I will be spending 5 days in Berlin and would like to take a day trip to Poland. Any suggestions?
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With just 5 days in Berlin I would not plan any day trip at all with the exception of Potsdam.
http://www.potsdam-tourism.com/
Another problem is that albeit the Polish border is not that far from Berlin, there are not many places close to the border which warrant a day trip at all.
Szczecin (Stettin) would be an option.
…szczecin.pl/turystyka/chapter_11882.asp
You can use the Brandenburg-Berlin Ticket for a trip to Szczecin. Covers even the trams and buses there.
www.vbbonline.de/index.php…
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My suggestion is to drop it - if you have five days, you have more than enough to see in Berlin and its vicinity.
However, you can take the train from Berlin to a town called Frankfurt an der Oder (not that famous Frankfurt, another one), and cross the border there. Most Berliners do that for shopping, as prices on the other side of the border are cheaper, and not for sightseeing.
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I would visit Poland, because you would see the other major Central European country.
If you have a rental car I recommend a trip to Wrocław. By train it would take you approx. 5:30 hours, by car it's only 3:30 hours. Wrocław is a very beautiful and propspering city. Its history is interesting, because before WW II it was the German city Breslau. You find German remains like Hala Stulecia (former Jahrhunderthalle; Engl.: Centennial Hall) which was one of the first reinforced concrete buildings with the biggest reinforced concrete cupola at its time. The old town of Wrocław is very beautiful and the very big square around the city hall is always full with people enjoing the nice cafes, restaurants and bars. Poland is a very Jazzy country and I can highly recommend the Jazz bar 'Rura' in the street ul. Łazienna.
An alternative could be Poznan (former German name: Posen). Not as nice as Wrocław but also worth to visit. By train it will take approx. 3 hours.
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We are travelling to Berlin in April 2010 for 5 days. On the Saturday we will be driving to Leszno for the Speedway GP and I have a couple of questions.
The hire car companies say that you cannot hire a German make to car and drive to Poland does this sound right. Also the route finder sites i have looked at show that the driving time from Berlin to Leszno, via Poznan are any where between 3.5 hours and 5 hours. What is the correct timing also what are the roads like in Poland to drive on are they motorway standard or dual carrigeways.
Cheers
Ian
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> The hire car companies say that you cannot hire a German make to car and drive to Poland does this sound right
Depends on the company. Some allow it. Some not. With more expensive cars (Audi, BMW, Mercedes) the answer will be always no.
> What is the correct timing also what are the roads like in Poland to drive on are they motorway standard or dual carrigeways.
is pretty reliable with its timing.
Destination: 64-100 Leszno, Poland
Will tell you also about the share of motorways of the whole route.
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>The hire car companies say that you cannot hire a German make to car and drive to Poland does this sound right.
As Abalada mentions, some companies will not allow you to go to Poland, but Avis did for me. I advised them that I was intending to cross into Poland and asked if there was an issue or an extra fee. They told me it was not a problem but I had to sign some paperwork for border-crossing purposes (not sure if that's needed any longer). So try Avis, or shop around, you'll find a company.
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Poland is constantly improving its road system, but as you can imagine this takes time. The roads in the South are already much better than before a few years and the new 'Autobahn' fom Görlitz to Wroclaw is super.
Having a look at where Leszno is located you defenitely have to calculate with a lot of drive time. A big problem on the Polish country roads are the trucks. Those are pretty slow (some because of there age, but mostly because of the road conditions) and it is hard and dangerous to take them over. If there is lots of traffic on the narrow, tree-lined country roads you may stuck behind a truck for half an hour. Roughly you can say: For a distance you need 1 hour in Germany for it takes two hours on a Polish road.
Edited: 6:09 am, December 08, 2009
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By the way: Knowing now your destination Leszno I highly recommend to visit Wroclaw.
Drive from Berlin to Wroclaw via Cottbus. The entire way you will have Autobahn (on google maps it looks different, but just trust me) and it is convenient to drive. Enjoy the city and stay there overnight (e.g. Hotel Mercure or Tumski or Patio or Qubus). In the early morning you drive to Leszno and enjoy the Speedway event.
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