Going to ski to Poland. Maximum snow?

Hi
I am from India, presently in South Western Russia and am wanting to visit Poland for about 4-5 days to experience skiing for the first time in my life.

I guess I would be fine.. can anyone tell me how my year-old son will cope with the winter there? Any suggestions about
(a) the best time to visit? ( i am planning end January 2009)
(b) Places to visit.. preferably cities, since I will be with my family and mountains are attractive but would they be rather too adventurous?
(c) any special precautions

Thanks in anticipation!

To be honest in case of skiing Slovakia is a better place. Polish mountains are over crowded. If you want to go to the city and just see some mountains then you may go to Kraków and go for a trip to Zakopane, which is about 2h away by train/bus. I'm not sure If the end of January is the best idea as I think It is when children have winter break but I'm not sure.

Well Grzegorz, VISA plans and applications are all in place and that does not include Slovakia .. so Poland (and Germany) are kind of finalized...:)
but as i understand on this forum, if its Poland,it can't be without Kraków.. is it?
So let me work over it!
and another thing... with knowledge of "only English" ...do you think it is safer to hunt for an "organised tour"? or u think i can manage on my own..?

You can check out my area swieradow zdroj. we are located in the south western part of the state and we have a new state of the art ski facility /gondola here. saraswatihotel.com

thanks
ranjit

Is there a way to get the website in English?
How expensive or cheap is the place?

it should be up in english also we did some work on the site last week so it was down for a bit.
you can also email me for more detailed info
thanks
I cant put the complete website address on this forum but here it is minus the www

saraswatihotel.com

yeah.. the English link worked almost immed after i posted that message..
thanks,
i am working on it.

Just to let everyone know, there is well over a metre of snow south of Krakow.
And it is about minus two, so excellent conditions for skiing but obviously travelling will be slow.

Next week they say it will get colder on the weather forecast, minus 15 at night and minus 6 or 7 during the day.

It looks really beautiful but I have to use the snow shovel, not only to find the car but also on the care before I can use the brush and scrapper.

It takes ages and you have to leave about half an hour extra for the whole procedure but I don't really mind, it is still exciting for me :)

Damn I should be living down there. Im waiting for a fresh dump up here before i get my snowboard out again. Im done with ice for the season gimme some powder.

I didnt like Slovakian resorts, i went to Tatranska Lomnica (the highest resort) recently. First and foremost the snow on the Polish side was much much better. The lifts were very overcroaded and theres hardly any decent restaurants and bars. Ill take Zakopane instead.

Ha ha ha, I spent hours this morning waiste high in powder, climbing up the ladder, in a river, cutting down branches that are lying on the electricity cabel(again) and all the snow covering me....

This is the most snow I have seen here but this is only my second winter in this place.


Ah, they might be better now? I don't know.

Let me know when/if the conditions get better in Wroclaw and I will go up.
I am assuming it is not even close to the end of the season there?, it can't be but I just want to be sure to be sure;)

I made the mistake of expecting more, after taking on Les Arcs a couple of weeks before nothing is going to compare really. The French resorts are just mind boggling.


Im only going to take the board out if we get some powder, i need to put fresh lines in untouched snow. I just gotta do it.

We had plenty of snow here last night but still not enough. Cant complain really much better than last year.

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  les Arcs - strapping in
  

Yeah, I won't have a chance to go out in these perfect conditions, blast it!.
Well I will comfort myself with the knowledge that last year I was snowboarding up untill the end of March, so plenty of time left..... I hope ha ha ha.


On this note I have learned something, your word is your honour.
All we have in this life is our honour and if you say you will do something, you must do it well.
Take care.

I can vouch that for fresh snow.. for just the right dose of "powder" .. i reached right time at the right place.. thanx Sean for your inputs...

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  Zakopane.. on 30 Jan 09
  

ha ha ha, i am glad somebody enjoyed it.

Yeah it was really perfect, i will be back in Poland soon and hopefully get some snowboarding time in.

Let me know if the conditions get better in Wroclaw, I would like to take a look out there soon.

Managed to get out yesterday and found some powder at last, small resort with a half pipe so much snow you could do what you want and if you fell no problem. Going for the big 540's this week end. Bring it..

can some tell me how to go to zakopane from warsaw? they said its better to take train from warsaw to krakow then shuttle bus. coz i check the train warsaw to zakopane and its 7hours, they said its faster by bus, but is the bus station close to the train station in krakow. please help, i am leaving soon and i just want to try to ski. this will and might be my first and last time. thank you!

Yes, you will find that in most major cities the coach and train stations are right next door to each other.

thanks! one more question, is it easy to rent and have some tutorials on skiing? can someone recommend, some advices and some contact details if available for a nice skiing for beginner and first-timer.. thanks again!

most of the larger resorts have on-site ski schools and rentals, equipment is generally quite good...

aye:
You might like to try "Nosalowy Dwor", its a great hotel and restaurant in Zakopane and right across the road from the "Nosal" ski slopes. Lessons and equiptment hire are in front of the hotel. I have used it several times, nice hotel with wonderful food, just google it.

thank you very much!

I mean of course by North Korean standards

Have you thought about trying snowboarding instead?

hmmm.. that sounds nice.. but isnt it scarier? :)

well, guys, any hotels that you recommend? the hotel that avalon recommend is fully booked... :(

Hello aye,

Here is some more information, no Hotels yet though.

polishforums.com/recommendations_zakopane-5_30691_0.html

I always use this Hotel for Zakopane: magnolia.zakopane.pl the owners name is Sebastain and he speaks perfect English. Its cheap too, or sorry was cheap. probably around 120 PLN / night now.

hi guys, thank you again to all those who helped and find time to answer my queries. i really enjoyed my time in zakopane. since that will be the first and probably the last time i can go there and try to ski, i really made the most out of it. even i got a very painful legs and some bruises, its all worth it. thank you again!

just to show you a picture of me and my ski instructor, Michal Kosek... i gave him a hard time..

hi guys, thank you again to all those who helped and find time to answer my queries. i really enjoyed my time in zakopane. since that will be the first and probably the last time i can go there and try to ski, i really made the most out of it. even i got a very painful legs and some bruises, its all worth it. thank you again!

aye .. finished his trip.. but continuing the issue of Hotels with ski slopes / instructors / equipment..
i pre-booked at "Zab".. for some reason pronounced as "Zom" ( funny... i would have understood if it was named "Zom" in the local dialect.. but reading " Z A B" and pronouncing as "Zom"???).. anyway.. the relevant input is that Hotel Redyk was really good.. English speaking staff, ski lift 50 m away.. horse-sleigh rides.. enough equipment on hire.. English speaking ski instructors (though u need to pre-book them too..) and excellent ambience overall...

trying to upload a pic taken of the Hotel, clicked from the Ski Slope..

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  Polishforums.JPG