When we decided to go traveling in Eastern Europe, we searched Skyscanner for the cheapest flight. The result was Gdańsk, a destination we’d never heard of. A look at the map showed us it’s in northern Poland, a tourist city on the Baltic Sea. From there we set off on a route across Poland with a short hop toSlovakia.
Overall route: Gdańsk -> Elbląg -> Olsztyn -> Warsaw -> Zakopane -> HRABUSICE -> ZDAIR -> Krakow.
Gdańsk
We flew to Gdańsk on a direct LOT flight.
It was a very comfortable flight on a spacious, pleasant plane. Most of the people on our flight weren’t Israelis.
We’d booked an apartment in advance, Kawalerka Nad Morzem, through BOOKING and told them we’d arrive late.
We took a taxi from the airport straight to the hotel (60 złoty), and when we reached the apartment we discovered it had been double-booked, with no other apartments free, and we were stuck at 3:00 a.m. in a non-central part of Gdańsk with no taxis on the street. A great way to start the trip. With the help of the couple in the apartment we found another hotel a 5-minute walk away, so we moved there.
The hotel’s name: VILLA RAMZES: price 240 złoty a night, including a very basic breakfast.
A nice hotel, not far from the center and very close to the beaches.
In the morning we went out and bought a day pass for city transport for 13 złoty per person. We took a tram to the train station, and from there walked to the old town and the marina. We took the tram back toward the hotel and from there walked along the beach in Brzeźno Park. Then a downpour started that lasted all night, so we stayed in to rest at the hotel. At the time of year we were there the days were very long: sunrise around 4 and sunset around 21:30.
The next day we ordered a taxi to the airport, where we rented a car.
We booked the car in advance and so saved ourselves the hassle of comparing prices and looking for a reliable rental agency during the trip. We booked our accommodation through Booking.com. The car cost 750 ILS (about 190 euros) for 10 days, picking it up in Gdańsk and returning it in Krakow. There was also a charge for permission to take the car out of the country (we planned to visit Slovakia too). An excess waiver turned out much cheaper through our insurance company back home.
Elbląg
From the airport we drove toward Malbork Castle. We parked on the main street in the town center, within walking distance of the castle. At the entrance there’s a rustic bar with beers, spirits and local food. The castle is beautiful and set on a really pretty river. Entry to the castle was 8 złoty.
We took a stroll around the town center, a narrow street with restaurants. We had lunch at a restaurant called BAZILIA. The pizza took half an hour to arrive (and the restaurant wasn’t busy), but it was excellent.
From Malbork we drove to the city of Elbląg, where we’d booked a room in advance at a complex called 61 CAMPING NR through Booking.com. A really beautiful place on the riverbank.
Also at the complex: You can get a pedal boat to paddle on the river at no extra charge, and there’s a table tennis table and a table football table.
We went for a walk in Elbląg and were pleasantly surprised by the city. The city center, a 10-minute walk from the campsite complex, is really beautiful.
The next day we started driving to the town of Olsztyn. The road was really beautiful, with lots of lakes left and right. We stopped for photos at a spot on a fairly large lake called Jezioro Isąg.
In Olsztyn we’d booked a room in an apartment on the lake through Booking.com, with a balcony over the lake. The area is full of mosquitoes, so if you’re sensitive, I recommend bringing insect repellent.
We looked for somewhere in the area to shop to top up our gear.
We went through two shopping centers: Galeria Dekada (a very small center) and Aura Centrum, a medium-sized mall with some of the well-known chains.
We stopped for dinner at a local restaurant, gasstroSfera, where we tasted pierogi for the first time. The food was excellent, but it was hard to communicate with the staff because none of them spoke a word of English. In the morning we drove to the lake and rented a pedal boat for 20 złoty an hour.
In the whole of northern Poland we hardly came across any Israeli tourists (we met exactly one group, at Malbork Castle). Most of the tourists in the area were older people or families with young kids.
Warsaw
After that we set off on the drive toward Warsaw. The drive took 3 hours on toll roads. In Warsaw we’d booked through BOOKING an apartment in the city center on Smolna Street, an excellent location, for three nights. Link to the apartment on Booking.com.
In the evening we went to the casino at the Marriott hotel. Most of the people there were Israelis, the service wasn’t very pleasant and there was a limited range of machines. After that we continued to a dance bar, mostly with locals and Polish and English music, called mita-disco; I knew it frommy previous time in Warsaw, when we went to the branch near the hotel Novotel, a small place but with a really good atmosphere. Opposite the dance bar there’s a pub that’s part of a Polish chain called PIWP with beers and shots for 4.3 złoty and dishes for 8.6 złoty.
The next morning we woke up to a sunny day, so we packed a bag and decided to go for a picnic on the banks of the Vistula River (there’s a swimming beach near the science museum). We spread out a blanket, sat down and started eating, until in a second crazy winds, heavy rain and cold started. All the people on the beach hid under the bridge, and we waited for the weather to calm down. When it calmed down we went into the Copernicus Science Centre but discovered they’d stopped letting people in because there were too many (come prepared for this, because I understood it’s fairly common there). From there a trip to the mall Galeria Wileńska, which in my opinion is more relevant than the Złote Tarasy mall in the city center. You can find the mall’s stores on its website: https://www.galeriawilenska.pl.
In the evening we went to a pub near the apartment called FLOW. There was a 2+1 deal on all cocktails, so we decided to get a little drunk. The place has 3 floors (smoking is allowed only on the top floor). It was a rainy evening too, so after the pub we went back to the apartment.
The next morning we drove to a Decathlon store to buy gear for Europe’s rains. The store was huge and we spent about 4 hours there. In the evening we went to the HIT casino, part of a casino chain, where you get a free drink at the entrance. The place is small and full of cigarette smoke. After that we moved to the nearby branch of Pijalnia Wódki i Piwa for a drink.
We made friends with a Polish couple and decided to go out with them to a club called Level 27, because it’s on the 27th floor of a high-rise. The club is a 5-minute walk from the Marriott. There’s a 20-złoty entry fee. Drinks aren’t expensive. Overall a small club with an amazing view.
Zakopane:
The next day we set off to sleep off the hangover and start driving to southern Poland, to the town of Zakopane at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. In winter it’s a great place for skiing, and in summer a great starting point for the Tatras.
According to Waze the drive should have taken 5 hours, but it actually took us 9 hours with stops to stretch our legs along the way.
Our main stop was at a reserve we saw on the way called Zalew Sulejowski, a forest on the shore of a lake with several paths. A really beautiful, romantic place. We walked alone in the forest and along the lakeshore (on the other side of the lake there were lots of boats and people).
In Zakopane we booked a night at a hostel in the town center:hostel Stara Polana. A wooden house, a really cool place, clean, with a warm welcome. Afterwards we went for a walk on the pedestrian street and enjoyed Polish food from the stalls along the street.
The Five Lakes Trail in Poland
The next day we set off on the Five Lakes trail. We drove half an hour from town to the Palenica Białczańska parking lot: parking cost 25 złoty for the whole day. Entry to the reserve cost another 5 złoty per person.
There are stalls along the roads on the way selling maps of the reserve. We walked the red trail, a gentle climb on an asphalt road for about 20 minutes. A little after an information hut there was a fork onto a green trail. The green trail was a two-hour climb on stone steps until we reached an amazing lake with a mountain hut. We stopped at the hut and treated ourselves to tomato soup, a Polish dish of grilled cheese and pancakes for dessert (all this cost us 25 złoty).
From the hut we continued on the blue-marked trail, and on the way there was another beautiful lake. After the lake we continued on the blue trail. At the end of the blue trail there was a fork with the red trail, and we continued on the red trail to Morskie Oko lake. Next to the lake there’s a mountain hut, so we stopped for a really tasty dinner. From the hut, the way back to the parking lot was about a two-hour walk on an asphalt road. A really beautiful, long route (23 kilometers of ups and downs).
Slovakia
The next day we set off toward Slovakia, in the evening, to the village of Hrabušice, from where we planned to hike the trail known as the Slovak Paradise. But because my husband injured his knee on the trail in Poland, we didn’t do it. In the village we’d booked a room at a guesthouse through Booking.com. When we arrived there was nobody there, and when we tried calling the phone number posted there, the woman didn’t speak a word of English. After waiting an hour at the entrance, one of the other guests arrived and helped us settle in. There are two restaurants in the village, and in the evening we sat in one of them for dinner with a Slovak couple who had come to hike in the area. They showed us photos of the trail and broke our hearts.
In the morning we drove to the town of Poprad to run errands. We bought an O2 SIM for 10 euros (5 for the SIM and 5 for data and calls) and had breakfast at a place called ALFA CAFE for 9.5 euros. From there we drove to Belianska Cave, where parking at the entrance cost 3.5 euros. After a tough 20-minute climb from the parking lot to the entrance, we discovered the next tour was in another half hour, so we decided to skip it (tours leave every hour on the hour, and you can’t enter the cave without a tour). From there we drove to the town of Starý Smokovec, parked in the center and walked to the “cable car” (at least that’s what they call it), which is actually like a carriage that climbs up the side of a mountain. It cost 18 euros per couple, round trip. At the top, where the “cable car” arrives, there are several trails. We did a short one to waterfalls called the Obrovský vodopád. An easy trail suitable for families.
After that we drove to the village of Ždiar, where we’d booked a night in an apartment, and because we really loved the apartment and the hosts, we stayed another night. In the evening we sat with the apartment’s owners for dinner at a restaurant near the apartment, Penzion Ždiaranka. We drank several kinds of Tatratea (a well-known local liqueur with a high alcohol content).
The next day we discovered it was a Slovak public holiday (July 5), so all the supermarkets were closed (even in the big cities). Only restaurants and cafés were open. We decided to drive to a park near the village called Bachledka, which has a mountain coaster, an open chairlift, walking trails and bike trails. I highly recommend going to the park. We bought a ticket including a chairlift ride up and down and 3 rides on the mountain coaster for 30 euros per couple. We spent a few hours at the park and then went back to the village and invited the apartment owner and his family for shakshuka.
Krakow
The next morning we drove toward Krakow. We’d booked an apartment in advance through Booking.com, and it’s really recommended: Apartament Gragus. It’s at the entrance to the old town, its owner is really lovely, and we also gained a lesson about the Jews of Poland (he’s half Jewish, so he told us about it).
Krakow is a very young, beautiful city full of attractions. As soon as we reached the old town we saw an ad for a free stand-up comedy show in English, so we decided to go, at a pub called LOST BAR. A very nice show by a Canadian and an Australian. 2 beers and popcorn cost us 28 złoty. The old town has several branches of Pijalnia Wódki i Piwa. We had dinner at a restaurant called HOUSE BEER. In the morning we discovered we’d happened to arrive in Krakow during a street art festival, so there were lots of street performances. We spent the whole day wandering the different streets of the old town. We made a quick trip to Krakow airport to return the car. The train back from the airport to the city center cost 18 złoty (you can pay for the train on board). The train station in the city center has a huge shopping complex, so we wandered around it a bit.
In the evening we went out for another round of pubs in the old town (there are so many that you need several days to get through them all). By chance we discovered a really cool bar called SZOTOTO that specializes in cool, flaming shots. I really recommend stopping by; there are also deals on trays of shots. From there we moved to a place called Huki Muki, which also has shots and beers at very cheap prices.
The next day we wandered the streets of the Jewish quarter and continued walking along the river. In the evening we asked the apartment owner (who was also a taxi driver) to drop us at the bus station, because we had a bus from there to Hungary. He came to pick us up and took us to an excellent pizzeria called PIZZA DADDYS NAPOLETANA. He told us his life story and about the expulsion of his Jewish father from Poland in 1968. Then he dropped us at the bus station. A lovely, incredibly interesting man.
General tips for Poland and Slovakia:
- As for the food in Poland and Slovakia, the vegetarian food in Poland was excellent for our taste; in Slovakia the food was less good (most of their food has meat).
- We were in Poland in July and the days were very long: sunrise from 4:00 a.m. and sunset only starting at 21:00.
- I had an Israeli roaming SIM and had good reception in Poland (the package didn’t include Slovakia).
- In Warsaw it’s forbidden to drink alcohol in the street: the fine is 100 złoty.
Happy travels,
Shir-Yam
