Refinement of our big plans. Now, more time in Poland, or a dip into Czechia?

Ooooh, I love this question! And I think staying in Poland is a good idea - there’s a lot to see I had no idea about (and much I still have to learn!)

Wroclaw is a nice idea and 3 nights would let you see it without a rush. I have been twice and liked it even better the second time than the first.

If you are up for another of my stranger places, take a look at Swidnica at Barokowy Zakątek. It’s a small hotel right beside the famous Peace Church. I reserved through booking.com. It was charming, light, peaceful, inexpensive, and breakfast was marvelous.

From there, it’s easy driving to Jawor Peace Church, Książ Castle, and Kłodzko Fortress. Of course, it’s easy driving to these from Wroclaw also.

Also check out this thread for ideas. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/poland/small-town-road-trip-question

Oh wow, that guest house looks super cool. Thank you TTM!

You are flying into Krakow, but leaving to stay somewhere else! WHY? Krakow is wonderful. You won't need a rental car to stay in Krakow, unless you visit Auschwitz. If you wanted to visit Warsaw, you could take the train, but Krakow is our favorite Polish city, it wan't bombed into rubble like Warsaw.

We do have 4 nights in Krakow, so we thought we'd also check out something else as it's our first trip to Poland. You'd spend the week in Krakow?

I liked Brno. Very pretty historic center and few foreign tourists. And Olomouc, which I think Rick covers in his book, is also very nice.

I spent 7 nights in Krakow, including day trips to Tarnow and Auschwitz, but I never skip a WWII- or Cold-War-history site, and there are quite a lot of those in Krakow. Also, I'm retired. I wouldn't recommend that amount of time to most visitors.

Texas Travel Mom, follow up for you. And anyone else who may have visited both Swidnica and Wroclaw? We are charmed by the Swidnica possibilty. We are currently thinking we'd drive to Swidnica from Krakow, so have the evening to settle in and spend the the next fairly leisurely day in town, visit the church, maybe drive to Ksiaz castle, and spend a second night at the bnb. Then next morning depart for Wroclaw with a plan to overnight there and then head back to Krakow in time to drop off the rental car and catch the night train to Bratislava. I know Wroclaw has a lot to see but honestly a smaller town, with a peaceful, simple bnb really appeals. We did a similar stop in Portugal this year for 2 nts at an interesting pousada near Evora, and we day tripped to Evora. Our only regret was that the town the pousada was in really didn't have a decent place to have dinner.
So, 1 nt or 2 at the bnb in Swidnica? What do you think?

So, 1 nt or 2 at the bnb in Swidnica? What do you think?

If you have more time in the area the better. The Silesia region and the regional capital Wroclaw are my favorite places in Poland. There are 3 main reasons why it's my favorite part of Poland (in no particular order):

The Weather - it has consistently the best weather in Poland, whenever I go there its always sunny and pleasant, I believe the lower Silesia region (where Wroclaw is the capital of) has the most sunny days of any region of Poland.

Unique multi-cultural history - At various times, Silesia has been part of the Kingdom of Poland, Bohemia, the Habsburg Monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire, and finally back to Poland after WWII. The architectural eye candy around the region (especially Wroclaw) reflects this unique history, as it incorporates a little of every country that has ruled the city - from Polish Gothic to Austrian Baroque and German Modernist. Both the local cuisine and culture reflect this multi-layered history too.

Fascinating Day trips - Outside of Wroclaw, the Silesian region is a fascinating area to travel around, full of time-warped old castles, 19th century spa towns, Prussian fortresses, giant wooden Protestant churches, and rumours of hidden Nazi gold. In and around Wroclaw there are 3 UNESCO Heritage Sites.

Every time I go back I always discover something new and interesting to experience. The best part it's relatively undiscovered by foreign tourists. Here is one of my trip reports (with photos) of the area - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/vicarious-travel-poland-2017-wroclaw-silesia

Hmmm, either plan would work. I will also say there are several small towns like Swidnica (and nearby) that fit the bill. I chose Swidnica itself because of the lodging (which I have looked for since and not seen availability). Hard choice.

I might choose the small town (and Swidnica is great if you find a good place to stay) for 2 nights with one in Wroclaw, simply because you actually WANT a small town. The church is very interesting and I loved the various aspects of Ksiaz Castle - and didn’t even get to go to the stud farm because of rain. And I found Carlos to be absolutely right about far fewer tourists - and almost no Americans (or Canadians lol).

With Wroclaw only an hour’s drive (and not having to be back in Krakow terribly early), you would get enough time to see the town, even if you don’t have time for museums, etc. (Although I am fascinated with the Panorama of the Battle of Racławice.)

I found a couple of places for dinner that I really enjoyed if you wind up there. :)

" Brno is awesome, or some alternate in that part of the Czech republic...." Very true. That part of the CR called Moravia is awesome and intriguing , historically, geographically. I was there in 2016 and 2017, took the train from Vienna to Brno, then another train to Slavkov (Austerlitz), both times as day trips.

Language-wise, I found the service staff, be they in a cafe, museum, the chateau/Schloss Austerlitz, the train stations (Brno and Slavkov) either spoke one of two foreign languages other than their native Czech. Either English or German, I didn't come across anyone knowing both.

Obviously, they knew I was a visitor , so I asked which language they spoke and I used that language to communicate with them.

Thank you everyone, great information and you're getting us more excited (and conflicted!) about our trip this fall. Right now we are really hoping to get a room at the bnb adjacent the Church in Swednica. The small town aspect, close to so many other interesting sites, is drawing us in. I've sent an email to the church people (seems to be the only way to reach them, none of the sites that used to book this place seem to have availability any more), so we'll see if it's still operating as expected.

Definitely keeping your other notes and ideas in our back pocket, if not for 2024 then for another trip.

Wish us luck!

-Train to Budapest. 5 nights in Budapest. Mr E, that video you recently shared about Budapest has my husband hooked. I was already
ready to spend the 5 nights in Budapest. :)

That was one of the better travel videos on Budapest. He did one on Vienna too, but if you watch the two you will note a difference in enthuasim between the two.

-Eger for 2 nights (train? rent a car?)

Too easy and cheap not to take the train. Once there you can walk and use public transportation to most everything.

-One last night in Budapest so we're near the airport.

If that makes you feel better being near the airport, good, but the taxi ride from central Budapest to the airport is about 40 minutes at most ... shorter if the traffic isnt too bad. The advantage of staying in the center is you can use that last night for a nice dinner, views across the river and saying goodby ................. until next time. If you dont do the airbnb idea below, then stay at the Marriott on the river the last night. Soak in the views.

If it were me, I would get an Airbnb and just keep it for the duration. That way you only carry what you need for Eger. I know, two nights unused is $150 but 8 nights that way vs 6 nights in a hotel is still a savings. And you can get a bit more intimate with the city out of an airbnb.