Getting to Gdansk

The problem that you have is that you are trying to hire a car across several international borders. The hire company thy en has to get it back home and that will cost a lot. It would make more sense and be cheaper to get to Poland and hire a car there.

It’s really not ridiculous at all. Imagine the cost of getting the car back from Gdansk to the UK or from wherever else in Europe. It’s not like it’s the same country.

Fly or train.

Renting a car in one country and returning it in another country will be expensive as mentioned. Do it by train instead or a combination of train and car.

And yes, there are ferries from Sweden to Poland but they don't take anywhere near 3.5 day. Where did you find that information?

If you have three days you could do it by train- Day 1- Leave London St Pancras at about 8am, change at Amsterdam Central for Berlin arrive 8pm;
Day 2- Train Berlin to Gdansk, change at Warsaw

Or- Day 1- afternoon train London to Brussels, then the European Sleeper to Berlin; Day 2- Train Berlin to Gdansk, change at Warsaw.

At 3pm there is even a Berlin to Gdansk direct train, arrive at 8.30pm

You could even take the European Sleeper to Prague, stay there for one night then one of the 4 new day trains or the night train from Prague direct to Gdansk (started in December).

Gdansk airport has direct flights on Lufthansa from Frankfurt; from London Stansted on Ryanair, and London Luton on Wizz Air

I have been to Poland three times and Gdansk was a favorite city. Your tour really only has one full day there so you will barely scratch the surface. There’s plenty of other things to do that are not part of the tour (for instance, an excellent WWII museum.) Study the Rick Steves guidebook for ideas.

So I would skip the long, expensive drive, or a complicated ferry ride, and just fly into Gdansk for a couple extra nights. If you really want to experience something outside of Poland, you could do a stopover in Paris or wherever for a day or two, and then take an inexpensive flight to Gdansk.

You may also want to add time at the end of your tour in Krakow, especially if you want to see Auschwitz (get tickets in advance). Another side trip from there that is popular is to go to Zakapone (although I have never been there).

Thanks for all the advice.
I think we're going to skip the drive and do that on another trip.
We'll think of something else. It just doesn't sound too practical.
Thanks again for chiming in.
MC

I agree with renee. One day isn’t enough. In October we spent 4 nights in Gdansk and I’m hoping we are able to go back sometime. There is much to see there and in the surrounding area.

Go straight to Gdansk as others noted. Your previous ideas were just sitting in a car or a train for the 3 days. Really, just sitting and nothing doing.