Camping in Poland - are there any laws?

I have just looked at flights again and i can fly from London to Gdansk for £37.77 so i may do it that way and spend a day and night in both Sopot/Hel area and Slupsk then head across to Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw then Krakow and fly home from Krakow - is this a bit ambitious for my first visit or do you think its do-able in 8 days, I will be walking most of the way?

I would say take the train and its easily do-able, they are quite cheap. I have heard that hitching is better in Poland than other Eu countries too.

I would only go to Warsawa if you have to, just because its a big city and will be more expensive.
If you are travelling by yourself you are bound to meet people on your travels ( best bit about travelling by yourself ). If you can learn a few words in Polish they will go a long way.


Are you in London ?
If not have a look at Centralwings who fly out of E'burgh or Wizz Air and Ryanair who fly out of Pestwick. They should have prices to match.

No i am in Dundee and found the following prices.

Centralwings (EDI to Gdansk) £77.99 - No return flights on 17th
Wizzair (PWK to Gdansk) £81.29 - No return flights on 17th
Ryanair (EDI to Gdansk) £81.02 - £54.19 return 17th

skyscanner.net (London to Gdansk) - flying with Ryanair £37.77

Will keep searching for flights though - Bussing between places might be the best idea when i am in Poland - thanks

Sep 21, 09, 19:13 - Thread attached on merging:
Wild camping in Poland

Hi,

i'm an english guy(early 40's)who now lives between Poland and London,with a view to someday living here on a permanent basis.

I was wondering if there are any clubs or perhaps anyone interested in wildcamping trips perhaps at the Tatra or Karkonosze mountains(or anywhere i guess).Dont know any expats here in Poland so i am wondering if there is anyone here interested in hiking like myself.

Regards

not much wild camping but you ought to look into joining PTTK.

Wildcamping is pretty much prohibited, particularly in Tatra and Karkonosze.

with PTTK and maybe other clubs, one has a bit more "freedom". they also reciprocate other national club memberships.. like UK geographic society.. or whatever it's called.

Well thankyou kindly for the replies..........

Perhaps then i should seek to pitch my tent on designated sites only.
However i am used to pitching my tent just before dark in forests and moving on at first light.........i cant really see the harm in that but i have to respect the law.I expect the consequences would be rather harsh too.

Thankyou.

harsh and the harm is that the polish "wilderness" is just overloaded with people.

In Tatras you cannot say about wilderness at all...
Those are the most crowded mountains in Europe...
Karkonosze as welll...
Both are National Parks, and you cannot camp there or even walk outside of the tracks...

Camping in Poland outside of the designed sites is forbidden but of course if somebody catches you... That somebody means forest ranger (which can end with a ticket) or the owner of the land (which can end OK if he is friendly, or otherwise you can have hay forks in your back...)...

I've be camping for a few times during canoe trips just one night at one location in less touristic areas and it was OK...

If you want to visit more wild not crowded areas I would recommend you northern Poland -especially after (September) or before (June) season. You can choose Drawskie Lakeland (between Drawso and Szczecinek or south towards Drawski NP - our PF colleague Wildlover lives there), Tucholskie Forests (between Chojnice, Bytów, Kościerzyna, Czersk), Eastern Mazury (Ełk, Olecko, Gołdap) or Suwalszczyzna (esp. near Augustów or Sejny - north of Suwałki landscape is nicer but it is densely populated area).

Regards

Lukasz

except as a member of PTTK as i said before.

and mazury isn't a bad idea neither is the SE of PL. very empty, really.

Bieszczady are awesome... less people...
just be aware of....



:)

Camping in Poland outside of the designed sites is forbidden but of course if somebody catches you... That somebody means forest ranger (which can end with a ticket)

By that you mean a payable fine Lukasz............how much?

Perhaps i could trek along the Baltic coast then,i imagine there must be legal campsites along the way,such as in Soport,Mielno etc etc.

But i thank you.

As I remember forest service most often will fine you with 50 or 100 PLN (I've been fined twice for entering a forest road with a car which is sometimes tricky because the roads are often not described ant it is hard to guess if it is a poor public road or a good forest road - the only difference is the owner of the road)...

My friends did a biking trip along the coast some time ago and they were just camping on the beach...
In the forests you can sometimes find free (or very cheap - 10 PLN per night - if they have facilities as running water) camping sites (you can get maps where they are marked).

Just to give a positive example my other friends have this August travelled by car through Central Europe through Czech Rep. Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria for a month and spend most of their nights just in a tent by car parked somewhere in the forest...

They had just one "accident" in Czech Rep. where they were woken in the morning by shots and it turned out that they camped at military training area (they were searching for a place to camp after dark and they missed the signs...)...

Regards

£ukasz

You have been very helpful Lukasz thankyou.
Perhaps now i will walk the coast,pitch the tent on the beach and maybe use a few camping sites so i can use the facilities.

If i have no problems.........i might consider a little wild camping in the forests and take my chances.
Thankyou anyway.

Anyone else had any experiences of wild camping here,or any others into wild camping/hiking who would'nt mind me tagging along.......let me know.

Regards.

I do indeed live in the Drawsko area , just inside the national park.....you are quite welcome to come and camp on my land if you wish....

Here we go JockScot try this site you may find it useful.

camperpark.pl/main.php?lang=en&country=1&type=1

Although directed at motorhomes tents are aloud in all sites.

Just returned from a motorhome trip to the south-east, close to 4,000 miles round trip in one month.Motor homes are a good way to get around but not many around in Poland.

I had no problems with wild camping although camping in the forests are not recommended because there are a few nutters with guns and knives around.

Only used a oficial campsite once just to charge the batteries and catch up with some laundry. The thing to remember is if you don't feel it's safe don't do it.