Poland and Prague

[bignerd]

I am traveling to Poland this fall and am wondering what are the must see's? I will be there for 14- 16 days and then I am going to Prague for 5-7 days depending. Any help would be greatly appreciated

[InRich]

make sure you taste test Czech beer. its the best in the world.

[Feruk]

Poland - the must see city is Krakow. Besides a sweet castle and downtown, there is also Auschwitz just a distance away and the Wieliczka (sp?) salt mine. You actually get to tour the inside of a mine; really sweet and unique.

Prague - old town and castle.

[bignerd]

I am actually planing on going to the salt mine, krakow is on the list, also so is Czêstochowa I have been wanting to see it since I was a kid.

Anything else would be great.

Thanks

[whiskas]

Originally posted by Feruk
Poland - the must see city is Krakow. Besides a sweet castle and downtown, there is also Auschwitz just a distance away and the Wieliczka (sp?) salt mine. You actually get to tour the inside of a mine; really sweet and unique.

I was about to post this as well.

Other than Krakow... Warsaw is the next obvious choice, there's the several palaces in and around the city to check out.

And the next city to look at would be Gdansk, which is on the coast. Also a gorgeous city.

[Grogador]

Zakopane in the mountains is nice as well as Hel on the coast (near Gdansk) but only during the high-season, otherwise it's deserted. The NW of Poland, known as Mazury, is a lot of nice forests and lakes, kind of the vacation area of Poland if you know someone up there with a cabin...

+1 for Warsaw, it's a cool mix of modern (since most of it was rebuilt after WWII) along with some castles and old town left

+5000 for Krakow/Wieliczka/Auschwitz

Try to bring/meet a Polak with you as English isn't *that* popular and you will get charged less for booze etc

[Sebasshole]

pm me and add me to facebook, i got pictures and a list of things you should see in poland...

[GTi-RS]

Wroclaw is also a nice old city to see. A popular Student.town.

[davidI]

Zakopane and Krakow were sweet. See if you can get a local to take you to the local swimming pond in Krakow, it's within walking distance of the castle and there is some good cliff jumping, climbing and swimming.

[gstone]

+1 for Wroclaw. The town square(rynek) is really nice, and you have the Ostrow Tumski. You can get to the top of the cathedral and get a nice pano of the city. The city also has some great architecture.

[thrasher22]

Be sure to drink some absinthe in Prauge

[Feruk]

Originally posted by bignerd
also so is Czêstochowa I have been wanting to see it since I was a kid.

I've been there prolly 2 dozen times (my dad's side of the family lives there). Pretty cool little town, but I wouldn't wanna spend more then a day there. Worth seeing, but only one real attraction.

[bignerd]

Thanks for all of the responses, I am going to Gdansk, Krakow, Warsaw and Czêstochowa(for the day). I will look in to more as I bought a rough guide travel book to sort through.
Since I am planning on going to Gdansk I will check out Zakopane.

Wroclaw I will check into aswell.

Thanks again for all the help.

[DeathBy240]

I was in Prague last summer. I didn't find the castle terribly interesting, but I guess you pretty much have to see it.

One of my favourite things was the Sedlec Ossuary in nearby Kutna Hora, also known as the bone church. It's about a 30 min train ride outside of Prague but it's very worth it for the photos alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary

There was a cool bar in the old town in a hotel, I'll try to find the name if it interests you. It was three floors, a regular bar on the main floor, dancing girls on the next floor down, then a dance club in the basement. They have some awesome drinks like a FIVE LITRE rum and coke.

There was also a cool beer stand in a park on the north side of the river across from the old town (just west of the Holesovice area) that was awesome. It's in a park, high above on a riverbank, overlooking the old town. Beer was dirt cheap too (like it is in most places) I think around 30 crowns for a big plastic cup. Again, I can find the name if you are interested.

[davidI]

Olomouc is also really cool and worth checking out. It's not nearly as touristy as most other areas.

Also, I seem to recall a really cool night club in Prague near the bridge that leads to the castle. I think it's advertised as the biggest club in Central Europe and it had 5 or 6 floors, each with a different theme / dj / music style. You could go from the hip hop floor to the 60's floor to the chill out reggae floor. I rarely have fun in clubs without drinking and I think I only had one beer there and had a wicked time!

[bignerd]

Originally posted by DeathBy240
I was in Prague last summer. I didn't find the castle terribly interesting, but I guess you pretty much have to see it.

One of my favourite things was the Sedlec Ossuary in nearby Kutna Hora, also known as the bone church. It's about a 30 min train ride outside of Prague but it's very worth it for the photos alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary

There was a cool bar in the old town in a hotel, I'll try to find the name if it interests you. It was three floors, a regular bar on the main floor, dancing girls on the next floor down, then a dance club in the basement. They have some awesome drinks like a FIVE LITRE rum and coke.

There was also a cool beer stand in a park on the north side of the river across from the old town (just west of the Holesovice area) that was awesome. It's in a park, high above on a riverbank, overlooking the old town. Beer was dirt cheap too (like it is in most places) I think around 30 crowns for a big plastic cup. Again, I can find the name if you are interested.

Thanks for the heads up on the bone church, I have never heard of it before.
I am interested in almost anything, the biggest thing I have against me is time I am only going to Poland for 16 days and prague for 5 so trying to get in as much as possible. I guess I will see what I want and if I have time I can spare especially at night then I would like to check out some night clubs.