I am going to Poland starting around September 17 for about two weeks. The main cities I am going to, not including, side trips, are Krakow, Warsaw, and Gdansk. In what order should I go to these cities, keeping in mind if it will be getting colder, is it best to start with the furthest city in the north, Gdansk?
Bruce
IMO they're not that far apart that it makes a difference. I would base the direction on where you are coming from and where you are going to from there.
I visited Poland in the first two weeks of September 2009 and I didn´t really noticed a difference between Krakow and Gdansk, well anyway not that it would be to my opinion a concern where to start. The weather was still pleasant for the time of the year.
The main reason for going north to south is that you'll have saved the best for last ...the beautiful city of Krakow.
Krakow is beautiful. IMHO Gdansk is no less beautiful. To say truth I was surprised by beauty of Gdansk. To me it seems even more beautiful than Krakow.
I was there this May and since I planned to end up in Prague and could fly direct from Warsaw but not Krakow, I started with Krakow, then took the train to Warsaw with a day trip to Gdansk, then a short, cheap flight on LOT to Prague. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about Poland, spent 4 days each in Krakow and Warsaw and felt that it was a decent amount of time to see the important things and wander a bit, though more time would have been great, too. I liked both equally, hard to pick a favorite. Poland seemed full of European tourists and that was much preferable to the American glut in Prague. You can see the highlights in Gdansk in a full day but there's quite a lot more in the surrounding area--I definitely plan to return. I posted a trip report if you want more detail and glowing words about the beauty of Poland and the lovely, kind people there.
Hi,
I would suggest going to Gdansk after seeing Warsaw, spend at least three full days in Gdansk to get a good overview. After spending four full days there, I wish I had had another day to add to my stay in Gdansk, a very interesting place historically, geographically too.
We were in Poland around the same time of year (mid to end of September) a few years ago. The weather was very nice the whole time, and I didn't notice a big difference in temperatures between the north and the south.
We flew into Warsaw and spent a couple of days there, then went up to Gdansk and made our way back down to Krakow. It worked very well that way, but I can't say that it would have been any different if we would have gone the other direction.
When you are in Krakow, be sure to take a side trip to Zakopane. It's a beautiful mountain town.
I hope you enjoy Poland as much as we did. We will actually be going back this October and can't wait!
