Hub for visiting Poland: Warsaw, Krakow, & Wroclaw

Have you worked with Google maps to determine the distance between these towns? Poland is big and these cities are not that close. I get that your stay is short and you don't want to move around a lot, but you will spend a lot of time going back and forth. Are you thinking about using the train? Do you fly in and out of Warsaw or??

We are still in the planning stages. So not sure yet where in Poland we will arrive. But likely Warsaw. We are leaning towards train travel once we are there. I did use google maps and there some centrally located towns that seem like they would be a good location but I hoping someone has been to that area and can recommend a nice town? I’ve been to many small towns in Europe. Some are great, others are not best to be used as a hub. I would like for our hub to worthy destination in itself. Czestochowa might be a good place. But I have never been there. Seems like there are some interesting sites there but I also read it has more souvenir stands than cafes. I like culture and history, not the typical tourist traps.

Agree with jules that this is not really practical. With only 5 days, I would choose 2 of the 3 and stay there. Which two depends on what you want to see.

I spent a night in Czestochowa and, while it wasn’t bad, it’s certainly not somewhere I would choose to spend 5 nights over your other options.

Edit: you were writing while I was. Poland is big. Train times between these cities will eat into your sightseeing time massively. You are right that small towns can often be better than cities. But with these 3 destinations in mind, it’s not really practical to do day trips and expect to see much. If you want to skip those and see smaller places, there are plenty of interesting options. A car would be useful in this case.

I briefly looked at Lodz. At best, you'd spend 3 hours on the train each day to visit your 3 cities.

IMO, the most efficient way to visit these cities is to pack very light, and overnight in each city. Still with five days, you are traveling more than you'd be sightseeing. I liked Warsaw, but I liked every other town I visited in Poland more. Still, my suggestion would be to restrict your Poland stay to Warsaw and Krakow.

Google maps is an incredibly helpful tool for trip planning. I just used it to map the restaurants I'm interested in for London.

I have been to Poland five times and am going to five places for three weeks this month. Three cities is way too many in five days. Spend three in Krakow, take the fast Express train to Warsaw and leave from there. Hopefully, like me, you'll want to return to see more including Wroclaw. I'm finishing a book on traveling to Poland and will publish it in October or November.

I have been to Krakow five times and am spending five days in late September seeing just Krakow with one day trip to Zawoja to revisit my husband's ancestral village.

We are still in the planning stages.

Then why limit your stay to five days? You could easily spend five days in Krakow if you were to include Auschwitz. If you only have five days, then I agree that two locations should be the max. If you really want to see Wroclaw, then consider it plus Krakow. Much may depend upon where you're arriving from and where you're off to next. In terms of a "hub," Gdansk may offer more possibilities for day trips.

I suppose your decision should be based on your interests. Krakow has WWII history, fantastic museums, and great sites and food. Warsaw was almost totally rebuilt so many buildings aren't the original. They have the tremendous story of the Warsaw Uprising and POLIN, one of my favorite museums ever. Gdansk is like Copenhagen and enjoyable with the best WWII museum in the world, IMHO. You can also visit Malbork, the largest brick castle in Europe. Wroclaw has so much to offer and several wonderful day trips to castles, monasteries, etc.

We base a lot of our Poland trips on family history and visit the villages and ethnographic museums. That adds another layer to planning.

I leave for Poland in a couple of weeks. 5 days in Warsaw, 2 nights in Poznan before a stop in Wroclaw for 6 days and ending in Krakow 5 days. Recommendation: watch a lot of youtube videos, check out guidebooks from the library and narrow it down to a max of 2 cities. Even maybe 1. If you are flying transatlantic, one day is maybe getting over jet lag on the day you land, then that same day making your way to your designated city, so that might leave 4 days on the ground and then you still have to get back to Warsaw (probably) to fly home!

Thanks everyone for the tips, insights, and suggestions. Very much appreciated.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/four-cities-in-poland-2019

In your shoes, I would just do one city with day trips to nearby places. Read the guidebooks to see which city interests you the most. Krakow and Wroclaw both can fill 5 days and allow day trip options. So can Gdansk.