Poland Itinerary Help!

Your itinerary sounds great and I think you've included plenty of sightseeing for the time you've allowed yourself. Some good news is that Poland is up-grading a lot of its transportation, including roads, rail, and even Warsaw airport. The possible bad news is that while there's a lot of construction, there may be some travel delays. As I write this, I believe the main runway at WAW is closed. Just keep a watch on your flights and rail schedules for possible changes.

With such a short time, save Zako for another trip Poland is such a great place.

Depedning on what your plans are in Warsaw, I could see cutting some time there to free up time for the Zakopane Mountains. If you arrived in Krakow early enough, you have the whole day and well into the night to enjoy Krakow. Krakow, Aushwitz and Zakopane are sort of a triangle with a few hours seperating each one. The drive from Krakow to Zakopane is full of wonderfull views. Biggest problem is leaving the Krakow city center with the road construction. There are plenty of nice small lodges in the town at Zakopane and fine food with inexpensive drinks. Depending on the weather, it is a great ride up to the top and you will see many people hiking back to the bottom. Zakopane is considered part of being healthy by my relatives. Breathing the mountain air is therapy with a view. I don't know if you will have a car, but a little tweaking ma allow you to fit everything in. My co workers who came from Poland several years ago prefer Krakow instead of Warsaw for visiting. Late at night there are Jazz clubs to see and enjoy into the night in the City Center. We were fortunate to have a relative drive us around during our visit. The Polish country side is very scenic and you will see a country with optimism and incredible changes from when the Communists controlled it.

Trip from Krakow to Zakoppane and back may take too much of your short time there. Zakopane, and in particular Tatry Mountains National Park are breathtaking, but belive me you will not have enough time to enjoy it. Especialy now when weather may be unpredictible. If you looking for a short side trip near Krakow try Wieliczka Salt Mine. It is much closer to Krakow, totaly diffrent experience than Zakopane of course but never the less great side trip. I see that you be traveling only by plane and train so you will not be affected by road constructions, which can currently ruin many plans, but in few years construction will be over and done and then it will be a breeze.

Yea, I agree with the above posters. Going to Zakopane will take too much time, and you won't be able to enjoy it. The main problem is that there are two ways to get to Zakopane. 1. By Car. (Highly Unrecommended) 2. By Bus. [INVALID][INVALID]- Basically, you'd take a bus from Krakow, and drive along this two lane highway up into the mountains. That could take up to 3 hours. Then you wouldn't really have much time to see Zakopane, or really experience it. (The experience comes from climbing in the mountains, and experiencing Highlander culture) I would recommend going to see Sandomiez. Sandomiez lies about halfway from Warsaw to Krakow, and it's a small yet charming medieval city. One things for sure, the only tourists you'll see there will be Polish. This is a nice little 3-4 hour stop on your way from the big cities, but it's sure to be a nice break from traveling. Most likely you'd have to take a bus from any one of these cities to get there: Kielce, Ostrow Swietokrzyski, Radom, or Rzeszow. Anyway, Have fun on your trip to Poland, I'm sure you'll love the country, as it is a fantastic tourist destination.

Please do not take any guidebook's word on train times in Poland - check the railroad's own timetables for up-to-date times. They are in the midst of renovating and modernizing, which will probably make rail travel here fabulous by 2012, but as of now, it has been the low point of our otherwise fabulous trip to Poland.

I am in Poland now (LOVING IT!!!) and have had nothing but issues with rail travel. I just tried to book the train from Krakow to Warsaw for our flight home and have found that rather than being a 2/3 hour trip, it is more like a 4/5 hour trip. This is untenable, as it would mean getting to the train station at like 5am and praying that the train is not delayed, as our train from Warsaw to Gdansk was.We will instead be flying, which winds up being about even in cost to the train, even figuring in the taxi from the hotel to the John Paul airport.

I have no other advice, but try not to fit too much in. Poland will still be there (already planning our second trip for things we missed this time) and this really is a great country with awesome people. If you like, you can check out my travelogue at http://nerdycellist.livejournal.com