Itinerary help

What airport are you flying home from?

Sorry I wasn't clear. Krakow in/out,

Since you’re flying out of Krakow visit Krakow last. When you arrive at the airport take a direct bus to Zakopane (3h).
To get from Zakopane to Gdansk take an overnight train but current schedules show there’s rail construction requiring you to take a bus from Zakopane to Krakow before boarding the train to Gdansk: https://booking.polrail.com/. If you take an overnight train rent a sleeper car for two; this way you’ll kill two birds with one stone.
While in Gdansk, take day-trips to Malbork Castle in Malbork, Gdynia and Sopot if you go during the summer for the latter. From Gdansk take a direct train to Warsaw (Warszawa 2h 30m). Wroclaw, Torun and Gniezno may be nice to visit but requires transfers if taking the train. This is never fun when hauling luggage, especially if you must climb stairs. Furthermore, you're more vulnerable to pick pockets if struggling who’ll insist on helping.
The train from Warsaw to Krakow takes 2h 15m. Auschwitz-Birkenau is a powerful day-trip from Krakow by bus (1h 30m) that drops you off and picks you up at the entrance.

My husband and I had a car when we were in Poland, so I can’t say anything about how to get around while there, but I do know that Warsaw is a huge surprise and may need at least three full days. Definitely two.
Gdańsk is wonderful and the train from Warsaw to Gdańsk is easy and not long. We did a day trip but wished we would have had at least one more entire day there. We did venture to Sopot and it is well worth a visit. We had a meal at the restaurant on the pier. Excellent.
Wroclaw was also quite a surprise. We stayed two nights but would have appreciated one more full day.

Mary Pat did give you solid travel advice. I might look at going back to Warsaw from Zakopane-maybe the biggest surprise of the trip!! Then to Gdańsk, then Wroclaw and back to Krakow.

We had no idea about Zakopane and the ski industry there. We picked it to stay for 2 nights to break up our drive from Sopron, Hungary to Krakow. It was a very nice stopover.

All of Poland was actually quite a surprise. We weren’t ready for how very modern it is and how inexpensive. We definitely enjoyed our time there and I don’t think it will matter where you decide to visit-it will be good.

Malbork is not in Torun. Torun's roughly midway between Gdansk and Warsaw.

I've been to all your potential destinations except Zakopane and Gniezno, most of them in 2018. I arrived in Lodz yesterday. I'm enjoying the Art Nouveau buildings, and there are some museums I'm looking forward to (Monday being useless for that). However, I think most folks would find Wroclaw more attractive than Lodz, so I'd definitely choose it over Lodz if it works geographically and you don't have a special interest in the former textile industry or the Jewish history in Lodz. Wroclaw might call for a somewhat longer visit, though.

Torun is about 1/3 the size of Wroclaw, and at the time of my 2018 visit, it had a lot fewer foreign tourists. You might like to have that contrast with Gdansk, Warsaw and Krakow.

As you have figured out, Poland has a lot more than 20 days' worth of attractive destinations. Your planning may be easier if you think of this as the first of two or three trips. I'd seriously consider not going as far north as Gdansk this time, beautiful though fhe rebuilt city is. A second trip could include that city, Malbork, Sopot, Bydgoszcz, Torun and Plock. And you'll probably been to return to Warsaw.

Thanks for your help. We are thinking of 10 nights distributed between Warsaw and Wroclaw. Maybe 5 nights each? or 4 in Wroclaw and 6 in Warsaw. We could also add another night in Krakow, making 5 nights there and 9 between the Warsaw and Wroclaw. I am interested in art-street art and museums and general ambiance of the place. My husband can spend many hours in museums. I'm not really that interested in looking at buildings, except I do like modern buildings. Anyway, we are generally nature loving type people but are open to exploring something different. I'm pretty sure Warsaw would offer us alot to see/do. We may need to do day trips in Wroclaw? Or walking in beautiful parks there? Just some thoughts. Thanks again for any help.

I would do 6 nights Krakow, 5 nights Wroclaw, and 4 nights Warsaw.

Wroclaw is my favorite city in Poland, it also has some great day trips. I have been there 4 times and most recently in April 2022, there are 3 reasons why it's my favorite city in Poland (in no particular order):

The Weather - it has consistently the best weather in Poland, whenever I go there its always sunny and pleasant, I believe the lower Silesia region (where Wroclaw is the capital of) has the most sunny days of any region of Poland.

Unique multi-cultural history - At various times, Wroclaw has been part of the Kingdom of Poland, Bohemia, the Habsburg Monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire, and finally back to Poland after WWII. The architectural eye candy around the old center reflects this unique history, as it incorporates a little of every country that has ruled the city - from Polish Gothic to Austrian Baroque and German Modernist. Both the local cuisine and culture reflect this multi-layered history too.

Fascinating Day trips - Outside of Wroclaw, the Silesian region is a fascinating area to travel around, full of time-warped old castles, 19th century spa towns, Prussian fortresses, giant wooden Protestant churches, and rumours of hidden Nazi gold. In and around Wroclaw there are 3 UNESCO Heritage Sites.

Every time I get back to Wroclaw I always discover something new and interesting to experience. Here is one of my trip reports (with photos) of the area - https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/vicarious-travel-poland-2017-wroclaw-silesia

Thank you all so much for your help. We head out tomorrow for our trip. We are spending the first 10 days in Zakopane area and then the next 10 in Wroclaw and Krakow, with one night in Opole. My great grandpa is from that area . We are planning on using public transportation. I put a post out for day trips out of Wroclaw. We are looking forward to our trip and thanks again.

Marie- I'm spending 11 nights in Poland in mid-October. Fly into Wroclaw for 4 nights, 3 nights with car in Silesia area (nothing confirmed yet), train to Krakow for 4 nights and fly home.

My interests seem similar to yours, so anything that you really enjoy in those areas, please post if you have time. Just like Carlos's 2017 trip report, it will be helpful for web folks for years! Especially any neat parks, I'm from the country and cities are nice to visit for the energy, but a nice quiet oasis with a book, coffee and bench, I'm in.

Thanks, Hope you have a great trip.