Travel /
Driving to Zakopane from England [21]
Continental do a fantastic all weather tyre which isn't too expensive you can order them in the uk, blackcircles.com or camskill do some good deals mail order, make sure you have esp/abs etc as it makes for better snow driving, Ideally use something 4wd like an impreza, audi quattro etc, My M3 used to get stuck for a past time :) I've driven through germany all times of the year and never really bothered with winter tyres just good all weather ones. Toyo proxy t1r are good in the snow due to their V shaped tread pattern but not ideal but better than most.
If you need help with your tyres pm me the tyre siza and i'll have a look for you (the numbers on the sidewall, ie 205/40/r17)
Tyre chains are generally banned on the road between zakapane and krakow and aren't really necessary in all honesty. If you hire a car in PL or ze fazzerland it will come fitted with suitable tyres so don't worry about that.
make sure you have european breakdown cover, I use green flag and they are excellent, recovered my Audi from a french autoroute and towed it all the way back to cornwall when the gearbox spewed its guts.
Driving in Poland is very differerent to in the UK and Germany due to the fact that all other roadusers are in fact incompetent egotistical idiots who overtake in stupid places and have no regard for other motorists. Theres other threads about this on here.
Make sure you have the full compliment of totally unecessary equipment in your car including warning triangle, first aid kit, spare bulbs, Fire extinguisher and those stupid high visability vests.
Regarding the ferry Norfolklines dover to dunkirk route is the cheapest at £30 each way on a roll up basis.
hope this helps