Looking for help on holidaying in Poland

B0bbyEwing

I should've asked this 3 months ago when I originally had the idea!! Basically I'm looking to go to Poland next year around August / September. This will be the first time I've ever done any kind of booking like this myself. All the internal travel we've done is basically book a hotel and then train or drive & it's just basic. Any abroad travel we've done, my OH has booked it. Thing here is - I want this to be a surprise.  We've discussed it & it's somewhere she also wants to go so there's no concern of her being like - well I don't want to go.

For getting there & back I imagine it's just as basic as hopping on Google, searching some flight comparison site To/From (that's a point - what airport in Poland should I be looking at?) & then booking it.
Is there really any more to booking the flights than that that I should know about?


It's more the once in Poland that bothers me. Basically we want to tour areas related to WW2 but I'm wondering about the - where to go, how to get there & back & then once there what bothers me is like when you go to historic castles & you can either wander around yourself or you can have an audio device like one of those press 5 to hear about what you're looking at, or you can have a tour guide who takes you around & talks to you.

Just a thing on the tour guide (FWIW I don't even know if this is even an option that exists), if it's like a group of tourists walking around with the tour guide speaking to the group then that's fine. Neither of us are the most social of creatures so if it's a 1-to-1 thing like a guide & yourself then I can feel the anxiety levels rising just thinking about it. OH isn't great with it but I'm worse. Hate that kind of thing. Much prefer a group where you can blend in to the background & let the speakers do their speaking thing.

But yeah, right now I just know that I want to go there. It's the once there that I'm stumped on.

Oh and it'd be a case of get there day 1 (we prefer as early as possible to maximise the day), a full day 2 & then come back day 3.
We're already booked up for another costly break next year so don't really want to stretch this one out an extra day.

twopenny

Flights, don't just Google. Find out which airports from near you fly to which airport closest to where you want to be.
Make sure it's a direct flight.
Arrange transfer to the town your visiting , travel to your hotel.

It would have to be a very early start to arrive at your destination early. 
You have to get to the British airport, 2hrs pre travel, flight time, de board and immigration, travel to your destination/hotel and check in.

You aren't going to manage WW2 sites in one day.  Get to the hire car place, drive to one site, explore, drive to another etc.
No time to travel to a castle so you don't need to worry about that.

eskbanker

One option would be to fly to, and stay in, Krakow, and visit Auschwitz/Birkenau - guided group tours are available, including transfers to/from the city, about an hour away.

strawb_shortcake

When my friend went, she flew to Krakow from a regional airport, she stayed in an Airbnb and did not drive at all, relied on public transport or organised trips. 

She booked the Auschwitz tour the day before, I wouldn't recommend this as it was very difficult, little availability and nearly never happened. 
So plan trips early with reputable companies.

2 days does feel rushed, there's a lot to see and do, I'd certainly look into the cost difference between 2 and 3 nights and see if you can make it affordable 

Woodstok2000

If your time is limited to a couple of days,I would stick to a city. As above, Krakow is a good idea, or I would recommend Warsaw.  Not much in the way of historical buildings due to the bombing, but the actual history more than makes up for it.   The Polin and Pawiak prison museums are excellent, and the Ghetto uprising museum is unmissable. With a few sights thrown in (the Ghetto and Ghetto wall, Umschlagplatz etc) thats easily a day and a half. You can do the museums yourself and There are great group walking tours of the city. Transport is very good too, so no need for a car.

It has a castle too, rebuilt after the war, now a great art museum. 

elsien

If you can stretch to a bit longer, I’d  recommend the Jet2 city breaks. They usually have some sort of voucher  knocking money off the cost. I did Krakow last year, there was a variety of hotels depending on your budget so I just did bed and breakfast and then took food out with me. 

Hand luggage is enough for a few days, and public transport gets you from the hotel into the city. Hotel was also near a supermarket for lunches. Then any amount of budget choice in the evening for eating out. Public transport was absolutely fine, Auschwitz I did the  tour just because of the difficulty in getting there otherwise although it is possible.