Driving to Poland from England - any tips?

Fair play about the speed Dave, still it seems safe at night through germany, Fuel did seem bloody expensive in Germany @ 1 euro 56 a litre,

Yeah I use the e36 isn't too bad really still a far cry from our uk roads though...

I'm driving to Belarus through Poland so this is interesting

Are you mad...? thats what people said to me before i did such a trip....its a long hard road mate....but if you want to stop over in Poland you can drop by my place...I can tell you all about driving from UK to Belarus...did it twice.....My back still hurts....

So it's kinda south of Poland. I was driving from Poland to England 2 years ago, I think not much has been changed on the road. Well, roads are pretty cool, most of them are free. At least I remember there's no speed limits in Germany..


Prices are pretty similar in whole EU. That was about 4,70 PLN / Liter few days ago in Poland.

My girlfriend and i are looking to visit her parents at xmas and so we would both like to know whether if i drove constantly, taking only short breaks, how long would it take us to reach Olsztyn, your help is very much needed, many thanks Andy and his first excursion to Polka

Assuming you get to Rotterdam or wherever about 8am you will be Drawsko pomorskie area about 7 pm , this is driving at a reasonable speed , not hanging about , but not going loopy....I am guessing you will be in Olsztyn around midnight....it all depends on so many things , but maybe this gives you some idea....I have driven UK to Poland many times , and UK to Moscow a few times using all types of transport from old Landrovers , fast BMW,s and a Harley motorcycle....

I went home from Warsaw to Antwerp this Summer. 12,5 hours with 4 breaks. The A2 reaches now to Stryków and it is in the last non-paying part a first class motorway.

No speed checks and no speed cameras. Very well constructed. Forthe first part Kulczyck (richest guy in Poland) is fleecing you times for toll on a short stretch.

Do drive in the weekends. Only frigo trucks are allowed on the German and Polish roads then.
On working days expect very big travel problems once you have crossed the Polish border. Endless lines of trucks heading for Russia.

Hoping to drive to poland at xmas would i need to invest in winter/snow tyres or would my standard ones be ok if the tread was new and good

I'd advise winter tyres - summer tyres if it snows aren't much fun, no matter how new.

I wouldnt waste your money on winter tyres, the last two winters have seen snow and ice on the road for about 2 weeks combined any where south of Warsaw. Apparently this winter will be no different. Id rather pay two fines, the tyres would still cost more in the long run.

I am a Brit who lives in Poland...i have never bothered changing my tyres to winter ones , the snow isn,t allowed to get too deep on the roads , and if you have experiance of driving in slippery conditions you should be ok... I am out in the sticks , and i have a 4 x 4 if it gets really bad , i haven,t really needed it up to now , apart from pulling stuck Polish drivers out of ditches....Some cars are better than others in snowy conditions , i have a Honda accord with front wheel drive , it copes ok with a bit of snow...

hi i live in lancaster uk and am driving to koszalin in north poland on the baltic sea. i am not going to change for snow tyres as they to dear and things are getting better slowly out there roads are a bit better condition than before. we are travelling down to ramsgate to get the ferry across to oostende, this cuts about 6 hours off our journey than if we went dover to callias and is a lot cheaper

when are you going?! Have you room for one more?

One thing only, you have failed to mention the train.
How do you cross the channel, hmmmm?

Just like a normal train...but don,t open the windows....or the train floods....

Hi first time poster here.

my fiancee and i are planning to drive to katowice around Easter next year, the reason is that we are picking up our dog that we are having to leave here this summer for 6 months.

from what i have read so far on these posts, the drive from england to poland is an excellent one, i have used viamichelin.com to plan the router, i have also looked at aa router planner and rac route planer, they all pretty much go the same way and take about the same time.

i just have a few concerns if people dont mind giving some advice, first of all i will be driving from south england london area, so i was thinking of taking the euro tunnel. oh i will also have brought a new stanav by then, im looking at the tomtoms with europe maps included.

is it safe at the borders into and out of germany, i think i have watched to many tv shows and just want to make sure we are safe on the trip.

what would you say would be a safe speed to drive on the motor way in mph if you could please?

oh i should be doing this drive in a bmw 318is auto 2liter, i know that means my petrol used would be higher then a lower enginee size car. any guess at how much it would cost in a car that size, or more to the point how many time i might need to stop, the less stops for me the better, not so sure on the misses though lol.

erm any other advice or information you could pass on would be grately appricated.

Thanks

My friends are in England and they drove from Poland, I'll ask them if they have any tips. :)

excellent thanks dude

there are no borders any more - Poland joined the Schengen zone in December 2007


I find I can do anything up to 120mph in Germany, up to 100mph in Poland but of course this isn't average - in Poland the roads aren't as good and you have to slow down for roadworks, contraflows and overtaking trucks. Signage in Poland isn't that clear either so watch out.


I have a diesel estate and I get around 10l per 100km. It takes me around 16hrs to get from Krakow to Dunquerque if everything goes well and I stop every 2-3 hours for a stretch and a coffee. I like using the ferry on the way to the UK as it gives me a chance to sleep after that long drive.

Buy a cheap ticket on P&O ferries it should cost around £30ish

Try and have at least 2 drivers since its around 2000km then you can take rests.

Buy a good GPS it will be invaluable however plan out your route on a map first and feed the info into a GPS before you leave.

All pretty basic stuff but anyways...

:)

Dover to Dunkirkue ferry is best, shorter than calais and cheaper.
Pedal to the metal, or, keep er lit, all the way, just stopping for petrol.
I have done this trip on a motorbike to Krakow, from Ireland in less than 24 hours.

you can book a ferry via this website: norfolkline.pl

I also like using that ferry as it gives me the opportunity to neck a pint of Stella.

Drinking and driving, a magic combination....

pray.

Fill up with fuel before you get on the boat as fuel on the continent is expensive, make sure your tyres have more than 5mm of tread all round and are matching brands and type, (legal requirement in ze fazzerland) From calais to the polish border should take around 9 hours maximum, if you do it overnight. Try to travel through germany on a sunday as there are no lorries on sundays.

Always buy a ferry ticket via the web - there's usually no charge if you're early/late and catch a different ferry, whereas it's 3x more expensive to buy it at the port. Now I know...

I do Denmark to Częstochowa area of southern Poland as I work mostly in DK, but as an English man I have done West Yorkshire to Częstochowa perhaps 15 times in my life. Its more expensive, but I use the Hull to Rotterdam ferry. I don't like driving in the UK, its the one country I try not to drive in, its not worth the 6 hours to Dover for a cheap crossing, my choice. For the extra money to sail this route I get an overnight sailing and we are on the Dutch roads at 8.30 and from there we get home around 22.00 - 23.00.

Without I sat nav I would have thought finding your way around the dutch motor way network a struggle, you need to study a map and make sure you know which cities to aim for. We cross at Venlo into Germany. As stated before its often the case you pull out to overtake with no one behind you then your rear view mirror is full of German flashing headlamps seconds later, don't worry they are just happy to see you . Its a busy road with a lot of trucks crossing Germany, its a relief to get near Berlin and the last leg. I head towards Dresden and I cross at the German border near Forst. No passports to show, you still go through the old border control, so please slow down :-) There will be some customs bods hanging around.

The first 80km of motorway is hell. It used to be an A road which has been upgraded to a dual carriage. The old A road goes into Poland and the new one takes the traffic out. The deal is drive in the fast lane, its less bumpy and only pull out the way to let someone past and hope your teeth do not fall out. Everyone will be doing this, so go with the flow. After that it opens up into a very good motorway all the way to Katowice and then on to Krakow on the toll road. I get a 120km of A and B roads from Opole to Częstochowa. There are lots of parking places and gas stations, the Orlens 30km into Poland has great food BBQ style.

If you are going to northern Poland you will cross at Frankfurt Odder and they are doing a motorway link as I understand, but for now you have 120km of A road and most of Eastern Europe using it. Its a fast route, no one is hanging about. If someone is hanging on your rear bumper then try to run on the sort of hard shoulder and let them through, you may feel everyone is a mad driver, but they all do it, so it will be only you that is fact the hazzard, anyway is great fun to do 130 kph overtake on a row of trucks into oncoming traffic, it just is I love it. Beware this route has many cameras now and if you see flashing headlamps from oncoming traffic, slow down it will be a Police speed trap.

From around Nowy Tomysl there is the A2/E30 a newish toll motorway which points you towards Poznan/Warszawa and beyond.

As for winter tyres, I came into Poland from Denmark a few years ago with my DK car as snow hit, I bought a set while in Poland and found them to help a lot, but of course weigh up the cost option. We live in a village 18km before we get a treated road so come winter I change over. I had a PL van in the UK last January when the Bradford area got snow, a few cars following me never made corners, so I do believe winter wheels is a good thing.

I will put my neck out here as Brit and say I love driving here. I think we in the UK or perhaps the western world in general feel that driving should be a craft to hone, god forbid anyone should criticize your driving prowess. I would say here in Poland they do not have that feeling of driving excellence and rather just want to get from A to B as fast as possible. This might appear to have appearance of manic idiots to Western eyes, but join in its great fun, its my favorite place to drive.

Who mentioned anything about me actually driving?? hey genius?? taking the ferry and an opportunity to have a pint of stella has absolutely nothing to do with me drinking and driving, assumptions dear fellow assumptions: you should make less of them....


Fcuk me Harry about time too, now will you just shut the fcuk up?? Thank you.

Hey

i posted last summer on here, asking for advice and info as myself and my family are driving to Ustron, Poland beginning of June.

We will be taking the euro tunnel to calais, from Franch to Belgium on to Netherlands then through Germany and finally Poland.

One of you told me back then that there are not more border controls does that mean once i hit the motorway i can just keep going till i reach Poland?

Also the plan is to go through the euro tunnel for 6pm and drive through the night, every route planner says that the whole trip should take 16 to 17 hours, could anyone confirm this please.

any advice or info would be awesome

Thanks

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