10 days in Poland April 2023

I think you can get a good taste of Poland with fewer stops and seeing more of the cities you do visit. Remember that 2 nights can’t be more than 1 1/2 days per city.

All of these cities (and you do have all cities) will give you plenty of history, food, and culture. But if you have flexibility to add days, I definitely recommend it! How many days you have would influence suggestions. Here is a minimum I would hope you could do:
Poznan 1 night
1 night Torun
3 nights Gdansk
3-4 nights Warsaw
3-4 nights Krakow
3 nights Wrocław

Although I really love Krakow, I suggest that if you can’t give the other cities this bare minimum, you save Krakow for a later trip. There is a lot of history and charm in each place. And keep in mind you lose a half day to travel each time you change places, sometimes more depending on your train time.

If it helps, here’s my report on my 28 nights in Poland in September 2022.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/poland-north-to-south

I don't think you can properly see all the major cities of Poland in just 9 nights. Half your vacations will be moving from city to city hotel to hotel, you will travel more but see less.

My recommendation would be to take the direct train from Berlin to Warsaw, then decide if you want to visit northern Poland or southern Poland. So it could be:

Northern Poland Itinerary
Warsaw (3 nights)
Torun (2 nights)
Gdansk (4 nights) - fly to Prague (2 hr)

or

Southern Poland Itinerary
Warsaw (3 nights)
Krakow (4 nights)
Wroclaw (2 nights) - bus to Prague (4 hr)

That way you travel less but see more!

I am laughing at myself. Whenever I read posts like mine, I say what are they thinking how can they do all that! Then I did he same thing, stupid me!

I am thinking of taking one place out and adding 3 more days. The travel post was awesome :)

Carlos always has great ideas and he helped me shape my trip.

But yes, it is SO tempting to try to do it all - because it all sounds so wonderful. Lol!

Carlos what do you think about this idea..

Berlin to Poznan and stay one night
Torun one night
Gdansk 3 nights and maybe with a day trip to Malbork and if so add a day to Gdansk?
3 nights in Warsaw
3 nights in Wroclaw
Then Wroclaw to Prague?
Using trains and then Flix to Prague.

We will be in Prague for about a month cat sitting :) Then we will rent a car for 3 weeks and go to Slovakia and Slovenia, we could go via Krakow then or is that just a daft idea? We are doing a kinda loop and ending back in Prague before flying to London to visit family.

Thanks to both of you :)

We just did Rick Steves Poland Tour. Krakow is a beautiful city and would stay 4 nights. After tour we took a day trip to Auschwitz. Toruń was very touristy-many gingerbread stores. Could have skipped that town.

It is not my kind of holiday, too much moving around and too little time to savor each destination. But to each their own, in the minimum I would not do 1 night stops. especially back to back. Add a night to Poznan and Torun each. I think you will kick yourself, once you are on the ground in Poland and see how much there is to do and see in terms of sights and day trips in each city, especially if you have flexibility to add more days.

Even Poznan, which is B tier compared to other places you are seeing, still has great sites and day trips, like to Biskupin (Bronze Age fortified settlement) and Gniezno (the first capital of Poland).

Here's a roughly 3 week "Best of Poland" itinerary I put together in the past, just to give an idea for what I'd consider appropriate time for the main cities of Poland:

-Warsaw (3 nights)

-Torun (2 nights)

-Gdansk (4 nights) - day trip to Malbork Castle

-Gniezno "Birthplace of Poland" (2 nights) - day trip to the Iron Age settlement of Biskupin

-Wroclaw (3 nights): - day trip to the Church of Peace in Świdnica

-Kraków (5 nights): - day trip to Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains

It's trips like this when one starts to lament the passing of Air Berlin and the Berlin to Gdansk flights for €50.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of

• Gdansk
• Poznan
• Wroclaw
• Krakow (Auschwitz-Birkenau)

as for Torun and Warsaw, meh.
.
More on what makes Poznan a significant stop in Polish history:

https://www.inyourpocket.com/poznan/cracking-the-enigma-code-poznans-wwii-codebreakers_71221f

https://www.inyourpocket.com/poznan/the-1956-uprising-in-poznan_73837f

https://www.inyourpocket.com/poznan/citadel-park-in-poznan_73832f

FYI not sure if this fits in with your plans but a few weeks ago I saw on DW a article on a "Culture train" from from Berlin to Wroclaw. Might be interesting to look in to - https://www.dw.com/en/polandberlin-cooperate-to-boost-culture/a-64288376

I should also mention that April is very unpredictable in terms of weather in Poland. I was in Poland this last April and ran into rain and even snow on some days. Giving yourself only a full day or two in each city increases the probability that bad weather can ruin your sightseeing timetable.

I cannot conceive of going to Poland and skipping Krakow. It is a beautiful, charming city and there are so many things to see there. I spent five nights there, which gave me plenty of time to go to Auschwitz and the salt mine. If you are not interested in either of those (and I thought the salt mine was just so so), you could shorten your trip to 3 nights, but 4 is better. Gdansk was my second favorite stop; another beautiful and historic city. We spent three nights and could have easily added another. This included a trip to Malbork Castle. I only spent two nights in Warsaw. Perhaps I didn't give it enough time, but I didn't fall in love with it, although the old town is nice. But you get a much better old town experience in Krakow and Gdansk. I enjoyed Wroclaw, Torun and Poznan in that order, but they would be secondary priorities for me. If you can give Poland more time, I don't think you would regret it.

Thanks everyone a lot of great help :)

I can change and leave the US a week later if people think the weather is too bad in the middle of April (?) which would get us to Berlin on 18 April then spend 4 days there before heading into Poland.

Poznan for 2 nights
1 night in Torun or skip it?
3 nights in Gdansk
3 in Warsaw
3 in Krakow
3 in Wroclaw
Then to Prague

We are not planning to skip Krakow. The plan is to go to Prague for 3 to 4 weeks to be with friends, then rent a car for 2 or 3 weeks and drive to Krakow then onto Slovakia and Slovenia before heading back to Prague to drop off the car.

Can't decide if it would be better to do Warsaw and Krakow and Wroclaw by train or do Krakow on the road trip, any thoughts on that?

Thanks again. I really appreciate you all helping out.

If you can manage to give Krakow 4 nights on the road trip, then I say skip it in this portion of your trip and give Gdansk and Warsaw each at least one more night.

I don’t know what that does to the portion of your trip after Prague and cat sitting.,

I 100% agree with TexasTravelmom

Also try to leave later in April as you can, it should improve your chances for better weather but again there's no guarantee that time of year.

I think your trip is shaping up well :)

Thanks everyone. The new update :)

Berlin for 4 nights

Flixbus Berlin to Torun 6 hrs 30 mims $35
OR
Train to Gdansk but 75 euros and 5 hours 30 mins

Two nights in Torun
4 nights in Gdansk
Train to Warsaw
3 nights nights there and train to Wroclaw
3 nights in Wroclaw

Flix bus to Prague

Depending on transit switch the first stop to 4 nights in Gdansk, then two nights in Torun

We are still planning to do road trip and hit Krakow later with a car, BUT we could also add 4 days to Krakow after Warsaw and then Wroclaw and Prague.

Travelmum and Carlos, what about that? Always appreciate the feedback :)

I would try to start in Gdansk and then proceed to Torun, to minimize backtracking. Other than that I think your itinerary is fine :)

Thanks Carlos, much appreciated :)

I took FlixBus from Wrocław to Prague in 2018. Much of it was a very pretty drive through the countryside. I enjoyed that from my front row "Panoramic View" seat. If those front seats are available, it costs just a few euros more, as an add-on to your ticket. I found tickets and add-ons to be more expensive to purchase in dollars than euros or any other currency I checked.

One downside of the front row seats is that you won't have space under a seat in front of you to put a small bag, but I had plenty of foot space and lots of overhead space for small bags that didn't go under the bus in the luggage compartment.

Our bus made the briefest of mid-way rest stops. The driver didn't speak much/any English, and we didn't know how long we'd be there. We were all too afraid of being left behind to walk away from the bus. You might want to have a translation available for "How long will we be here at the bus stop?"