing a soccer game, drives in scenic countryside, and special activities, like a cooking class, fishing excursions, an afternoon hike, etc. We generally do a mix of independent and programmed stuff. We like to travel the shoulder seasons in Europe, and found October was great in Italy. Am considering May or May into June for this trip. Has anyone here traveled to Poland in the late spring?

I am thinking this trip will run two to three weeks, and using public transportation when not on a tour. You may ask, why a tour? I have heard that while the Poles are great, that the language can be difficult, and there are few English speakers around. At this point I am considering landing in Warsaw and staying there a couple of days (we can use Marriott points to save money and take a local tour of the old Jewish ghetto there as well as other historic sites). We could then do some programmed travel with a company, and then use a guide/driver who can help us navigate the ancestral towns, churches, and archives (or vice versa). I have located a couple of companies on the web that do both tours and custom stuff for family heritage. Has anyone here worked with Polish Origins or Ancestral Attic? The former has an eight-day tour of Galicia (the area where my maternal side and paternal grandma lived) that sounds good, and a roster of driver/guides who take people like us to ancestral villages and act as translators and facilitators.

I have heard Krakow is spectacular, and I may want to spend an extra day or two there after the tour. The tour I'm looking at ends in Krakow. Would also like to see Czestohowa (the black madonna) and Wadowice, the home of St. John Paul II, maybe using Krakow as a base. If we head back East (I know there's a high speed train between Warsaw and Krakow) to see my maternal grandmother's village with a guide, perhaps we could go on by rail to Kaunus after the guide drops us in a nearby larger town like Premysl.

I know this may sound all over the place, but I am in the earliest stages of planning. Any suggestions, other things to consider or comments are welcome!

Andrew

I visited Poland in 2012 (Gdansk, Torun, Wroclaw, Krakow...skipped Warsaw, flew into Gdansk via Amsterdam but you can't do that easily anymore, I guess). I loved Poland, and I too have some ancestors from SE Poland (not sure where), but I didn't try to visit this area, other than Krakow, where I did only the touristy stuff. I took trains by myself between cities and although they were slow and not particularly nice by European standards, they worked fine. (I think the Poles have gradually been improving their train system, though.) I always travel independently and had no issue in Poland at all getting around.

I didn't try to have extensive conversations with many Poles, but otherwise I had no issue with the language. Most people in the tourist industry seem to speak at least a little English.

I am headed to Lithuania in a couple of weeks (to Vilnius - maybe a quick stop in Kaunas...then north through the Baltics). People say Lithuania goes well with a trip to Poland, perhaps because of their common history for a few hundred years, but they don't seem well connected by trains or anything. You might find flights between Warsaw and Vilnius on LOT airlines, though.

I think you should simply list the places that interest you and try to connect them and make a trip out of it. Post your trip plan and people can chime in with suggestions of places not to miss in between. Otherwise, Poland seems to have a decent bus network that some prefer to the slower/older trains, though I prefer train smyself. Use Rome2Rio.com to find the best way to get between towns. I usually do an open jaw into/out of Europe from different cities, but unless you go to Lithuania you might find a round trip into/out of Warsaw makes the most sense for you. Check Krakow, too, though, for arrival/departure - maybe you'll find a decent air connection. There are flights between Krakow and cities in Western Europe that you could book on your own.

GinnyJo

Andrew gives good advice about deciding what you want to see and planning around that.

We just returned from a DIY trip of:
3 nights Riga,
bus to Vilnius for 3 nights;
fly (all day on Norwegian via Oslo) to Krakow for 5 nights;
train to Warsaw for 3 nights;
train to Gdansk for 3 nights;
train to Berlin for 5 nights.

In hindsight I wouldn't have changed our time allotments; the only location we were getting a little antsy was in Warsaw. The trains we took (EIP) are fabulous and inexpensive; highly recommend using them. Getting from Vilnius to Krakow took all day given an 8 hour layover in Oslo.

We had no significant problems with the language in any of these places, and I see no reason you'd need to join a tour. Once in Poland we got around via uber quite easily and inexpensively -- no need to even figure out the public transportation as the short uber distances were about the same price.

Let me know if you have any questions.

HappyTrvlr

We spent four days in Kraków last year. We are not Catholic but the sites relating to John Paul ll are extensive so I recommend more time than two days. Highly recommend a tour of Suschwitz-Birkenau too; our hotel made the arrangements for our tour which included transportation. We don't speak a word of Polish and didn't have any problems communicating. Everyone seemed to have a relative in Chicago where we once lived.

kja

Sorry for the late response!

I wholeheartedly recommend several days in Krakow. Do consider making time for the exquisite <i>Lady with an Ermine</i>, which I believe is back in her home in Krakow.

FWIW, I strongly recommend that you allow a full day for Auschwitz/Birkenau, and not just because the sites are extensive, but also because allowing yourselves some time to decompress afterwards can be very important. I would NOT try to fit anything else into that same day, and I say that as someone who normally crams each day with a full agenda.

Hope that helps!

Przemek_Krk

If you wish to Visit Poland and KRK. Prepare that Wadowice are nothing special. Krakow and Czestochowa have a great center and of course Jasna Góra.

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