YLU FF

Just started following this thread and must say that I'm exhausted from just reading it!!!

I've been to all of the primary sights you have on your itinerary, including Berlin, Krakow/Auschwitz, Munich/Neuschwenstein. I'm a 27 year old male with lots of energy and looking at your itin, I will tell you bluntly that what you are attempting to do is CRAZY!!!

Given your kids love for WWII history and their burning desire to go to Poland, I would recommend you focus on just two cities; Berlin and Krakow.
You can easily spend three days exploring Berlin. For WWII/Communist era history, check out Checkpoint Charlie, Topography of Horrors/Remnants of the Wall/Wall of Terror, Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachtniskirc, Jewish Museum (1/2 day). Then there is the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gates, Kreuzberg, Museum Island, Charlottenburg, Unter den Linden, Ku'dam...the list is endless.

Krakow is the only Polish city which was not destroyed during WWII. You need at least a day to explore the city. Definately check out Kazimierz, the former Jewish district. Home of over a hundred thousand Jews before the war, there are now less than a thousand. The area was a ghetto up until the fall of communism and still remains a little rough around the edges but is quickly becoming gentrified. Note that Schindlers List was largely shot in Kazimierz.

Auschwitz/Birkenau is a full day trip from Krakow. I took a bus tour which had its benefits but there were times that I would have preferred to be alone with my thoughts. It is a study in contrast, starkly beautiful yet horrific in its magnitude. It will shake you to the core and leave you an emotional wreck when you see the atrocities and sheer number of people slaughtered.

Another trip from Krakow which takes at least half a day is the Wieliczka salt mines. Absolutely beautiful. If I remember correctly, all three of these suggestions are UNESCO world heritage sights.

There you go. Two cities, two countries, more WWII history than you can ever hope to absorb. To do more will simply cost more money, leave you exhausted and shortchange everyone of the vast amount of history that these two cities have to offer.

Forget about train service between the two cities. It is 10-12 hours on the overnight train and I know LCCs serve this route...I flew EasyJet Krakow to Berlin. BTW, Krakow is still relatively cheap although prices are going up quickly. It is very interesting to see the country evolve since its introduction into the EU 3 years ago.

Danger Man

Let's just say for a moment that I would take a train or plane from either Frankfurt, Berlin or Dresden to Krakow, which carrier offers a low price and which city would give the best price? I can get a Germany only Europass for about 900 dollars and that would alleviate driving until I am down around Munich that would also eliminate parking fees at the hotels as they are steep around 40 to 50 USD. I know now I can stay free in Prague at the Hilton and just pay 27 Euro for parking, so I would not be staying in Salzburg or Munich. Now if I could just find a good fare from Berlin or Dresden on Monday to Krakow with a return to MUC cheap and p/u the car rental on TUE.

Danger Man

I cannot find an LCC that fly to KRK from Dresden or Berlin or even MUC so I must be missing something. There should be a service like Expedia for that area that includes LCC airlines. Any ideas?

Danger Man

Air Berlin does not fly to KRK.
Germanwings fly to KRK from Stuttgart on MON THU & SAT Only.
Easyjet has to connect in London. VERY EXPENSIVE
Euroflightpass is 200 per person from Brussels.
LOT is unbelievably expensive (thousands).

Danger Man

How long would it take to drive from Dresden to KRK? Train is 5 hours and 600USD round trip for the family. Plus parking the car in Dresden.

YLU FF

Germanwings also flys to KRK from Berlin and MUC as far as I can tell. Interesting that EasyJet no longer flies Berlin-KRK...although it appears they do have service from Dortmund You could also look at LH, although the odds of cheap last-minute tickets would be slim.

Although improving rapidly with the influx of billions of EU dollars, the infrastructure (ie, highways, train service, airports) in Poland is very poor compared to western Europe. Even the road from Krakow to Auschwitz is little more than a rural route and your route may on occasion be impinged by horse and cart.

If the train is 5 hours, I would say budget at at least the same drive-time, not to mention potential delays at the border. Make sure you have a security alarm...in Krakow, you will find gleaming Porsches and BMWs alongside vintage Soviet-era beaters. The nicer the car, the greater the temptation...

It is truly a beautiful city but don't forget that they are only 15 years post-communism...Rome wasn't built in a day. But for the lack of infrastructure, they are extremely well educated and some of the most friendly people you will ever meet.

Danger Man

This website ( https://www.germanwings.com/index.en.shtml ) does not offer a KRK option. Where do I find that option?

Danger Man

Would I be better off to just leave out Poland until next year and fly to Poland or some other Eastern Block country and do a two week run from say Scandinavia through the Baltics down to Romania?

rankourabu

No I second the opinion from a few posts up, focus on Berlin and Krakow. They are the most interesting cities out of the ones you mentioned.

Take the overnight train, your family can probably book a compartment just for yourselves. The ticket is ~110 Euro round trip + sleeper supplement per person. There is also an overnight bus that leaves Berlin at 23:15 for about the same price


FWIW, Easyjet pulled out from the route last year, GermanWings never flew to KRK from Berlin, Directfly did fly this route, but has recently suspended operations temporarily per its website.

YLU FF

I thought I just had this on the germanwings website...must have been imagining things. ...sounds like the train is your best option then, unless you can get something cheap on LH (highly unlikely).

Flying Lawyer

Germanwings.com shows KRK, ex Cologne (CGN) and Stuttgart (STR) into Krakow.

And you might wish to check Wizz.air (www.wizz.pl). They fly from CGN, Dortmund (DTM) and Frankfurt-Hahn into Kattowitz. Be aware: Frankfurt-Hahn is NOT the same airport as Frankfurt-International, but they have three flights a week. One way is about 400 PLN, this 100 Euro. This could be the most convenient for your purpose - If you want to start in FRA anway, Hahn is about 40 minutes out of town. Kattowitz is 70 km from Krakow and about 35 km from Auschwitz.

Directfly has a service from Krakow into Berlin starting June 4 three times a week. So you could fly ex Frankfurt-Hahn on Wizz-Air into Kattowitz, visit that city, drive to Auschwitz and return to Berlin on Directfly via Krakow. 70 km does not sound to bad, even on streets in southern Poland (and buy me a beer for advise).

rankourabu

Directfly is dead for now

Flying Lawyer

At least the service is still listed on the website of KRK:

http://www.lotnisko-balice.pl/

Would be too bad, so we only have WIZZ into Kattowitz, Germanwings and Easyjet into KRK as competitors of LOT/LH. But wouldn't you agree, Hahn to Kattowitz would do the trick for the OP?

rankourabu

"Further to the statement of 27 April 2007 posted on Direct Fly’s website, we would like to note that Direct Fly flights have been suspended temporarily and will be resumed as soon as possible."

Yeah I agree it is too bad, I have family in KRK area, and used the Easyjet service from Berlin before and Germanwings from CGN too.

If the OP is not taking the train, I would agree with the Hahn option either into Katowice on Wizz or KRK with Ryanair (although I personally wouldnt fly them) Wizz on the other hand is a class act in the LCC league

Danger Man

Wonderful prices if you can fly on Monday or Wednesday. But if you fly out on Monday you cannot come back until Wednesday. They only fly there three times a week. They are just killing me with these limited schedules.