Driving to Poland from England - any tips?

If you have a choice, better enter Poland via Goerlitz/Zgorzelec (A4 from there straight to Wroclaw). You can go back A4->A18 via Frankfurt->Berlin because A18 is ok in that direction.

No , its not such a nightmare if you break the journey up a bit for the sake of the kids....

Are you planning doing the trip in one go , or stopping overnight some place...??

I drove several times from Leeds to near Drawsko pomorskie , so a very similar route to the one you will take no doubt....

The distance is about 800 miles to where you are going , at a guess , so its a long trip for children i suppose....

When i was doing it on my own , i would do it in one hit , i would get off the ferry in Rotterdam at 8am in the morning , and a steady run , not crawling , but not thrashing the nuts off anything would see me in Drawsko about midnight , thats with a few stops on the way , and a bit of a kip if i got tired...

When i was leading a convoy of Landrovers carry aid to the same area , i was aware that not everyone can drive such distances , so we stopped overnight in the German city of Celle , i can recommend the silver sands camp site on the outskirts ( silbersands ) This is about half distance to where you are going , so should give you and the kids a break.....

When i did the journey i used the E30 , which runs all the way from Rotterdam to Szczecin , but probably you want to aim a bit further south in Poland....

Have a safe journey... watch out for the Polish drivers.....some of em are raving mad....

Think about the following:

From Huddersfield to Wroclaw is about 1.650km (just over 1.000 miles) and it will take you about 18 hours or so. Calculate the fuel ... about 1l/12km let's say. So that is about 280l of fuel or about 450 euro (that's only the travel to and from Wroclaw).

Now ... from Huddersfield to Doncaster is about 55km. Return tickets for you, your wife and your kids from Doncaster directly to Wroclaw is about 260 euros and takes 2 hours and 10 minutes (see wizzair.com). And they fly three times a week. Book at least 6 weeks in advance.

Now consider renting a car in Wroclaw (for example express.pl). A decent car sets you back 25 euros a day, and about 15 euros to have it delivered at the airport and another 15 to have it picked back up at the airport.

Do the maths. And look at the time and effort you safe. And this time and effort is worth some extra bob as well, isn't it - your time is also money. I hope you see what I mean ... ;).

Stu:

its not about getting there quickly, its about the journey.
having an adventure.

i have only driven there and back once and flown there about 6 times.
i would drive there anytime over flying.

its soooo much fun and and easy really.

have you ever driven there Stu?

If you decide to drive and you take the boat to Rotterdam, there is a place in Holland your kids will really enjoy ( all kids do) its called efteling.com

and is about 80 Klm away from Rotterdam,the trip from Efteling to Wroclaw is straightforward, so you are not adding much journey time. Efteling is the dutch equivalent of eurodisney and half the price, its a great day out for a family.

Only about 16 times. And 6 times to Warsaw, twice to Suwalki, twice to Wisla, twice to Bydgosczc and once to Poznan.

Next Wednesday will be my 17th time. And the Sunday after that the 18th. With a van to take some of my stuff to Wroclaw.

But other than that ... neh ... not really ;)

On Monday I fly. Like I've done about 40 times before. Not counting 12 times to Wwa.

So I guess you could say for someone living in NL, I am a seasoned PL-traveller. And I'd rather fly. No matter which road I take (Hannover - Berlin - Wroclaw or Dortmund - Kassel - Leipzig - Dresden - Wroclaw), I find it boring.

But everyone has his preferences, I am sure.

Stu:

awesome, just they way you posted first, you didnt say you had done the drive or not.
what do you drive there?
how long does it normally take you?

i prefer to drive at night first thing, as in i will sleep the in the day before i set off
and then drive from calais from about 1am so i get to ustron for 5 or 6pm

i do use a satnav, i go via hannover and berlin as thats what my satnav takes me.

Ive done the drive UK- PL about 8 times.

The best advice i could give you with that, is if youre looking for a hotel never stop at the motorway Hotels, they are expensive, boring and generally horrible places to stay, nor large cities they are expensive, complicated to find and usually add hours to the journey. When im looking for a place to stay i try to find a German city of a population of around 20,000 - 50,000 then pull of the Autobhan there and every single time ive found a lovely cheap 3 starish Hotel right on the outskirts of the town. Service is always great and usually there is a traditional German restaurant connected to the hotel in some way.

Its the perfect rest for tired drivers and if you have children a must stop.

If you don't want to break a record and see it as a journey instead you can have a very nice road trip. There are lots of interesting sights close to the route which worth a stop, among them several world heritage sights. So, instead of bombing down the Autobahn add two overnight stays and enjoy a medieval town or a nice park.

If you need tips about interesting sights on your route just ask.

Make sure you have plenty of cash for the traffic cops.

From Calais to Ustron via Berlin? Are you sure? What kind of SatNav do you have? I just calculated it with my TomTom Live 1005 with the latest maps and it shows me the route:

- Amiens
- Reims
- Metz
- Worms
- Heilbronn
- Nurnberg
- Prague
- Brno

In total 1.652km in 14 hours 35 mins.

We are talking about Ustron near Bielsko-Biala, aren't we?


It depends on what the rental company gives me. Usually I have a Skoda Octavia 1.6TDI, Kia Cee'd 1.6 CRDI or Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDI.


My normal route (Geldermalsen - Wroclaw) is 951km. My fastest with only filling up the car and relieving myself (eating and drinking while driving) is 6 hrs 53 mins. That's an average of about 140km/h, which is pretty fast. In that case you use the floor of the car as cruise control. My fastest to Wwa was 9 hrs 52 mins, but that cost me PLN 500 just outside Lodz and another EUR 120 just before Berlin.

My slowest was 17 hours+: 6 hours from NL until the border with Poland, then 11 hours to Wojciechowice (nr. Kłodzko), including having to dig myself out of the snow 5km from "the finish", and my windscreen washer freezing up so having to drive virtually blind. It was on December 27th last year.

all busses that go from the UK to Poland through Calais use the Belgium, Holland, Hannover, Berlin route (it is Autobahn 3 in Germany IIRC) - even if you are travelling on your own it is better cause there are less countries involved - you can communicate in English in most Belgium and Holland and if you know some German you can well be at home there

Well, for my route there are only three countries involved, aren't there? F, D, and CZ. The bus goes through 4 (F, B, NL, D).

But I guess communication might be a little easier, although you don't have to talk much when filling up your car.

The route the bus takes, is about 75km more, so it's not that bad.

You can also take the Amiens, Namur, Liege, Cologne, Dortmund, Kassel, Leipzig, Dresden, Wroclaw route. F, B and D to travel through and not so much traffic as on the Hannover - Berlin route (1.650km as well).

We have to drive from england to Tarnow in poland, we have never done it before and having looked at a few different websites they are all showing different routes to get there, can anyone advise which is the best route to take - Also does anyone know anything about Tarnow what kind of place is it. Thanks in advance

Here is some info about the place , but maybe somebody who lives there can give you a better idea....

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarn%C3%B3w

Where are you crossing the border into Poland...?

This will make a difference as to what is the best route...

Make sure you enter Poland on the A4, that means driving across Germany Via Dresden, Leipzig, if you come in on the northern motorway the A3 you'll have some hairy non motorway driving in PL to get down South. If you come in on the A4 you'll have motorway all the way to Krakow.

Thanks for the replys, we have no idea where we will be crossing the border into poland, we will go through the chunnel to calais and after that its all new to us, one site suggested we go via berlin but looking on google maps that doesnt seem the best/quickest route to me.

Avoid the Ruhr area, Frankfurt and the route Hannover-Berlin, which can be quite stressful.

shale shifter, the route to Kraków given by Wroclaw Boy is perfect. Then you -- after (SIGH!) passing Kraków -- should continue eastwards on E40 via Bochnia to Tarnów. The road directions show also Rzeszów as next destination and Medyka - the border crossing to Ukraine. The E40 is not particularly impressive, be careful there and avoid overtaking. As far as I can remember, the traffic is heavy and the road is full of trucks.

Tarnów is not a big city by Polish standards. There is wonderful (but small) Old Town uphill, large chemical works and nothing else really exciting. I've been to Tarnów many times, so I know.

Thank you for your help, this is the route we will take.

Where in the UK are you setting off from.....?

Shale shifter, I have just used Google Maps asking for a route from Calais to Tarnów - the one described by Wroclaw Boy and me is the recommended one. If you could use a GPS and maps of Europe, your travel would be very easy.

HAVE THE CASH ON YOU. Some motorway segments in Poland are toll-ways.

Wildrover - the above was not meant to interrupt you, mate!

No worries....

We are all helping the guy...

We have a sat nav that will help us but i find that they dont always take you on the best route, thats why i asked on here, glad i did you guys are really helpful. I havent been to poland since a visit to katowice back in 1986 so dont have any zlotys (sp) how much are the toll roads - how many are there likely to be on our journey roughly? Can we get currency as soon as we get into poland or do we need some before we leave.


We are setting of from the midlands about 20 miles from birmingham. We have 2 drivers and are hopeful that we can get all the way without needing a sleep stop.

Have you considered getting the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam....

You arrive in Rotterdam 8am after a good nights sleep and a breakfast....

your next breakfast will be in Tarnow...

Hi, we did consider doing the ferry crossing but im not good on a boat lol, and 8 hours on a ferry or 35 minutes in the tunnel, i decided i would rather do the tunnel. I wish we could fly but with the equipment we need to take over with us thats not possible.

If you go from Hull , you will sail on the pride of Hull , or the pride of Rotterdam , both are very big modern ships and don,t move about much unless there is really bad weather...

they are not the usual small cross channel rustbuckets....

I used the Tunnel and it was very convenient. If I'm not wrong the whole route including Katowice is toll-free. You'll only have to pay twice on the A4 segment towards Kraków. The price depends on size of your vehicle. I do not think more than PLN50 (about 10 quids) will be charged, with a normal car it is half of it, paid in two parts. You can exchange some British pounds after entry to Poland, there are Exchange kiosks.

Its 6 PLN for cars at two toll stops, one's about 5 km's past Katowice and another just before the A4 ring road/turn off for Krakow (Chopin Airport).

Thank you, WB. Meaning 2 x 6 PLN. I have quite forgotten this exact detail.