swifty Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 My dearly beloved and I are thinking of visiting Auschwitz late August or early September next year. Does anyone have any advice on campsites or routes through Germany. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Hello Swifty. We visited Auschwitz-Birkenau this September. I posted a query on this forum and received a very helpful reply from Passionwagon. If you use the Search facility in the Welcome box above right, using Auschwitz and postings this year, you will find this. The website you need is www.centrum-dialogu.oswiecim.pl. This centre is only a few minutes walk from the main entrance. The camping is on grass with trees and flowerbeds, and the sanitary block is excellent. There is electric. Also free wifi! Make sure you visit the Birkenau part of the camp as well as the original Auschwitz part, they are not the same. There is a free shuttle bus between the two. Also make sure you allow plenty of time, there is a lot to see. We found our visit very worthwhile, but you will form your own judgement. Campsites in Poland are a bit hit and miss and most will now be closed for the winter. That also applies in Czech if you go that way. If you decide to go to Krakow from Auschwitz DO NOT use the 44, go back up to the motorway although it is a longer way. The 44 is one of the worst roads we have ever come across anywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Madge Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Hi David, As the search facility is not working again I've Post this info again. You might find some of it useful. We did the trip in 2006. POLAND We crossed into Poland from Slovakia with just a quick passport check, we were through the border in a matter of minutes. CASH. We used the plastic at the ATM without any problems, about PLN 4.56 (today) to the £ sterling. ROADS. Roads are well signed. The speed limits in the built up areas can be confusing at times. If the background of the sign bearing the towns name is white you must reduce your speed to 50km/h (60 between 2300hrs and 0500 hrs), if the background is green there is no need to reduce speed unless road signs indicate otherwise. We also noticed that some place names have a green background and a built up area sign immediately below it. If in doubt stick to 50. On the main through routes many of roads have deep grooves made by the trucks, this makes life difficult at times. On many single carriageway main roads it is custom and practice to move onto the hard shoulder to let other vehicles pass. The practice is not so rigorously used as in Greece. Extra care is needed at roundabouts as the priority is not always as you would expect. FUEL. Diesel (some times signed as "ON") and LPG are readily available. SUPERMARKETS. We have come across the follow supermarkets, Tescos, Carrefour, Auchan, Geant, Leclerc and Intermarche most are situated in out of town shopping complexes. The smaller local supermarkets still prevail in the town and city centres. KRAKOW. Krakow is one of Poland's oldest, best preserved cities, dating back to the 7th century. You need two/three days to do the place justice. No visit to Krakow is complete without a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine http://www.kopalnia.pl The two hour two kilometre underground English guided tour cost PLN 60 (about £13). We stayed at Camping Korona http://www.camping-korona.com.pl which is about 10kms south of the city. An excellent family run site who are very friendly and helpful. Bus to Krakow stops just outside the site. Only one downside, the site is situated on road 7 which is a very fast dual carriageway. It was very exciting crossing the carriageway to enter the site. AUSCHWITZ. I paid a very brief visit to Auschwitz on the way from Krakow to Warsaw. There is a camping site there if one wants a longer stay and/or an overnight stop. JASNA GORA MONASTERY. The monastery is situated in the town of Czestochowa. If you are interested in very ornate churches it's well worth a visit. Try to avoid a Sunday visit. Camping Olenka which has very good facilities is next door to the parking area for the monastery. WARSAW. We stayed three nights at Camping Astur (PLN 60 per night), facilities are well worn but clean. Bus within 500 metres to city centre. Buy tickets before boarding bus, PLN 2.40 for a single journey in the city and PLN 4.80 for a single trip outside the city. The tickets are valid on the buses, trams and metro. After the devastation of WW11 we had been looking forward to visiting the old town of Warsaw, We were not disappointed. They had rebuilt the bomb sites of 1945 to there former beauty. For us it was one of the highlights of the trip. In the city centre on many main road junctions apparently impromptu markets are set up. A very colourful scene. On many of the city centre pedestrian underpasses there are many small shops and fast food outlets which looked of good quality and reasonably priced. WRACKOW. We stayed two nights at Stadium Camping (PLN 50.30 per night) facilities are very old but clean. Trams from outside the site run to the city centre, tickets and maps available from the very helpful reception. Unfortunately during our visit part of the city centre looked like war torn Beirut due to the pedestrianisation and road works in many areas. This made visiting many sites very difficult. There was also quite a bit of restoration work going on. This is a site for camping parks in Poland and the rest of Europe http://camperpark.pl/main.php?lang=en&country=1&type=1 Safe travelling. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swifty Posted October 19, 2008 Author Share Posted October 19, 2008 Thank you both very much for the info. I will print it out and keep it safe for our trip next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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