POLAND

Visas,Embassies & Border Crossings

When crossing the German border the German custom officers spent over two hours inspecting our passports, luggage (Vodka and cigarettes), storage compartments and under our seats.
Joan Carles Gelaberto, Spain (March 99)

You can no longer buy a visa at the Polish-Lithuanian border crossing. I had to go back to the Lithuanian consulate in Seyni and spend one more weekend in Poland.
Nico Baars (Aug 98)

It now costs DM135 to get a Polish visa in Berlin. It also costs DM120 for a Hungarian visa (same day) and DM100 to receive it the next day. It may be a good idea to get it elsewhere.
Matt Holland (July 98)

Be very careful obtaining visas at the Dresden German-Polish border. Border officials ask how much money you have in such a way that could be misconstrued as a request for an incentive on top of the visa fee. If this doesn't intimidate you, the bare room with three chairs and tiny table will. I'd recommend applying before you leave home or at a consulate/embassy along the way.
(June 98)

Be warned when transiting on trains between Poland and Lithuania passing through Belarus. Since October 1997 it's no longer possible to purchase transit visas en route. The situation is non negotiable. Quite simply, you are put back on the next train and sent back to where you've just come from. Be warned.
Claire Chowley

Zakopane is a great place for walking but in winter time, be careful. I went there in late November and as the cable car was closed for repairs to the top of Mt Kasprowy Wierch, I decided to try and walk it. The people in the tourist information centre told me this was possible, but what they did not tell me was that the trail markings are on rocks further up the trail as the trees diminish and as the rocks are under the snow the markings can not be seen. So I ended up following some one elses footprints for a little while until they ran out then tried going in what I thought was the right direction. I struggled through knee deep snow for half an hour getting no where fast and still could not see the top so turned back - feeing totally hacked off. Summertime is probably the best time to go but I'd say maybe not as picturesque.
Brian Todd, UK (Dec 98)

All Polish phone numbers have changed from six to seven digits. If you are trying to reach a six digit number, stay on the line and the new number should be given in English after the Polish.

If the six digit number you are trying to reach starts with a 1 or 2, add a 4 to the beginning. If it starts with a 3, 4, or 5 add a 6. If it starts with a 6, 7, 81, 82, 83, 84 or 85, add a 2. If it starts with an 86, 87, 88 or 89, add a 3.
Beatrice Allen, UK

In Zakopane, at ul Jagiellonska 18, not far form the station, is a heated open-air swimming pool fed by geothermal springs and including a delightful (especially on a cool late August afternoon) hot waterfall.
Richard J. Wyber, UK (Sept 98)

In general, many Museums and historic buildings are undergoing massive renovations in Krakow right now. The town halls was closed, St Mary's church filled with scaffolding and the Szolaski house closed. I expect that renovation work will cycle through many museums for a couple of years.
Daphne Gallagher (June 98)

Every single phone number in Poland is changed. Sometimes you merely have to add a number, sometimes the whole thing is different.

I should have heeded the guidebook's warning when it said the mountain refuges in the Tatras were popular. I had to spend several nights curled up in a stairwell on my sleeping pad. Every bed was full and every available square foot of floor space had someone sleeping on it.
Dave Depooter

The telephone numbers in Krakow have changed from six digits to seven digit numbers. After doing some research, it seems that 4 should be added before the six digit number.
Traci Gleason (May 98)

Since finding a clean, accessible public bathroom can sometimes be difficult, here's a hot tip! Quite by chance, I ventured in to the neater regions of the Town Hall Tower in the Krakow market square. Actually, I was looking for a way to the top, but instead followed a staircase that led down to a bar. It was almost deserted, but there was a pristine, well appointed public bathroom. Of course, there was a one zloty charge, but in this case, I considered it well worth the money. It's a great location too. An area where many tourists, obviously spend a lot of time, and might need to go.
K Dydynski - Canada (Dec 97)

Recently all Krakow telephone numbers have changed. A new number has been added to the beginning of the old number
Barbara Munih & Darja Duralija (Nov 97)

After some difficulty, we found that the best place to get camping gaz or similar bottles for campervans refilled in Poland was MINOL, ul. Jana Kazimierza 61, Warsaw. They fill any type of bottle with a propane/butane mix. All other places we tried couldn't help us as our bottles were from UK/Germany, not Russia.
Karen Walker - New Zealand (Nov 97)

Public transport tickets can be bought only in advance from kiosks, not on the vehicle. This includes the metro, although there may be a small coin-operated ticket machines at the entrance. If you so much as set foot on the escalator leading down to the platforms without a valid ticket you are liable to a fine of about US$25. There is a small notice (only in Polish) next to the ticket machine which says so.

The ticket inspectors are paid on commission, so they lurk at the foot of the escalators waiting for tourists looking for a ticket office. If you are caught, demand to see a policeman. Because they are paid on commission, they will grumble and curse, but will let you go because they don't want the hassle and delay involved and the risk of losing the fine anyway. But I don't know if this will work if you're actually on board.

Best value is a one-day tickets (from a kiosk, for Pzl4 - aobut US$1) which gives you unlimited travel in the centre on all public transport.
Jane Perry (Jan 99)

Contrary to what I expected, crossing the Lithuania/Poland border by the 7:53 Warsaw train to Kaunas was an easy, if slow, journey. The border guards were even jolly. This journey is a good way to see the Polish and Lithuanian countryside in the snow and sun because the train is almost static, but the heating is good and the journey costs under 10 pound sterling. Best advice is to buy your ticket the day before and check each timetable board at Warsaw Central(ie don't believe the first one you read). At Warsaw the destination was shown as Tallinn, however the only train at Sestokai was destination Villnuis via Kaunas with no mention of Tallinn.

In winter the train is probably the best option because my coach back from Kaunas to Warsaw crashed into a ditch in driving snow (although this came as no surprise because of our speed in such conditions - this kind of crash is apparently the norm during Polish winters. Stear clear is probably the best advice unless you are really pushed for time - the train is cheaper.
Chris Nelson, UK (Dec 98)

For cyclists,there are no trains with baggge wagons from Warsaw to Berlin or further into Germany. The only alternative is sending the bike which takes two weeks or more. Moreover, Warsaw Central Station is a shocker when it comes to friendly and efficient service at the counter. The staff at the International ticket counters and International Information don't speak English or German and, if you have a slightly more complicated problem like we did with our bikes, forget about them.
Manfred Lenzen, Australia

The Baltic Express, which runs from Tallinn to Warsaw has just been cancelled temporarily due to major repair work on the railroads. They expect to have things running sometime in the Fall.
Steve Kokker, LP author (Sept 98)

Don't get stung by the Belarus visa situation en route from Poland to Lithuania (or onwards to Estonia/Latvia.) A train leaves Warsaw and arrived at the Lithuanian border at Sestokai, where you change trains for the onward trip. A word of warning: If you've got a "Baltic Explorer" railpass, don't rely on getting it validated at Sestokai, because the train arrives/departs well after the station office has closed (if indeed there is one) and the train crews don't have a clue what the pass is (even though it is explained in all three of the Baltic languages). This can work in your favour, however - I was let on board, given a private coupe (unpaid for) and arrived in Tallinn without having got the pass validated, which gave me a few extra days free! Even then, I had to physically mime stamping the pass for the ticket clerk to understand what on earth it was.
Alec Parkin (July 98)

I was told that the Baltic Express had been discontinued with the summer schedules starting in May, because of the lack of passengers. The only train into Lithuania is now the 7.53 am train to Sestokai.

We arrived in Sestokai to find a Lithuanian train waiting across the platform, headed to Kaunas. As it was about to leave, there was no time to run to the ticket office to buy a ticket. I asked a conductor and he said to get on the train and buy the ticket there. I did this with some trepidation, having heard of problems. However, I asked another conductor, who gladly sold me a ticket to Kaunas for 10 Litu. I would recommend to travellers prepare themselves by bringing about 20 or 30 Litu with them from Poland, so they can buy an onward ticket; I wouldn't want to have to looked for a currency exchange office in Sestokai.
Bob Huber (June 98)

We were impressed at how easy and enjoyable driving cars in Poland was. The roads are generally straight and relatively uncrowded. Petrol stations have sprung up everywhere, even in the far east of the country. Virtually all seem to offer a range of unleaded petrol and many are open 24 hours. Polish signposting on main roads at least is amongst the best and clearest I've seen in Europe - and in contrast to Germany through traffic is enabled to move through quickly and easily. It is true that there are few motorways or other dual carriageways, but travelling relatively long distances was generally pleasant and unstressful.
Ian Fair (June 98)

When travelling by train through Poland, try to avoid night travel. If you travel at night never stay alone in a compartment. This especially applies to first class because they're often empty and you are easy targets for thieves even if you're not sleeping.
Jan Werbinski - Poland (Dec 97)

For rail travel within Poland, it is always cheaper to buy the ticket once there. For example : a ticket purchase in the UK for travel from Warsaw to Ostroday in Poland cost about US$45. The same ticket purchased in Poland would have cost US$9. There is also no need to make a reservation on the trains in Poland.
Piotr Romanowski (Nov 97)

Krakow is a fascinating city. Because of its large student population and the influx of language students in summer, it fairly buzzes with life. One guide said the student population now numbered over 90,000.

Lodz is definitely worth a visit, even if only to get a break from the Gothic and medieval of the other historic cities. It is interesting to note how the city has grown around the factories which brought it prosperity - and pollution; likewise in Katowice there is a coal mine seemingly in the centre of town. The pollution is being cleaned from the buildings and ul Piortrkowska is quite an elegant boulevard now with traffic restrictions from al. Marsz. Jozefa Pilsudskiego to the intersection with Traugutta-Sierpnia, allowing its transformation into a smart shopping mall with open-air cafes dotting the street. What surprises the visitor is the number of parks in and surrounding the city, giving welcome relief from the uniformity of the concrete housing estates.

Lodz has the largest forest in a metropolitan area in Europe, Las Lagiewnicki, around five kms from the city. It has a lake, recreation facilities and is popular with locals for the clean water from its springs - one tiny wooden chapel houses the pump from the spring, its twin opposite is for worship though the walls are defaced with graffiti. There is a steady stream of people carrying plastic containers of all sizes to fill with the spring water. Take tram 16 to the end of the line and follow the map.

If you don't want to walk to Ksiezy Mlyn, buses 55 and 77 pass right by the door. The complex is a perfect example of 19th century paternalism with the mansion opposite the factory which is opposite the housing estate built for the factory workers and including a school and hospital. Likewise the park adjacent to the Scheibler factory is still the venue for summer Sunday concerts by the Scheibler orchestra, principally for the factory's employees.

Mragowo is a good base for travellers to stopover in their exploration of the Masurian Lakes district. It has transport connections to Olsztyn and Warsaw, local buses to places like Swieta Lipca and is not far from Ketrzyn and the Wolf's Lair.

Torun was given world Heritage listing in June 1998.
Lee Palmer, Australia (Aug 98)

Was recently in Czestochowa and believe the Jasna Gora Monastery to be Polan's version of Graceland.
Susan Waszak (May 98)

Wielkopolski, north of Poznan is a forested area, dotted with lakes, many of which have old pre-war German "castles" or "chateaus" at places like Lubniewice, which has a chateau open in the summer as a hotel with a restaurant. Just south of that is another town between two lakes, Tagow, which has a 14th century castle built by the Knights of the Order of St John. There is also holiday (summer) accommodation available at the lakes.

Probably the most interesting sight in this area is the Miedzrecki Rejon Umocniony, a hugely fortified underground tunnel system built by the Nazis between 1934 and 1938. Today you can tour over 10 kms of this underground. There are guides who speak English, German and the price is 16 zl each (US$4) for a small group. The young guide was a mine of information and said he's only met three English people before. It is also the biggest place in Europe which is a reserve for bats. They gather in one area of the tunnels over winter and hibernate.

Gun turrets can be seen on artificial hills made by the Germans, and all the arms are connected by a central tunnel, which is more than 30 m below ground level. There is a stretch of "Dragon's Teeth", serving as anti-tank defenses. The system doesn't stretch all the way along the old Polish-German border (pre 1939 that is) because it is aided in place by natural obstacles like lakes.

Furthermore there are many other bunkers which can be visited between Katawa and Skwierzyna. They are on hills, practically hidden by trees which were not part of the countryside when the defenses were built, but they can be spotted by white and yellow markings on the trees. Many were blown up by the Red Army on their discovery of them after the war and they are abandoned, but fascinating. A Polish counter-culture/sub-culture exists/visits these tunnels from time to time and I have been told that there is a huge techno party which takes place in the main tunnel system in the summer.
Claire Weetman (Apr 98)

Anyone interested in art would find the unbelievable graffiti wall worth a visit.Located on the road where international concerts are held (Tor Wyscigow Konnych ???) it is about a mile long.
Chris Greenwood - UK (Feb 98)

The con men are getting more daring. Two "policemen" came onto my train as we left Warsaw and asked for documents. I refused to give my passport and approached the train conductor. When he appeared, both ran off. I was glad they didn't hang around because as it turns out the conductor was drunk
James Timmir, UK (Aug 98)

The church bells began to ring suddenly and a group of Polish women came out and saw me sitting there, a very forlorn and pathetic figure, I'm sure. They surrounded me speaking Polish and making clucking sounds. I kept saying "I don't understand you, I don't speak Polish", and began to cry afresh". One of the women took me by the arm and led me to a nun who took me in a car to the convent of that particular church. The nuns bought in a sister who spoke English. They fed me a huge dinner and breakfast, let me stay the night in an empty cell and took me on a guided tour of the convent and to the camp the next morning.

Then, after packing me a huge lunch, drove me to Krakow. As I went to leave them, one of the sisters gave me an icon of the Virgin and Child, a prayer card and she took me by the hand, placed a Franciscan cross over my head and said in broken English "St Francis says, in the Bible, "who so ever wears this sign, God will protect them. We pray God protects you on your journey". I was incredibly touched.
Sarah J. Noceda (Apr 99)