Does This Order Of Cities Make Sense?

Hello Andrea,

Yes, it makes sense. We've done something similar except after Budapest we visited my hometown in South-Eatstern Poland, and then to Warsaw, Krakow and Vienna. Looks like Budapest-Krakow will probably be the longest leg, but not big deal. The rest should be less than 3hrs each (are you renting a car or taking a train?). I went last year to Poland and Germany in October and weather was not bad, but I was lucky.

If you need any tips on where to stay/eat or what to see in Budapest/Warsaw/Krakow, please let me know.

Thanks, Maciej

It makes sense for Poznan being last because connections from any of your other cities in Poland (Warsaw, Gdansk and Krakow) are likely to go through there anyway.

Unfortunately, if you are going to fly from Budapest to a city in Poland, Warsaw is your easiest nonstop flight. On the main airlines, Krakow and Gdansk will be connections through Warsaw. Of course, if you fly to Warsaw, then you are backtracking on trains.

Unless Wizz Air has a non-stop from Budapest to Krakow or Gdansk .... checking ....

Wizz Air has a non-stop from Budapest to Warsaw, but doesn't seem to fly to Krakow or Gdansk
Ryan Air - flies Budapest to Warsaw Modlin (about 40km N of Warsaw center); it does not fly to Krakow or Gdansk
LOT Airlines (the Polish carrier and Star Alliance Partner) has 4+ flights per day from Budapest to Krakow, all via Warsaw

It appears you'll have to decide whether to fly Budapest through Warsaw to Krakow (backtracking by air) or fly to Warsaw and do your backtracking by train.

Or, of course, take the train

https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Budapest.htm#Budapest-Krakow

Thanks for the replies. I wasn’t expecting any since I posted this two months ago.

We will be traveling by train. We have already booked an apartment in Budapest, but I welcome any advice on the areas to stay in the Polish cities ad any specific places you recommend.

I missed this post also. 🤷🏻‍♀️ But you already have any wisdom I have for the cities I visited. :)

I stayed at Motel One Chopin in Warsaw, which is a short walk off of Nowy Swiat Street, the main street of restaurants and near the far end of the Royal Way. Along the Royal Way, about halfway to Warsaw Old Town, is the Hotel Bristol (listed as 5 stars) which puts you in the center of the evening action.

If you map the walking route from "Motel One Chopin Warsaw" to "Hotel Bristol" and "Warsaw Old Town" you'll have a good idea of the tourist "spine" of activity. But many of the key sights (POLIN Museum, Palace of Culture and Science, etc) are well off that spine, and best reached by public transit.

I seem to recall you are staying 3 or 4 nights in Warsaw. If you map your activities against those 3, above, you can decide which area to search for a hotel or apartment.

In Krakow, I recommend staying at Indigo Hotel. It's right in the center, and the interior designers should get an award for decorating. Of all the places we stayed, it was really the nicest hotel.
If it's your first time in Poland, you should see Auschwitz , but don't book anything else that day. We drove straight from there to Vienna and we stayed silent for the entire trip.
In Warsaw, we stayed in Holiday Inn - good location, reasonable price. But I'm sure there are other options as well. Royal Castle is worth visiting, as well as the area around it. Museum of Warsaw Uprising should also be visited.
In Budapest, visit Terror Museum (I don't like the name, but it's really well done museum of communist era in Hungary, very informative) and Jewish Synagogue. Also Budapest had the best food of all the cities we visited.

In general you will be surprised how nice, clean, and safe the streets are. I hope you a have great visit.

TTM, your wisdom is always appreciated.

CW and maciejka2, thank you for the recommendations.

Your itinerary is good :) You've included the best Polish cities (I'd also throw in Wrocław but I understand it may take too long).

If you would like to get to know about interesting attractions to see in these cities, check out the below guides written by a Pole who lives in and loves Poland :)
Kraków
Warsaw
Gdańsk
Poznań

Thanks Joanna88. I originally had Wroclaw on the itinerary and eliminated it and added Gdańsk. I may be able to find an extra 2 or 3 nights. Where in the list of cities would you place a visit to Wroclaw if I can make it work?

...I welcome any advice on the areas to stay in the Polish cities ad any specific places you recommend.

Are you not using the RS guidebook covering his three main cities in Poland? He lists hotels in the areas he recommends for each city.

As for Wroclaw, it is northwest of Krakow and due south of Poznan. It might be helpful to look at train schedules and see how each city pair is connected. As well as best routings to get to Germany.

Wroclaw isn't included in the RS guidebook - when I searched here on the forum, the consensus seemed to favor the Europeum Hotel. You could do a similar search for the other cities.

Hi Joanna88, nice blogs - I will use the one about Gdansk when I visit it next month! :-) Anything similar about Szczecin?