Best route for driving Berlin to Leszno, Krakow, Warsaw, Kaunas, and Vilnius

Welcome to this board with your first post. Have either of you been to Europe before? You don't explain why she doesn't fly to Poland. Some car companies restrict countries of use.

In most of these cities, a car is a liability. We found trains convenient and reliable. Our car and driver return to Wroclaw (From Churches of Peace) was an hour late due to stop and go traffic on a huge divided superhighway of no particular character or historic value.

Hi Tim, thanks for the reply.

Yes, I live near Dresden, and I get around easily by train here. I just figure we would have so much more freedom and independence with a rental car, wouldn't have to worry about keeping up with schedules, missing connections, or running with our luggage after a train. We relax and could start driving or stop somewhere whenever we want. Also my mom can't walk that far before her knee starts to give out. I've checked with Europcar, and they said we can rent it in Berlin and drive in Poland if we pay a 30 Euro border crossing fee. But I'm open to using the train if it looks like we won't have any significant inconveniences and my mom won't have to climb stairs with her luggage.

After posting this inquiry, I've since figured out an itinerary that would make more sense and would allow my Mom to see Dresden and where I live too. It would basically be to go from Berlin to Dresden to Wroklaw to Krakow, and after a couple of nights in Krakow, leave the car at the airport and fly to Lithuania. Then when we fly back to Krakow from Lithuania, we would drive from there to Leszno (a must stop because of family history) and then back to Berlin after 2 nights in Leszno.

I haven't been to the other two cities in your question about Lodz, but I want to make a comment that returns to the car issue.

We expected Lodz to be a post-industrial ruin, like some cities in the US, or textile mill-towns in Massachusetts. But it is not. It's a startling mix of decay and vibrant revitalization. But the biggest surprise was how thoroughly it is penetrated by trams. There were many streets with only one travel lane, and a car would have been a nightmare. We seldom had to walk very far to reach a specific location. Even the huge Jewish cemetery (limited hours) is served by (a very long trip) a good tram line. We easily got back to the rail station for a our return to Warsaw for dinner. Because our dirt-cheap train tickets were advance-discount-purchases, we decided to buy new tickets to go home an hour early.

We did not get to see the interiors, but the "owners' mansions" seemed far more impressive than Gilded Age mansions in the Eastern USA, especially those in US cities.

I enjoyed Lodz a lot in 2023. Bialystok was also a worthwhile stop. Although attractive, it has less gorgeous architecture than Lodz, but the new Sibir' museum (documenting the exiling of inconvenient people to the wilds of the USSR) is really excellent.

Thanks acraven and Tim for your further input. I wonder if we might easily park a rental car at out hotel or b&b’ in each town and then use trams to explore the towns. Thanks for the recommendation of the museum. My mom would be interested in that topic. Unfortunately we will miss Lodz and Bialystok if we decide to leave the car in Krakow for 4 days and fly to Lithuania. I don’t know if you noticed but I added an addendum at the end of my previous message to say that I was looking into this possibility of flying to Lithuania. I’m thinking now that might be better than driving from Krakow to Lithuania and back again.