We have an opportunity to visit friends who will be living near Prague..close to Germay. Immediately upon hearing this news I started thinking about a trip. We have been to Vienna, and Budapest both fabulous! So we don't need to do that again necessarily. So advise on getting around, and
places of interest in Prague,Dresdan,Poland and I have a desire to do a little cruise along the coast in the Baltic. I have checked into some cruises and St. Petersberg etc. but they pretty much ignore Poland and the other small Baltic countries. Nothing to see perhapes? Please help us out! Thanks
Posted by
Seattle, USA
990 posts
Dresden is definitely worth an overnight stay to see the reconstucted Old Town, the Zwinger Museum and grounds, and take a boat trip on the Elbe. About an hour away by train is the charming twin towns of Gorlitz/Zgorzelec on the Polish border--once the heart of Silesia and now being slowly revonated to its former glory. See it before the tour busses arrive in a few years and it's smothered to death with T shirt shops and ice cream stands.
Poland has much to recommend--Krakow is justly popular, and Wroclaw is a mini-Krakow that is much less densely touristed. We also enjoyed brief stays in Poznan, Lodz, Torun, and Gdansk. All are worth a visit as you make your way to the Baltic coast.
Posted by
OP
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
11 posts
Thank you for your suggestions. Sounds like you visited several different areas in Poland. Did you drive? How difficult is it to find places to stay out in the Polish countryside? I haven't found any info on inns or Zimmers Thanks.
Posted by
Seattle, USA
990 posts
Hi HarLyn, We didn't drive, we took trains in Central Europe. I will say that the Polish train system is not nearly as efficient as most. The train from Krakow to Wroclaw almost literally crawls--I thought we could walk faster! We also noticed that "no smoking" to some Poles seems to mean "stand by the window and flick your ashes out the window." I think the new no-smoking policy has a ways to go before it is adhered to. Still, trains are cheap and the train stations are conveniently placed in-city, and no worries over parking and navigating.
We had no problems at all finding places to stay, but then again, we stayed in reasonably sized towns and cities, so I can't speak to the availability of pensions in the countryside. You might check out the Lonely Planet guidebook for some ideas on that score. Oh, and do check out the free PDF In Your Pocket guide pamphlets for Central Europe. You can get them online, and they cover loads of places that Rick Steves doesn't. The descriptions of restaurants to avoid are hilarious!
Posted by
San Francisco
15022 posts
Hi HarLyn,
In the last decade I went to Poland three times, 2001--from Berlin to Warsaw, from Warsaw to Krakow, from Krakow to Berlin; 2003--from Berlin to Gdansk (Danzig) requiring two changes in trains, and from Gdansk to Berlin (with transfering twice); 2005--from Berlin to Torun (Thorn) with one train transfer in Poznan(Posen) and then Torun to Berlin with the same train change. While in Gdansk (in 2003) I did a day trip also by train Gdansk to Malbork (Marienburg) to see the huge castle.
I agreed that the trains seem to take forever, but to be fair they were on time and arrival at the destination was also on time. Never missed a connecting train in Poland due to the first train being late. Going by train in Poland is cheap. I definitely would go back to Poland based on my 3 times there...just have not had the time since 2005. I did all the preliminaries (buying the tickets point to point) each time in Berlin, except for the round trip ticket for the day trip Gdansk-Malbork, which was done at the Gdansk central station. When the train is pulling in, make sure you are getting off at the central/main train station. It was a bit confusing in Warsaw and Torun. Never rented a car in Poland.
AND, I would be very interested indeed in seeing Wroclaw (Breslau) and especially Pszczyna (Pless), located in Upper Silesia, south of Kattowitz. Happy Travels.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
In Poland driving is easy and effective. You can take a German rental car into Poland as long as it's not a Mercedes, Audi, BMW or Porsche. Just let Sixt.com, Europcar.com etc. know that you're going to take the car into Poland. You'd have to drop off the car in Germany though, e.g. in Rostock-Warnemünde, Rügen, Travemünde etc. for your Baltic Sea Cruise. Check www.curisepool.com (then select English flag, Destination Northern Europe (not listed under Europe for whatever reason), Baltic Sea... In Poland consider visiting Breslau/Wroclaw, then up to Kolberg on the Baltic Sea, over to Swinemünde. Do visit the islands of Usedom and Rügen!! On your way back to Prague you'll be passing Berlin, so you might want to spend a day or three there...