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Prague to Wroclaw, Poland

Hello everyone,

I'm traveling to Prague with my three year old twins just before Christmas where we will spend two nights before renting a car and driving to Wroclaw, Poland. What would be a good route to take such that we can make two to three stops on the way. In regards to time, we will be departing at 10 in the morning and want to reach Wroclaw by 5 pm.

The other item I need help with is regarding carseats. Is there an online shop or a shop in Prague where I can purchase two low-price toddler carseats to avoid the higher carseat rental price at the rental car company? It will be good use of the carseat as we will take them to our next destination and give them to donation before we head back home.

Thanks!

Posted by
26829 posts

There was a very recent discussion here about inaccuracies on ViaMichelin.com. It appears that Michelin may not be updating its maps very often. So there's a caveat here:

ViaMichelin shows three possible routes, the fastest of which (#2) is a bit non-intuitive and takes a northward jog on Highway (Road?) 35. That route takes you right past the lovely small city of Görlitz, which sits on the German/Polish border. The German side has over 1000 historic buildings. I cannot tell you anything about the parking situation since I traveled there by train from Dresden. I haven't seen anything else in the area, so cannot compare this route to others, Görlitz is great--though probably of no interest to your young children,

Posted by
4137 posts

Why make this trip with a car ? Logistically you are not considering the impracticalities involved here - You are two nights in Prague ( one day ) and will have to obtain a car and car seats , both of which will consume more time than you are considering . you want to leave Prague at Ten and arrive by Five ? Have you considered the likelihood of snowy roads at this time of year ? Stopping along the way ? Not if you want to keep to your time schedule . Using a car is an unnecessarily complex way of doing this . Use the fine trains available in this part of the world . A train from Praha hl. n. to Wroclaw Glowny will be safe and without stress and doable within your schedule . Look at the schedule here - https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query2.exe/en?ld=15049&protocol=https:&seqnr=1&ident=ey.0665949.1513017354&rt=1&OK#focus Train departs 11 AM , arrives Wroclaw 4:40 PM

Posted by
868 posts

What would be a good route to take such that we can make two to three
stops on the way. In regards to time, we will be departing at 10 in
the morning and want to reach Wroclaw by 5 pm.

The trip will take 4+ hours, so two or three stops is a bit ambitious. The fastest route, which is also the best to drive, is via Germany. The obvious stop here is Görlitz, one of Germanys best preserved towns with more than 4.000 listed buildings. User acraven is wrong btw., there are almost no half-timbered houses in Görlitz... only the house of the executioner comes to mind. This is a region with very unique half-timbered houses, called Upper Lusatian houses, however, but to see them you have to take a a short detour into the Zittau Mountains, which are just 5km to the south of Zittau, the first German town. The village to see these half-timbered houses is Waltersdorf, the highlight of the mountains is Oybin, a village with a romantic ruin of a castle and a monastery on top of a mountain that looks like a beehive.

The shorter and more direct routes are more difficult to drive, but the area is historically interesting, since you first cross the former Sudetenland, and afterwards the Silesian countryside, both German until the expulsions after 1945. A great place to stop there is Swidnica, formerly Schweidnitz, home of Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, and the wooden Peace Church, a World Heritage Site today. Closer to the Czech border is Kreszow, formerly Grüssau, which offers a wonderful Baroque church... but I guess after Prague you don't need another one. Ksiaz castle, Silesias biggest castle and to the west of Swidniza, is also highly recommended.

Posted by
26829 posts

Thanks, Martin. I've corrected my post. Somehow "colorful" turned into "half-timbered" in my memory.

Posted by
39 posts

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and guidance!

I have modified my stay in Prague to be for three nights! This will give us more time to relax and enjoy the city.

In regards to driving Vs the train, driving is better because I'm travelling with little children, have luggage and stroller, and the train involves two changes (one of the changes is 4 minutes). Taking the luggage and children up and down and finding the other train will take a lot of time and effort. As of now, the weather seems to be fine for driving. Hopefully the weather doesn't change and we don't face real snow storms. Little snow won't be a problem. I'll follow the suggested route and will update on that.

Thanks again!

Posted by
39 posts

I returned back home safe and sound after a nice trip in Prague and Wroclaw. Driving from Prague to Wroclaw was quite nice and would totally recommend it to anyone. The driver doesn't need to be experienced as the roads are wide. You may encounter some reckless drivers, but I haven't encountered any during my trip. Moreover, the drive goes through beautiful villages. I would say we got lucky that it didn't snow when we were driving.

Posted by
31 posts

Hi Vansau,

We are considering driving from Wroclaw to Prague in July. Will you share the route you took? Thanks!