I need some opinions on itinerary for trip to Poland and other country.

Hi, Backyard, I'm sure you will get lots of info here, but just an FYI, there is a Travel Group Zoom Meeting that will take place on Sunday, 4th and Poland is one of the topics for discussion. If you are interested, here is a link to the thread that discusses it and tells you how to sign up: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/international-travel-group-meeting-sunday-may-4-9-30am-pacific-time

Hi Backyard, I am in the final stages of planning our trip to Poland June 24 - July 29, 2025, covering Krakow, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Bydgoszcz, Torun, and Gdansk. I made a rookie mistake in booking flights before I truly decided on exactly how many days I would want to have in each city. We are slow travelers also, but even so, I am finding that I could have used an extra day or even two in a couple of cities. You've got a lot of proposed stops, so this is meant only as as a head's up. Like us, you might find it easier on you to make fewer stops (and therefore packing, moving and unpacking as often). You were wondering about how many days to spend in Warsaw. One of the cities that I find I've shortchanged is Warsaw, based more on others' views of how many days to stay there rather than figuring out how many days we would need to do everything on our list. Keep in mind, too, that if you have main things/must-sees in any city to check ahead for days they are closed (usually Monday or Tuesday for most museums). If you're only going to be somewhere for 2 days and half of what you want to see is closed on one of them, that gives you a very short window to do everything. I found it necessary to juggle the order of cities in order to accommodate our must-see list. I'd suggest you also carefully factor in day trips. For example, I'm going to visit Auschwitz and the salt mine in two separate day trips, so I added time to make sure we could see everything we wanted to see in Krakow. The added days will allow my husband to rest or check out things I'm ok with missing. You mentioned hiring a driver for some of your side trips. You might also want to consider Tours by Locals. We've engaged a guide with a car to do the JP 2 circuit. That's another option for you. Keep us in the loop as you plan. It's very helpful for anyone thinking of putting Poland on their bucket list.

Thanks for those tips Wanderlust. Everyone always says, "You can always go back." I haven't figured out Warsaw yet but thanks for the advice. I think I may have to let Poznan go or forget Bailystok. Poznan is far away from the other places I will be and there would be a lot of criss crossing around the country and it is a big country.

Backyard

You at least have a bit of time to think. :)

I also shortchanged Warsaw with only 4 nights. For some help, here’s CWsocial’s trip report with 8 nights. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/3-weeks-4-capitals-solo-in-warsaw-and-the-baltics

First, I think you are trying to book too early for an apartment. It’s more than a year away and many places may not have their calendar open yet. Keep looking aver the next couple of months.

I rented a car from Krakow and spent 2 days (1 night) tracking those old wooden churches south of Krakow. I agree that driving isn’t as easy if you aren’t used to narrow mountain roads but there is stunning scenery. Not all the churches are equal. I arrived at one somewhat large one where people were gathering for morning service, at one small one I saw because apparently someone else had coincidentally made an appointment, and at one where I could only see the outside. This is totally an area worth an overnight but I have no idea how to find a driver to arrange this.

For a different kind of trip, I used a lot of group tours through Get Your Guide (I know, a consolidator). I arranged these, but didn’t take them myself. All the various companies doing the trips were reliable. Tracking down the actual company through GYG or Viator might give you a place to begin your inquiries.

Overall, what I did (as a fellow slooow traveler) was give myself time for what I thought I wanted to see, choose my number of cities (mostly based on transportation), and then add a night to most stops. Looking back, I would have been fine with 2 nights in Torun (depending on arrival and departure times) and should have had a couple extra nights for Warsaw.

You are right - it’s a big country and there’s a lot to see. Make peace with not being able to do it all. lol.

Sounds like a very complete trip you’re planning! Based on everything you shared, you might think about starting in Germany first then going on to Poland then Slovakia. This way you’re moving smoothly without much backtracking. Something like:

Fly into Berlin

Train to Nuremberg

Train to Prague

Bus to Wrocław

Bus to Poznań or Gniezno
(Gniezno could be better, smaller, historic, quieter than Poznań, fits the "not rushed" idea)

Bus to Gdańsk

Train to Toruń

Train to Warsaw
(Side trip to Białystok/Białowieża National Park)

Train to Kraków

Train to Zakopane

Bus to Slovakia (Bratislava)

Also, if you don’t want to rent a car, on top of trains, you can use cross country buses to get around. Like Flixbus is a good option, it’s modern, inexpensive, and comfortable, nothing like Greyhound in the US. It can easily fill in any gaps where trains don’t work as well in Poland.

Hope this helps!

Thanks to everyone who responded! Carlos has made me really think because he turned the trip around for me but it does make more sense to go on his route. I guess i saw myself starting at the top and going south but then wanted to add other things as I started to read the guide books. I know this is a long trip but I can do this and add more nights in each place so I don't feel rushed. Texas Travel Mom, I already booked an apartment in Gdansk for 5 nights but that can be changed. This all kind of hinges on how badly I want to see Nurnburg or just forget it because it does add a lot of extra time to the trip. I have a bad feeling about the German trains because in 2019 one day got really messed up very badly and another day, sort of, by the German trains and I wasn't the only one on the one terrible bad day in Germany trying to get to Dresden! LOL! My feeling though is that I am paying all of this money for airfare, so why not stay a good while? I would rather see more of the Czech Republic where I have never been. I really don't mind driving a car at all. One idea I had about seeing the churches in the Lesser Poland area is to hire a Rick Steves guide to take me from Krakow for a day to see the churches. This might be my splurge. I did that when I was in Lake Bled and wanted to see the Julian Alps and it was worth every penny for the long day that Tina, one of Rick's Tour Guides, spent with me. I have driven all over the U.S. and in Germany so I could rent a car but a guide may know more about which ones to see what will be open and the best places to go. Thanks Wanderlust about the advice to not to go too many places and pack and unpack but my idea is to stay more nights in each place. Thanks to CW Social for that comprehensive list of places in Warsaw. Very helpful and fun! I wrote them all down! There is so much to see there as you said. I realize that I need to spend more days there if I I can just figure out the tram system!! I will be furiously reading the guide books now as I have had other obligations and can now focus on this trip. My only hitch is to figure out Bialystock or maybe just forget it. I need to research train times and bus times. I used Flixbus in Croatia and it was great! Thanks to all!

Backyard

Wanderlust,
What is the JP2 circuit?

My feeling though is that I am paying all of this money for airfare, so why not stay a good while?

My thought also!