Planning a Poland itinerary
 

Hi everyone,

I was on another forum, taking suggestions on what to see during my future trip to Poland. I got quite a few suggestions - Krakow (Auschwitz Birkenau Museum and Wieliczka Salt Min), Warsaw, Szczecin, Białowieża National Park, Malbork, Mazury, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Poznań and a lot more.

I will probably not have more than 3 weeks. How much of it can I fit in my itinerary?
I am planning to rent a self-drive car.

Thanks!

You might want to search this board for threads about Poland -- look up to top/left if THIS post to the block labeled "Change Forum" and select "Europe" then go to the "View by Country" block just to the right and select "Poland" -- voila!

<<How much of it can I fit in my itinerary?>>

A lot. Just remember, cities aren't equal so splitting time equally is useless.

And considering that Google cars aren't in Poland, you'd probably need a self-drive car.

<<I am planning to rent a self-drive car.>>

Where do you intend to get a self-drive car? You can't even rent those in the US, I've never heard of being able to do that anywhere. I didn't think they were even legal on the roads, or that they were even being sold on the market yet. I know Volvo is developing one and BMW.

Do you just mean you plan to rent a car?

Thanks everyone! Will browse for more info here.

And sorry about the confusion on self-drive cars... I didn't mean the advanced Google AI driven cars. I just meant the rent-and-drive cars like Hertz, Avis etc.

My bad! Although some people use the term self-drive for this purpose, I understand it is technically wrong. :)

And I used "self-drive" as if you'd drive your own dang self.

Look at the train schedules and figure out your basic route. If that's conducive to your needs, you may want to skip driving or only rent a car for the parts of the trip that you WON'T be citified. You're going to a bunch of cities and driving in them sucks. Plus the major cities (Krakow, Warsaw) have their own public transport that tends to be cheap and usable. Poznan and Gdansk (which is very walkable) aren't that big, so a car may not be necessary.

The gas (petrol) is expensive and the Poles drive like Europeans and usually the worst kind - more Russian than Scandinavian.

You can get an idea of your transportation options from any good guidebook, or you can consult rome2rio.com -- just be sure to check anything you learn there, as it is not sensitive to seasonal variation. Even so, you can get the names of, and often links to, the companies that provide public transportation (and so get the schedules).

Do, please, get a good guidebook or two! In comparison to the cost of your trip, the cost of a guidebook will be nugatory, and you will have a wealth of information at your fingertips. For that matter, you can consult one at a local library or book store....

I've been to Poland twice in recent years and plan to go again next spring/summer. I wouldn't say that most of society knows the English language. I think most people in the hotel/tourist industry do speak it, though.

This reminds me of being in Gdansk at the bus station and trying to ask a question of a young guy who was sitting next to me. I asked, "Do you speak English?" He said no. Then I asked "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" He said no. Then just for the hell of it, I asked "Habla Ud. Español?" He said "Un poco."

He didn't know the answer to my question, but I enjoyed the fact that he spoke a little Spanish. He'd studied it in school.

If you have 3 weeks in Poland, it could be enough time to visit the most important places, but as you would like to visit almost whole Poland, you will need to change the places very often and it can be very tiring. Poland is quite big country. About driving, it's quite easy to drive between main cities, but sometimes it is better to go by train e.g between Warsaw and Krakow and Krakow - Warsaw -Gdansk. There is a speed train Pendolino - the journey by train from Krakow to Warsaw takes less than 3 hours. And if you would like to drive the road is under construction, so it may take much longer. There are alsa manu buses between main cities and lots of small buses between small cities and villages. Regarding the Auschwitz tour, if you would like to go on your own, you need to book tickets in advance because there is a big interest in visiting this place and the tickets are being sold out very quickly. But you can also take part in a group tour from Krakow. If you need any help or are interested in any tour in Poland, contact me. Dream Tour Poland http://dreamtourpoland.com/

You might be interested in my trip report which covered Krakow, a drive through southeastern Poland and Wroclaw; click on my name to find it.