Hi there.....I take it you are coming through Germany and crossing into Poland at Szczecin...If you let me know which part of Mazury you are heading for i will figure out a route for you....I should give Warsaw a miss , unless you really want to go there , the traffic and roads are a bit daunting...I am an girl who drives alot over here , and i have good maps...if i can help you i will...
Actually I will follow the highway from (near) Berlin and I go to the south of Mazury (Pisz).
Online services I consulted, and my GPS, recommend going through/by Warsaw, but they all render different durations and different average speeds for the parts of the trip starting near Mazowiecka so I'm a bit confused as to which way exactly I should take to get the shortest trip.
I did a similar drive in April. I drove from Zurich to Vilnius. I went almost to Berlin and then headed east to Warsaw and then North to Vilnius. What a trip!! The first part was easy the second part was a nightmare.
The first part (Berlin-Warsaw): There are two ways to go Berlin to Warsaw, one way is a toll road (you have to pay for it) and the other part is country road. Take the toll road. There are 4 toll payments along the way. But it was a very good and easy drive and the 4 toll payments were not very high (around 12 zloty each if I remember right). I highly recommend to take this road!
The second part (Warsaw-North): This was the difficult part of the drive. Much of it was under construction. The roads were in terrible shape and worst of all, we did it at night! I strongly recommend that when you do this part of the trip, you time it correctly so that you drive it during the early morning so that it light, but that you miss the traffic through Warsaw. I went Warsaw to Bialystock to Augustow through Suwalki. Also, at nighttime, there were VERY few petrol stations open during that stretch so make sure you stop when you can.
So, I'm back from my trip and put the story here so it may help others.
From Berlin I drove east and stopped at Poznan for a night. Next day I went on towards Warsaw, past 2 toll payments (11 zl. each) then miles before Warsawa I followed the recommendations of my GPS, left the highway and started driving north-east towards Mazury.
I can't remeber the names of the cities and villages I went through but all roads were in good state. They had been restored. The only annoyance were Lithuanian truck drivers who drive like crazy on those small roads, skipping cars in front of them, while another car is already visible coming the opposite way. Creepy.
I stayed a few days in Pisz. One day I drove to Ketrzyn (and from there to Swieta Lipka and Gierloz). So I took the road from Pisz to Ketrzyn, going through Mikolajki and Mragowo. It's a good road as well. No problem.
After my stay in Mazury I drove to Krakow. I went through Warsaw, then stopped at Kielce for lunch. Good highway ans smaller roads as well.
