Poland trip in September - Zamosc, maybe Krakow, Gdansk, Warsaw, Wroclaw... need recommendations

My husband and I are traveling to Poland in September. We will be flying in and out of Warsaw and are planning on renting a car for the trip. We land late the night we arrive and are just staying close to the airport. At that point, I have 2 nights booked in Zamosc and that is all. I was thinking from there 3 nights in Krakow, 2 nights in Gdansk, and 1 night in Warsaw before flying out the next afternoon. I was just curious besides that common and larger attractions on this route is there anything off the beaten path that we should see? I booked 2 nights in Zamosc thinking it would be nice to enjoy a smaller city and embrace the Polish culture outside of large city centers. I just want to make sure that there is enough in the area to keep us busy for 2 days. We do enjoy nature, but are not really into hiking. Or any suggestions on can't miss areas of the country that I am overlooking? We had wanted to see Wroclaw, but upon researching hotels in the area the week we will be there they seem to be booked for some type of music festival.

Drop the idea of driving from Kraków to Gdańsk - it's a long, long way and the driving habits of Polish drivers will leave you exhausted at the end of the journey. I would rather take the time to spend 2 days in the Bieszczady region - it's close to Zamość, and it's an easy drive to Kraków after that.

Here's a link to what I would suggest you do - goo.gl/mzzwXh

Start from Zamosc at about 09:00. Drive to Przemyśł, which has a unique sloping market square and several interesting attractions. You should reach there by 11:00. Eat lunch there, and spend time exploring - 4 hours should be enough for the town. Leave by 15:00. Drive to Ustrzyki Dolne, explore for a little while (an hour should be enough!), then drive to this place - arlamow.pl/en - to stay the night. If you know Polish history, it's the place where President Lech Wałęsa was interred during martial law.

Next day, head to Ustrzyki Górne. Spend several hours there - I'd recommend walking up to the tripoint of Poland-Ukraine-Slovakia, but I can advise other walks if you want. When you're finished (say around 16:00), drive to Cisna - which is a beautiful village in the mountains in a beautiful location - it's one of my favourite Polish villages. Stay the night there.

After that, get up early and leave for about 09:00 for Kraków. Visit a town called Sanok on the way - you'll find it incredibly charming.

If you can, I would recommend changing to 1 night in Zamosc and spending an extra night in the Bieszczady region - there are other places there that are also worth seeing.

You'll appreciate this far more than Gdańsk - I can promise you that it will be worth it :)

I agree with Delph here in that you should give Gdańsk a miss, you will spend too much time travelling, and holidays are supposed to be about relaxing. It's understandable you want to see as much as you can but I feel you are trying to cram in a bit too much for a one week visit.

Zamość is a really beautiful city but very small. You can see everything in a day to be honest.
If you don't fancy Delph's suggestions about exploring the Bieszczady area, you could always have a day trip to Lublin. Yes it's another city but it really is lovely, and far nicer than Gdańsk in my opinion. It's about an hours drive from Zamość.

Yep. Gdansk is overhyped. Largely burnt to the ground by the Soviets, still a ruin 71 years after the event.

I agree with you on this. I did like Gdańsk but there are nicer Polish cities.
Having said that if the OP still decides to make the trip there, she should definitely fit in a visit to Malbork castle.

The OP doesn't like hiking Delph - and I was in that area 15 years ago - people reliably inform me that Ustryzki has been commercialised.

My message to the OP is to avoid like the plague. There is nothing on this earth worse than Polish commercialisation, with its fake Skansen restaurants and garlic butter with every plate of processed food.

The ideas about Lublin (and the salt mine) are sound as a pound:)


Yes Chemikiem - but the OP is in the wrong part of Poland for gallivanting up to Malbork. There are amazing castles everywhere in the South, and please excuse the pun, but when you've seen one pair........castles don't usually go in pairs of course.......but if the OP wanted to see Malbork they would have flown into Gdansk.

All that way to see Malbork........ They will marvel at the modernised factory in the town, at the communist blocks, at the town itself (a slum of a town today sadly after war destruction), and probably wish they hadn't made the long journey.

Gdansk and Krakow are kind of of the the same ilk, so culture vulture though they may be, the double -header doesn't make sense. If they went to Malbork, they might as well go the whole hog and visit Gdansk. And what for? As Delph says, they would be cream-knackered by excess travel. They've already seen remnants of medieval Europe in Krakow and out East (and "better", as you quite rightly intimate)..

PS. If the OP is American she might think Poland end to end is like a trip to the next County........ Here to help:)

Not if she sticks to her original plan and goes to Gdańsk, that's what I meant. Malbork is not that far away.

am from that area...there is roztocze national park not far from Zamosc..about 20 miles,town called Zwierzyniec..very nice during summer time..cool lake,you can swim and wild horses around .i love it there,but its more for picnic and water fun like swimming,kayak,ect. and forest walking thing..best in summer time.roztocze is awsome

google.co.uk/search?q=zwierzyniec&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=899&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDm9-KvMLMAhWLAMAKHYhhBf8QsAQIHg

A charming small city worth visiting could be Sandomierz between Zamość and Kraków. A voivodship capital until 1795, it retains many features of a once major city of Poland.

Should definitely not be missed when the OP visits Kraków. I thought it was amazing!

krakow-info/wielicz.htm

ahh forgot,there is some cool beer festival near Zamosc..not sure when you arrive in there,but it starts in half of May..called chmielaki in Krasnystaw,just near Zamosc..lots of drunk ppl tho...lots of free beer it use to be.

google.co.uk/search?q=krasnystaw+chmielaki&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=899&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDr7q4v8LMAhXKIcAKHR_YAaIQsAQIGw

Now we're talking :)) Cracking place.

I think that, when we are going to visit Poland, except that we look for places to visit, we should also find places, where we can go if any welth problems. When I was traveling around the Europe. Many times i needed that kind of help, so in my opinion it is also very important case. If any aby problems of that kinds, nice place to visit is this Clinic in Warsaw. The most important inportant is that, there we can find

speaking staff are multilingual
besides, here, each patient receives a personal tutor who helps at every stage of consultation or treatment. There are accepted insurance policies from around the world, and the highest quality of medical services will help everyone in a quick return to health.

Hi MegSpy! Me and my wife live in USA and earlier we've never been to Europe. However, we were planning to go to Poland cause her mother origins from Chestohova and google gave us kind of this realpoland.eu. Feedbacks were good, I'd say the price wasn't small though. Finally we call them and spent unforgettable week there visiting towns we wanted to sightsee (they made a personally fitted tour especially for us). So, I strongly advise this agency!

Cheers!

If I were you, I'd spend more time in the broadly defined area of Krakow. Krakow itself has got a nice city tourist pass that enables you to visit 40 museums and use the public transport when you're there (using a car in larger Polish cities isn't recommended, especially in the area of old towns, there's a lot of pedestrianised streets, etc.). There's, except for Wawel Castle and Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine, Schindler's factory and Krakow Underground Museum, scenic Tyniec monastery recommended for a visit. You could take a walk there, too - the route leads along the boulevards. A lot of Jewish heritage to discover in Kazimierz district of Krakow (synagogues, cemeteries, dining facilities). Krakow is close to Auschwitz Concentration Camp and Wieliczka Salt Mines, there are a lot of tour operators providing trips to both places within one day. And I think having a guide when you are in Auschwitz is rather obligatory. If you like nature, think of a short trip to Ojcow National Park, it's going to look beautiful in autumn. Zakopane is further away but has the nice peaks of Kasprowy Wierch and Giewont that you may use for your hiking activity.