Planning a trip to Poland - Krakow, Auschwitz, Zakopane and other places - winter, Christmas

Hello, everyone. This is my first time posting but I'm just looking for help.

My boyfriend and I are planning a trip during winter vacation and we decided on Poland. My family is Polish, but I'm American and once they immigrated it was not passed on, so I'm really interested in it. He's not Polish btw; he's Japanese. Anyway, we chose Poland and I was just looking for any advice, recommendations, or any other kind of help that can be given.

I haven't decided on any specifics, but the dates for the trip are Dec 27th - January 6th, so a total of 11 days. The main places we are definitely planning to go are:

Krakow (Stare Miasto old town, marketplace, Wieliczka Salt Mines, Wawel Castle, etc.)
Auschwitz-birkenau
Zakopane + Tatra mountains

They're all very close to each other so it's not too terrible for us. However, there are other places we'd like to go but seem very out of the way, such as:

Gdansk (heard it was good but it's all the way up north), Wroclaw (want to go for the Christmas marketplace but it seems it usually ends on Dec 22, so we won't make it in time), Torun (again, farther north, but I would like to go for some historical sites and gingerbread specialties as I love gingerbread), Poznan (heard the architecture was nice), and of course Warsaw.

If anyone can give me any ideas of which itinerary ideas would be better (skipping Torun and Gdansk because there's nothing there; skipping Wroclaw because we won't make the Christmas marketplace, etc), please let me know.

I'm also VERY confused about the trains and buses. Which companies are good to use, booking online vs. at the counter, etc. I've heard they're good, but when I use sites to search departures from Krakow to Zakopane, for example, I get no results (no service). Also, the buses and trains seem very expensive (700-1700PLN) just for a two hour ride. Also, do trains and buses close around New Years/Christmas holidays? I would hate to book hotels in a different city and be stuck. If anyone could explain them, thank you.

Sorry it's a bit long, but thank you in advance!

Ultimately it is up to you, but all of the places you have mentioned involve quite long journeys from Kraków and I feel that to visit them all will be far too tight a schedule.

Kraków to Gdańsk is at least a 6 hr car journey, by train or bus it will probably take longer. If you decide to go, you might be better off flying.

There is plenty to see in Gdańsk and I would allow at least 2/3 days, especially if you want to visit Malbork castle ( about an hour away and well worth a visit ), Gdynia and Sopot.

Gdańsk to Toruń is about 2 hours away by train.
I really liked Toruń and you can see everything in a day to be honest. Copernicus museum was good, and there is also a gingerbread museum. If you use the search function on this forum, you will find lots of information on all the cities you have mentioned.

Toruń to Poznań is another couple of hours away by train. There are some very pretty buildings in the Rynek, and I would also see Ostrów Tumski, Citadel Park with it's cemetery ( WW1 and WW2 graves of Polish and British soldiers and museum).

Basically if you go to Gdańsk, you could quite easily incorporate these 2 cities into your trip.

Kraków to Wrocław is about a 3 hr trip. It's a very pretty city and one of my favourites. Kraków to Warsaw is about 2.5 hrs away by train, lots to do, although the city is quite spread out.

How much time do you plan to allocate to staying in Kraków? There is loads to see and if you are also going to Auschwitz and the salt mines, I think you would need at least 4 days without feeling too rushed, although others here may disagree with this.

Zakopane can be seen in a day, although you might want to stay longer if you plan on sightseeing in the general area. It is quite commercial ( lots of shops in traditional wooden style ), but I really enjoyed my visit. One thing to note though is the weather. If it is raining or cloudy, you won't get to see the Tatra's. I went a couple months ago, and couldn't see anything of the mountains at all :-(

If you are lucky and you have a clear day, there is a cable car trip you can take which goes up to the highest point of the Tatras. The starting point for this is not in the town centre though.


I have no idea which sites you have been looking at, but those prices are ridiculous. Train and bus travel in Poland is very cheap, e.g Kraków to Zakopane by bus is about a 2 hr trip and costs 15 PLN per person.

Here is the website for trains:-

rozklad-pkp.pl/en

On this site I don't think you can search too far in advance ( just tried putting dates in for when you are will be there ), and I got no results too.

Website for buses :-

en.e-podroznik.pl/public/index.do

It would be worthwhile checking both sites for any trips you make. Quite often the buses are a lot faster than the trains.
I have no idea if services will be affected due to New Year etc, but check the time tables.

In Kraków, both the train and bus stations are next to each other, about a 5 minute walk from the old town and next to a huge mall, Galeria Krakowska.

Hope some of this helps.

Remember also that many places will be closed for the Christmas holidays and most people spend Christmases at home.
Also a lot of people go to Zakopane for New Year - so trains/buses/everything will be booked up.

It's ok that you are confused, Polish people also get confused with this. It even happens that for example someone boards a wrong train than the one for which he has a ticket (although going to the same town), and gets a fine... Be careful with such things.

The proper website for booking long-distance trains (TLK, IC, EIC and EIP train types) is intercity.pl You make a reservation and just print out your ticket. Even better is to make a booking at the counter, but you have no such a possibility as you are abroad (unless through an intermediary agency, but I don't think it's worth that, they will charge you for the service). You can make a booking max. a month in advance. Sometimes shorter if the schedules are gonna change (and it may be so in your case, there is a big train schedule change in the whole Europe at the beginning of December every year).

Normally if you want to use 2 trains (or more) with a transfer between them (it works also for longer, few-hour, breaks, but if you go there and back to the same station, you need at least two tickets), you can buy a single ticket for the whole route (only in some cases it's better to buy separate tickets due to special offers) - but it doesn't work online. Anyway, it's likely it's better for you to buy tickets online in advance, even if you have to change between two trains (although you must buy separate tickets then), but it depends on the specific case. Also buy them in advance if you want to travel in the rush time (for example just before or just after Christmas), because otherwise you may get no seat (the best is to avoid travelling by train in such a time at all, they are just full and crowded then). And the ticket prices aren't high anyway, so it will probably have no such a meaning for you.

For local trains (Regio and "osobowy") you don't have to make any bookings, because the price is constant regardless of whether you buy the ticket a month before or just before boarding the train. Just be at the station a few minutes before to buy the ticket (sometimes there are queues). Check what a company operates the train you want to take, and look for its sign on the counters, as it happens that not all the counters sell the tickets for trains of all the companies! If there is no open ticket counter, no ticket counter at all, or no ticket counter sells the tickets for the train you want to take, then you can buy the ticket from the railway officer (conductor) on the train, but you must go to him immediately once you board the train (he is usually near the first entrance to the train from its front and you should use this entrance in such a case). It works also for the long-distance trains, except for EIP.

By the way, you can almost always (except for the EIP) buy a ticket on the train once you board it, and the price is the same as at the counter, but if there is an open ticket counter at the station, they will charge you a service fee of something like 5 to 10 PLN.

TLK and IC, as well as the local trains, are very cheap (especially if you buy the ticket early in case of TLK/IC). EIC and EIP have more "western-European" prices, unless you manage to catch a ticket from a special offer (buying it early in advance). The difference between TLK and IC is that IC have better quality. Between EIC and EIP - EIC are standard trains (of high quality though), EIP - high speed trains, they are not much faster than EIC though. In all the trains, except for the local ones, you can choose between the class 1 and class 2, where the class 1 is more expensive but gives more comfort (there is usually less people, and there is more space for the passenger around a seat). A ticket for the class 1 might be a good option especially when you want to travel in the rush time.

The situation with the buses is a bit different since there is really many different companies (on the contrary to the trains, where there are 2 major ones and the others operating almost only locally). There are two possible schemes of buying tickets, depending on the company:

1) the price is constant and you buy the ticket from the driver once you board the bus (sometimes, but not always, you can also do this at the counter at the bus terminal)

2) the price depends on the time when you buy the ticket and you can buy it only online

The first scheme was the basic one, used almost everywhere in Poland (it has been used by the state company from the communist times - PKS - which has been divided into small companies and privatised, as well as adopted by the new small local bus companies emerging on the market), until a Scottish company came to Poland with the style (2), having a lot of success with it. Then the companies, using the scheme (1) until then, started to offer tickets according to the scheme (2), and also that Scottish company (called PolskiBus, so that people may think it's Polish) started to sell tickets at the counters, but not always at the main ticket counters of the bus terminals (sometimes in travel agencies and in other weird places), and for prices higher than online. Now these systems are quite mixed up, and you will find bus companies offering the tickets according to a one style to some extent and according to the other style to some extent.

As a rule of thumb:
- if a company has "PKS" in its name, it will sell tickets according to the style (1), but many of them offer also cheaper tickets to buy online in advance, they usually sell them through the website e-podroznik.pl

- for the buses of the "PolskiBus" company (sometimes it may appear as "Souter Holding"), buy the tickets online
- for all the other companies you must always check it (the websites of the bus companies are often Polish-only, but Google Translate may help), but usually it is the same as for those with "PKS" in their name

You will probably want to take a bus between Kraków and Zakopane, since buses are much faster on this route and they have much a better offer. The main company is Szwagropol. You can buy the ticket from the driver or online on the company website; by buying it on the website you can just be sure that the bus will take you in case it's full. But it shouldn't be a problem since the buses from Kraków to Zakopane are very frequent, and when not Szwagropol, then there are also buses which go through Kraków to Zakopane from the towns around the whole Poland, and you can also use them without any problem.

It's also different for the city buses. For them (as well for the trams, trolleybuses and for the Warsaw subway) you must buy the tickets before boarding the vehicle - either in a ticket vending machine (but not all the cities have them on many stops), or they are also sold by newspaper and small grocery shops. They usually work in such a way that they are valid for some time (for example 20 minutes or 60 minutes; they usually also offer tickets valid for 24 hours) after validating the ticket in a special device on the bus/tram/trolleybus or at the subway gates, which prints the current date, time and vehicle symbol on it (in some cases it may encode it on a magnetic strip as well). Within this time you can change between different vehicles however many times you want, you can also go there and back. Sometimes there might be also tickets for a single ride available, and they work in an exactly the same way with buying and validating them.

As someone has already mentioned, you can also take a plane, which might be good especially between the most remote places like from Kraków to Gdańsk. A company called Ryanair offers cheap flights (although you pay extra if you want to take something more than hand luggage). You may also have a look at the Lot, the Polish national flight operator - although they are more expensive.

Most of the buses don't work on the both Christmas days and on the New Year day, they also reduce their service on the Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve (especially in the evening). It's not so bad in case of the trains though, many of them work also on these days. Also the city public transport will reduce its operation, it will probably work like on Sundays.

Wowwee! That's some trip. Personally, I'd leave Auschwitz aka Oświęcim OFF the itinerary, as such will require certainly a liberal allowance of time to digest adequately (especially for a gentile), and therefore likely cannot be "sandwiched" in the rest of what looks to be a rather full agenda:-)

From surely what promises to be the most beautiful city in Poland to what augures to become the most nightmarishly awful visit on the heels of Cracowian nightlife, much less on to the great resort Zakopane,would seem to me at least a trifle jarring. How do you think you can do justice and respect to each of these places at the same time?

Something to consider.

You have a tough itinerary there!

11 days is relatively ambitious unless you are the kind of person that is keen to get up and go every morning though. I think you would struggle to fit in any other cities as well!

Also as someone else suggested the prices you've been quoted for the trains and buses are insane, whatever website you saw those on, don't go near it, a private taxi from Kraków to Zakopane is only 400zl for example!

One thing to remember is that although the Tatras (and Kraków) looks great in the snow, in can make travelling around difficult. Poland tends to cope with snow far better than we do here in the UK, but of course sometimes the traffic can get really bad (actually on the Kraków - Zakopane route it's just always busy at that time of year regardless of the weather).

Talking about snow, the first days with a big snowfall during the winter are always bad (especially exactly the first day), but then, after it, everything works without any problem, regardless of how much snow falls. OK, maybe during actual snowfalls the traffic is a bit slower and more jammed, but definitely not so much as on the first days.

And noone knows why it is so. Every year it happens, every year the media say that the winter surprised the road maintenance service. And it looks like noone learns with that. Maybe it's also a fault of the drivers, who don't exchange the tyres to the winter type on time, but I don't believe in that.

Wow, everyone has been SO helpful here. Thank you so very much! The info on the transportation system given is amazing!!

As for the packed schedule, I wasn't actually planning on going to all those places. Just pulling together ideas for what we can do. I've noticed on my vacations (they are always 10-11 days long) that after about the 8 day mark I start to slow down and spend more time in the hotel. But I am a very up and going right-when-my-eyes-open type of person. If I open my eyes at 4 am, I'm out the door by at least 4:30 am (after washing and breakfast of course). I've travelled a lot and I can definitely squeeze stuff together well.

I'm thinking of this so far (not set in stone)

Dec 27 - nothing, just find the hotel and sleep (flight may arrive late)
Dec 28 - go to Zakopane; see mounatins, etc. (return to Krakow at end of day; if we feel like staying in Zakopane we will) (trying to get to Zakopane before New Years)

Dec 29 - Salt mines (if open), and more Krakow if possible
Dec 30 - Auschwitz (if possible this time of year)
Dec 31 - spend in Krakow for new years and see Krakow (Stare Miasto old town, marketplace, Wawel castle)
Jan 1 - Fly out to Gdansk from Krakow early morning, find hotel, then see Gdansk
Jan 2 - Possibly more Gdansk
Jan 3 - Go to Torun, stay the night in Torun
Jan 4 - From Torun go to Warsaw early morning (possibly, depeding on our flight tickets and which airport we have to return from. Warsaw is an option).

Jan 5 - See Warsaw (if staying)
Jan 6 - Return home and cry lol

So it's practically:
Dec 27 - Arrive Krakow
Dec 28 - Krakow → Zakopane (may stay the night depending on accomodation and weather)
Dec 29 - Krakow → Salt mines (if open) → Krakow
Dec 30 - Krakow → Auschwitz (if open) → Krakow
Dec 31 - Krakow
Jan 1 - Krakow → Gdansk (if flights are available NY day)
Jan 2 - Gdansk
Jan 3 - Gdansk → Torun
Jan 4 - Torun (or possibly Gdansk) → Warsaw
Jan 5 - Warsaw
Jan 6 - Warsaw → Leave

How does this look so far? I'm trying to work the museums and services around New Year's since I figured the salt mines and Auschwitz won't be open around that time, but we can walk around Krakow during New Year's no problem. I know it doesn't seem like a lot of time for Warsaw (1.5 days) but we may or may not leave Gdansk early.

Thank you so much!! The only problem I think I have left is figuring out how to get from the airport to the hotels. I'm sure I can look it up or there will be a bus service. Thank you!

Like you will be very busy! You are not allowing much time in Gdańsk or Warsaw, but you can probably get to see the main sights, although I think you will be a bit rushed trying to see everything.

New Year's Day everything will be closed I think which is when you arrive in Gdańsk.


They are both open all year round with the exception of Xmas and New Year's Day. They both close early throughout the winter though.

Here are their opening times:-

auschwitz.org/en/visiting/opening-hours/

wieliczka-saltmine.com/visiting/the-mysteries-of-the-wieliczka-mine/visitor-s-guide/opening-hours


Your best bet is by train. There is a skywalk connecting the airport terminal with the train station. The trains run every 30 mins between 4 am and 11 pm and cost 8 PLN per person. The trip takes just under 20 minutes. You don't mention where you are staying but the train will take you to the main train station which is very close to the old town.

Tickets can be bought inside the terminal, and from the driver but you will have to pay cash on the train.

Buses will be cheaper but take longer due to traffic depending on what time you arrive.
Bus stops are to the right when you leave the airport terminal.
Bus number 292 runs every 20 minutes, and 208, once an hour. There is also a night bus, number 902, which starts running hourly at about 23.20. The buses will also stop at the main bus station very close to the old town.

If you have to take a taxi it will cost you about 70 - 90 PLN, although you may get charged more for an evening trip.

As regards the Zakopane trip, I would be inclined to book online transport tickets. Although this is a popular route and many buses travel between it, Xmas might mean that those routes are very busy indeed and you wouldn't want to find all the buses are full and booked up.

I reiterate, Auschwitz is hopefully NOT merely some museum aka (G-D forbid) "sightseeing" stop for a few gruesome photo ops and then back in the bus type deal:-)

How someone can visit a Concentration Camp site, call it day and then move on to the next spot, is slightly beyond me, that's all I can say!

Perhaps because I'm Jewish and from the US (although mother-tongue fluent in German!), when I went to Munich, I saved my visit to Dachau for the tail end of the the trip. I couldn't have stomached it otherwise, and I didn't even view the gas chambers.

It's a museum in the classical sense: to educate.

And yes, I agree it is not a place to visit lightly; a day there is a life changing experience.

True, jon. A sort of "living" museum, I'll certainly grant you as much:-)

I HAVE heard from a Polish-Jewish survivor friend of Austrian birth however, whose father got his two children Polish "passport" papers as well as other necessary documents after the War, that the town of Oświęcim itself is actually quite charming and inviting on the surface, if one tries to forget the fact that not far from the outskirts are the infamous camps, Lager I and II of Auschwitz-Birkenau!

Apparently, the townspeople, though only too aware of their hamlet's reputation overshadowed by the War, were not at all anti-semtic towards my friend, a spry octegenarian, when she visited Oświęcim in the late '90's, surprisingly enough.

I doubt many people would look upon Auschwitz like that Lyzko, and I doubt the OP's decision to go has been taken lightly, but if she wants to visit on her trip to Poland, then she has to fit it in somewhere. She says she may not be flying back out of Kraków and therefore can't visit toward the end of her trip as you did with Dachau.

I went back in 2008 and set aside a day to go. I will never forget it that's for sure, it was very upsetting and many people there were in tears. Although I knew a fair bit about the place before i went, I learned an awful lot more from the fantastic guide who showed us around.

It is important that the holocaust is never forgotten, and a trip to Auschwitz serves as a reminder of this.
I am sure this will be in the OP's thoughts too.

Let's hope the same together, Chemikiem! Perhaps my posts were indeed precipitous:-)

Out of curiosity, why not get the high speed train from Kraków to Warsaw, stay there for a few days then get the same high speed train onto Gdansk?

I've only ever been on the old slow train, but I'm lead to believe the new one is pretty good, sub 3 hours for each leg of the journey.

Also, Zakopane and back on Dec 28th is impossible unless you plan to stay on the bus and go straight back, the journey time could easily be 3 hours plus at that time of year, do you really want to spend 6 hours on a round trip?

Personally I'm a fan of Zakopane and the Tatras and given the time of year I'd be tempted to give up on going up higher than Warsaw to spend a bit more time sightseeing / going out and less time travelling.

That said there's nothing wrong with the Northern Cities, I'm merely only suggesting to skip them because you are pressed for time, if you don't mind the travel then go for it!

Leaving early enough it shouldn't be a problem. Like you leave, let's say, at 9:00, you are at 12:00 in Zakopane, and at the evening you return to Kraków.

Sounds a bit of a marathon

If it's a "scheduled" trip, it sure does:-)

Me, I traveled throughout Europe at my own pace. Then again, I was limited by my own financial resources, plus, my eurail pass at the time gently restricted travel through at that time "hostile" territory aka Communist countries.

Well, one's only twenty-five once!

True, but as Jon357 says it's a lot of travel for just spending a few hours there!

Also I'd say at that time of year, whilst unlikely, over 3 hours each way isn't unheard of, I wouldn't attempt it, I know that much!

Depends on how much you want to see the place I guess. I don't think it's that bad, I did a similar trip in terms of travelling time to go to Toruń for the day.

Guess much will depend on whether there is snow and if the roads are extra busy with holiday traffic. The trip is normally just over 2 hours by bus.

The OP could still spend the best part of a day there.

Merged:

Going to Krakow for Christmas!

This will be my third time in Poland!, last time I was in Krakow as well but only for one day, now I'm going to stay from the 24th morning, till the 28th evening, so almost 5 full days.

I will go with my wife, any suggestions for Christmas dinner?

I plan to do a couple of walking tours in Krakow, go to the Salt Mines of Wieliczka, Go a full day to Zakopane and Tatry, and also planning to visit Auschwitz.

Anything else that I might do while in Krakow?

Krakow, I've heard, has a wonderful Christmas fair, not too different from those throughout much of Northern Europe, such as Munich, Vienna, and Bremen:-)

Rather a jarring juxtaposition Auschwitz and Christmas, but, as I've observed elsewhere on PF, people here have some distorted tastes.

Have you been to Kazimierz?


On the 24th most places will shut, even restaurants. Check with your hotel in advance if they will stay open.


At Christmas?

Yeah, jon, my thoughts exactly. What's next on the evening's menu, pray? Gassed veggies?
Whole business sounds a bit dodgy to me. How about you?

I think it would out a big downer on the whole holiday season. It is not in any sense a pleasant place to visit; most people find it traumatic and emotionally draining, particularly the 'exploitation of the body' room, the gas chamber and of course Birkenau. Going there changes you.

Maybe a Valentine's trip to the killing fields of Phnom Penh instead?

Seriously, it will be bitterly cold in Malopolska in late December - best to stay in the city. Kazimierz is a good bet (and being the Jewish district there's likely to be restaurants open on Christmas Eve).

The museums and art galleries will probably have reduced opening hours - better check on their websites. At least they're indoors and have heating.

Exactly. For transition's sake, at least stay within the same holiday theme, for pity's sake:-)

If Auschwitz is the main point of an excursion to Poland, then go on from there to Majdanek or Treblinka! This adds more moral weight and dignity to the experience.

Just can't for the life of me understand folks commemorating human suffering while celebrating the birth of their Savior.

Mass at either Wawel Cathedral or the Mariacki Church on Christmas Day (not so much the midnight Mass which will be good but packed, or an early mass but the main choral one - the least 'family friendly' of the day) should have excellent music. Much nicer than gas chambers and a 7 ton pile of human hair with pigtails sticking out.

To get out of town, Tarnów is quite pleasant. It will be quiet though at that time of year. And very very cold.

Although only been to Szczecin, the other Polish city I'd consider visiting if merely from an aesthetic viewpoint, would have to be Krakow:-)

Gdansk is spectacular (I prefer it to Krakow), Warsaw is nice, so are Poznan and Lublin in the old parts.

One good thing about choosing that time of year for a visit to Krakow is that it probably won't be packed with tourists - the sheer numbers can spoil it a bit in summer. Of course the tourist infrastructure will also be quiet. There will still be places open, especially in Kazimierz.

Being Jewish, I guess Kazimierz Dolny would be particularly interesting for me. Still a Jewish presence there, I've heard.