Best Month To Tour Poland

Either May or early October

The first cold front of Autumn usually blows thru around the middle of September, transforming the sometimes oppressive heat and humidity of late summer into beautiful Indian Summer days that last for about 4-6 weeks, or until around the 1st of November when the winter gloom starts to set in ... perpetually overcast, cold and wet.
May wouldn't be a bad choice. It would be a little more rainy than September/October but still pretty, and with a chance to see the local flowers and trees coming back to life after a long winter in hibernation. In our experience it was noticeably more humid in May if that matters to you.

Mid-late May or mid September would be my preferred times to visit Poland.

The days will be considerably longer in May than in September.

However, Poland is a large country and the weather in the north (including Gdansk on the Baltic) can be quite a bit cooler and wetter than in Krakow. The best timing for me would depend on how much time I was spending in various parts of the country. Consider, too, whether you're the sort of traveler who focuses more on avoiding high heat or on avoiding cool, wet weather. I hate the latter and would try to reduce my odds of encountering it by avoiding both early May and late September--though it could be perfectly fine t those times. I would definitely try to arrange my itinerary so I hit the north during the theoretically-warmest part of a spring or fall trip.

I suggest taking a look at the actual, historical, day-by-day weather statistics on the website timeanddate.com. They go back about ten years. I like to check at least three years' worth of data; five would give you a more reliable idea of the range of weather you might experience.

Poland is wonderful.

I absolutely hate the heat, humidity & rain but don't mind if it's on the cool side. After our Poland tour we're stopping in Paris for 5 days so late May would be too hot for us.
Sounds like mid-September would work nicely.
Thanks all,

Jean

Hi Jean, here is a link to my travel photo album from Southern Poland in mid-September of 2017: https://photos.app.goo.gl/U1z9SUz3E9HsACw47

As you can see its mainly overcast with a few nice days of sun sprinkled in, it only rained on occasion. The temps were mild most days, but it did get quite cold and windy towards the end of September.

I love to travel in the fall and have been to Poland twice, once in September and once in October. My preference was to be there in the latter half of September. Not because of crowds or weather. I found that in October some sights and tours were changing to reduced season hours and availability. Whereas a tour that I wanted to take in Wroclaw, for example, might have been available daily in August and September, I found it was only offered weekends, or 2 or 3 times a week, in October. When I was planning, I found a big difference between September vs the first week of October.

While that's just an example, it is worthwhile to check the hours and days of the week of availability of the activities that interest you to see whether there is a significant difference between the months.

Carlos your pictures are great!

Thank you all,

Jean

P.S. I don't mind the shorter days as I love places lit up at night...

Keep in mind that weather can be a fickle things. I was in Krakow a couple of years ago in early October and it was hot, in the high 80's, low 90's and humid for the 4 days I was there. The locals did say that those temps were unusual but weather is a freaky thing now. I would still go in either September or May but check the weather forecast for where you are planning to be in Poland and just pack accordingly.

We were in Krakow the first week of Sept a few years ago. It must have a bizarre occurrence but we froze the whole time we were there, cold wind. . We only had sweaters because were traveling on to Italy next. We needed heavy jackets or coats.

We have been to Poland three times in May. The weather was generally delightful with just a few rainy occurrences. I think we will try next Sept or Oct.