Poland

Been there and loved it.
People are friendly and facilities same as rest of Europe. I have not looked for or used Aires there.
 
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I’ve not been but worked with a few Poles.
They have been friendly and like us Brits.
Nice Country as well I’m told.

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Lovely place to go and visit, went to Warsaw and can recommend the walking tour of the city. Cost free but donations accepted and they are worth a good donation.

The schindler factory is well worth a visit if you want to understand the history of Poland.

We also visited Auschwitz Birkenau in the south a sobering visit.

Stick to main roads, the side roads have potholes that would break your axles. We tried it once and never again

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We live in the South of Poland, Katowice.

We have not done much touring in Poland, usually in Slowakia, but what we have done is weekends and wildcamping.

Wildcamping is easy in Poland - no restrictions(or not many) and almost no fences so just pull up where you want. There are so few MHs even in summer that nobody feels threatened. Seen almost no 'travellers' and if there were they would probably be proper Romany.

Not a lot of campsites and 'Aires' except on the Baltic coast. There is a campsite very close to us and it looks OK. So does our yard with EHU, grey drain and toilet in garage, but we are not always here.

Main roads are good as are some of minor roads but some, not all, are bit dodgy.

If MH is over 3.5t one should have a Viatoll box which works on overhead gantries and that is on many major roads - go to Viatoll website. Some motorways, e.g. A4 Wraclow - Katowice -Krakow were on a concessionary system and still have toll booths but not expensive(£3-4 for 100km), if your MH looks as though it could be under 3.5t we have never been checked.

Any other questions please just ask.

Geoff
 
Lots to see - it is a big country. Read up on the history of Poland - it will give you a much better understanding of the differences and impact of history around the country.
 
One of my plots and plans is a trip along North Germany and into Poland ... my daughter visited Krakow - Katowice - Aushchwitz - Zakopane last year with her recently ex Polish boyfriend ... photos were amazing!
 
A collegue showed me some photos of the Polish Mountains, they looked stunning too.
Will follow this thread.

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No experience in the motorhome but will be visiting Krakow, by air, soon.

Poland is on our list of must visit m/h travels so we will watch this thread with interest.
 
Mattyjwr said:
Lots to see - it is a big country. Read up on the history of Poland - it will give you a much better understanding of the differences and impact of history around the country.
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Indeed. Poland and its various bits have a very complicated history, involving Lithuania, Austrian-Hungarian Empire and then Nazi Germany, Russians and the Soviet Union.

Where we live in Slaska, which was German speaking, it is easier with older people to converse in German than English, but not Basia's Mother who was born in Belarus(then Polish), transported to Siberia for 5 years because she was not Russian, and then repatriated to the reconstructed(care of Yalta) Poland.

Churchill and Roosevelt are not liked for giving Poland to 'Uncle Joe' Stalin at Yalta. A view I can sympathise with since the British entered the war on 3rd Sept. 1939 to protect Poland. Plus, so many Poles went to England and gave their lives to fight against the Nazis.

Being an island(s) the UK has largely been protected from the to-ing and fro-ing of wars across the North European plain.

Geoff

EDIT We live not far fron Auschwitz(Oschwiem in Polish) I know enough of want went on there and I think it has been sterilised. Basia as a school teacher had to take her studendts there. Neither of us want to go there. Your choices.
 
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We spent about a month in Poland this summer in our motorhome. Loved it. The people, the places ,the history.
Some of the roads are crap though.
 
Hi.
I am watching to,read about the "White Tower Forest ? Thats where i would be heading,looking forward for tips/places to stay/see...Thanks in advance.
Tea Bag
 
It's on my list for this year's travels if I don't get deported :)

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Spent two weeks touring in summer of 2017, loved it. Will give update tomorrow as off to bed to get up in 5 hours :)
 
Been there twice over the past couple of years. Lovely country. Great food. Friendly people.
 
My fathers family are from near Katowice and I used to visit Poland annually from an early age until I was 19 when I got told that next time I set foot in the country I had to report for National Service! I haven’t been back since but my sister has and tells me that the family home which was once on the edge of a forest with countryside around is now on a busy dual carriageway near an industrial estate. Polish people with whom I grew up were a real mixture, ranging from wonderful, kind hard working and very funny folk to hard drinking gamblers but they all hated Churchill for giving their country away to the Russians. My dad, who had been conscripted into the German army during the war but surrendered to the Canadians having no wish to fight for the country that had invaded his own was not allowed back to see his mother or sister until 1962 as the Russians considered him a traitor (even though he had no choice in the matter).
 
A beautiful country, with some equally beautiful people and history. I worked there many years ago, travelling in SW Poland in a VW Campervan. Some of the minor roads were terribly potholed, others were still cobbled. It may have changed, but as stated above, please do some careful route planning, or check out road conditions on Google maps, if covered or available. Good luck!
 
Rusty Pumper said:
A beautiful country, with some equally beautiful people and history. I worked there many years ago, travelling in SW Poland in a VW Campervan. Some of the minor roads were terribly potholed, others were still cobbled. It may have changed, but as stated above, please do some careful route planning, or check out road conditions on Google maps, if covered or available. Good luck!
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Most roads in the SW we drove on were great. A couple were appaling, the worst that I have driven on in Europe.

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Guess I will be doing a tour of Poland this summer if brexit does not ruin my travels.
 
Just as a driving tip getting from Calais or Dunkirk to Poland is easy motorway driving - E40 most of way and free till you get into Poland but then not expensive. See my post above.

If you are short of time it can be done in 3 days at 65mph. I have done Canterbury to Katowice in 2 days but that was for a reason and a bit of a slog(0400 starts). If we have more time we stop a lot in Germany, Luxembourg, France.

Just avoid Antwerp ring around Rush Hour and same past Dresden can be slow. The bit of the road through Essen has some traffic lights and although one is surrounded by its emissions zone the E40 dual carriageway is exempt. It is still quite quick to transit.

Just 50km west of Polish border is a convenient Stellplatz just one Km off Autobahn at Bautzen, which is a lovely medieval town on the river. Only 4 MH designated spaces in a big CP, but just park anywhere in a double fore/aft space as it empties out when the workers have gone home.

Geoff
 
The caravan sites tend to be to a lower standard than UK , by quite a way in some cases. Charges vary quite a bit . If over 3.5 ton then Viatoll box needed, easy to pick up from various places near border , they have a website in English to explain . The box doesn't cover all tolls so you still have to pay on some roads, that the box doesn't work on . You hand the box back when you leave , and get your deposit back 120Zlty IIRC . The roads even main can be spectacularly bad, in places , but not every where . Public transport eg trams etc are quite reasonable, and frequent. It is quite a big country , with lots of distance between POI . Krakow castle not very good VFM mostly empty ! Salt mine , if you have Polish friend get them to buy tickets (cheaper)! City Motel Leipzig good stell platze (en route) Really good shopping city :) . Olympic camping Warsaw, plenty of room , easy access , and tram from very close (over road) to City , also there is a free Musical light and fountain show close by , well worth the walk :)
 
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Watching with interest as we would like to visit Ginny's fathers birthplace of Vilnius, now part of Lithuania but formally part of Poland. We were hoping to make the trip this August into early September.
 
I’ve travelled by train from Warsaw to Kaunas in Lithuania. Roads in Kaunas and infrastructure appeared generally good at the time, but I can’t vouch for rural areas. As with Poland and previous thread, do current research before travelling. Beautiful city - scenic views and architecture - and very welcoming people, in my experience. I imagine Vilnius is similar, by all accounts.

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Just to expand on tacr2man's post above.

There are some toll roads where everyone pays, but certainly on the A4 near us the Viatoll box has special lanes which save queuing at booths.. Cars also use it so presumably get a discount under the normal charge. I cannot vouch for all toll roads.

Trams and buses are free for anyone over 70 - just carry any DoB ID, e.g Driving Licence. You do not need to show it unless asked and I never have been in 7 years - maybe I look 90.

Geoff
 
We had 4 days in Krakow. Loved it to bits. Right up there with the best city visits.
Salt mines, Auchwitz, Berkenau, all close by. Zakopane mountain area, beautiful.
Great friendly people and very cultured. Will go there again.
Phil
 
The countryside south of Krakow heading for Slovakia is gorgeous, somewhat reminiscent of Scotland but on a larger scale.
 
Dave and Ginny said:
Watching with interest as we would like to visit Ginny's fathers birthplace of Vilnius, now part of Lithuania but formally part of Poland. We were hoping to make the trip this August into early September.
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Vilnius is fantastic.Kaunas too. Lithuania is beautiful.
We were there in the summer and loved it along with Poland Latvia and lesser so Estonia.
Motorhome heaven.

Full of motorhomes from all over Europe except UK
 
One area I wouldn't bother with is in the North, the area north of Gdansk up along the Baltic coast - I was there with work recently, there really is naff all there, very flat & uninteresting farmland and it's clearly economically quite depressed. Gdansk itself was worth a wander round though - heavily but sympathetically rebuilt after the Germans had done their worst. A climb up to the roof of St Mary's Church is well worth it - the biggest brick-built church in the world allegedly.

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