Poland

[kevin hawkins]

Has anyone out there driven to or holidayed in Poland recentlu and if so what is the security like in there? We have read that the targeting of foreign cars/vans etc. is high and very risky. The caravan club also seem to suggest the risks are high in this country (according to their site book). Has anyone stayed on any caravan/campsites there or parked up in any of the town centres, motorway services (if there are any) and if so did they find this risky? After all this is going to be a holiday, so what do people advise? Kind regards Kevin and Kath Hawkins (?)

[Don Madge]

[QUOTE]kevin hawkins - 2006-07-04 8:24 PM Has anyone out there driven to or holidayed in Poland recentlu and if so what is the security like in there? We have read that the targeting of foreign cars/vans etc. is high and very risky. The caravan club also seem to suggest the risks are high in this country (according to their site book). Has anyone stayed on any caravan/campsites there or parked up in any of the town centres, motorway services (if there are any) and if so did they find this risky? After all this is going to be a holiday, so what do people advise? Kind regards Kevin and Kath Hawkins (?)[/QUOTE] Hello Kevin & Kath, We visited Poland on the way home after wintering in Turkey. We never once had cause to feel unsafe. If you take reasonable precautions you should not have any problems. We never left the van in the city centres but used public transport (which was cheap and frequent) from the camp sites. Before you leave home check the F & C O site http://tinyurl.com/lwdj3 for the latest info on Poland. I felt safer in Poland than I ever did in Spain. 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 5.5 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") at 72 pence per litre and LPG at 36 pence per litre 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 (www.kopalnia.pl). The two hour two kilometre underground English guided tour cost PLN 60 (about £11). We stayed at Camping Korona (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. I hope this helps, get back to me if you have any more questions. Safe travelling and enjoy your holiday. Don

[Don Madge]

I left it too late to edit (silly only having 30 minutes) but we were in Poland May this year. Don

[Mel E]

Kevin, We drove through Poland just 2 weeks' ago from Lithuania and on to Germany. We stayed only one night - at the beautiful old town of Torun, but fe4lt totally secure throughout the journey - except in one respect. See my answer to the posting below titled 'The Baltic Countries' (now on page 2). The one respect is the Poles' total lack of driving sense. They routinely go through red traffic lights (the norm is 2 to 3 cars AFTER they've gone red), overtake across double white lines (the road marking are the same as the UK), especially on blind corners where the challenge is greater. So drive with great caution and expect the unexpected. If your rig is RHD, it probably is not especially attractive to an opportunist thief. If LHD, take normal precautions. Camp sites a bit more spartan than in Europe (never enough showers or loos when the site nears capacity), but also a bit cheaper. Shopping (we used Auchan) a lot cheaper then France.