All the guidebooks provide a list of hotels of varying quality and cost, restaurants including information about the hours open, what credit cards are accepted, and whether reservations are needed, and other important travel tips. However, there are major differences between the guidebooks. The type of guidebook you want will depend where you're going in Poland (or whether you're actually going there at all!), whether you're going on your own or taking a tour, and what activities you're interested in. The following is my personal evaluation of three printed guidebooks available from all major bookstores, and one guidebook that is available as an online app.
I love Rick Steve's guidebooks. Besides the usual information about hotels, restaurants and museums, his guide books provide detailed walking tours of neighborhoods, churches, and museums. With his guide books, you don't really need a tour guide. His Eastern European guidebook is equally as thorough, unfortunately it only covers Warsaw, Krakow/Auschwitz-Birkenau and Gdańsk & the Tri-City. Rick - there's a whole lot of other interesting cities in Poland! Granted, some are very small, but he goes to a lot of small towns in other countries. Also granted, the tourist industry in Poland is just learning how to entertain tourists and some museums leave a little to be desired. So while he's thorough with those three cities, he really gives the rest of beautiful Poland short-shrift.
The information about Warsaw-Krakow-Gdansk is available in either a "Eastern Europe" guidebook or a as a separate "Snapshot" guidebook with just those three cities for a few dollars less than the much larger Eastern Europe guidebook. I was curious as to what other cities were covered in the Eastern Europe guidebook, so I bought the big one. Two problems - Poland is in Central Europe, not Eastern Europe; and at 1300 (thin) pages this book is about 2 inches thick, which makes it kind of big to carry around.
Frommer's Poland
Frommer's covers several cities and regions: Warsaw; Łódż & South-Central Poland; Krakow, Zakopane & the Tatra Mountains; Lublin and Southeastern Poland; Wrocłow and Lower Silesia; Central & Northwest Poland; Gdańsk & the Baltic Coast; and Northeast Poland. It makes recommendations for hotels and restaurants. It lists any major sights in each area. There is detailed information about hours of operation, cost of tickets, etc. It doesn't provide any walking tours or suggest in which order to see the sights. It does have some suggested itineraries for Poland in 1 week, Poland in 2 weeks, Poland for Families, 5-day focus on Jewish Heritage; 5-day Scenic drive through Poland; and 5-day outdoor vacation in Poland. The last one is very nice as there are a lot of opportunities for outdoor adventures in Poland which is not well-known. It covers everything in a light-weight book of 312 pages.
DK Eyewitness Travel Poland
They advertise their guides as the guides that show you what others only tell you. That's very true as the book is chock-full of beautiful color photos, drawings, maps, etc. The guidebook divides Poland into 6 major areas, but covers a lot fo small towns that have only one interesting sight - usually a castle, museum or church. That's what makes this guidebook excellent not only for a tourist in Poland, but also for an arm-chair tourist. There are several suggested walking tours, which are nicely detailed, but not quite as detailed as those found in the Rick Steve's guidebook. But then, many more cities are covered than in Steve's guidebook.
In Your Pocket (IYP) Guides
Printed in Europe, these guides are available in printed versions for free in hotels throughout major cities in Europe. The IYP Guides are updated each month. These IYP guides are also available as a free downloadable app. Once you download the app, you can decide which particular copies of the IYP Guides you'd like to have. There are individual six IYP Guides for the cities of Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław, Poznań, Łódż, and Tarnów. If you're familiar with the printed version, the app version appears to have all the information of the printed version. It is a wonderful tool to help plan a trip to Poland, and then you can pick up a printed copy when you get to Poland to carry around with you, so you don't have to worry about packing a guidebook.
Summary
If all you need is information about Warsaw-Krakow-Gdansk, then I's recommend the Rick Steves guidebook - and get the "Snapshot" for $10.
If you're going to go outside of those three cities, then go with either DK Eyewitness Travel Poland or Frommer's Poland. DK Eyewitness has a lot more information about smaller towns and villages that have sights to see, like castles, churches or museums. Frommer's covers several major cities and is lighter-weight because it uses thinner paper and doesn't have pictures.
I'd really recommend the In Your Pocket Guides app if you're comfortable with using apps, and you're only going to one of the cities that they cover in Poland.
If you're an armchair tourist or just want to learn about the many sights to see in cities large and small, then I'd recommend the DK Eyewitness Travel Poland. You can just sit and read the information and feel like you really know Poland.
What am I taking on this trip? There's two of us going - soooo we do have some extra room in the suitcases. I've got the In Your Pocket app and guides on the iPad. I'm definitely taking the DK Eyewitness Travel because I'm going to a few small towns and this is the only one that gives any information about them. I'm also taking the Frommer's Poland because it is lightweight and covers several of the larger towns that I'm visiting. Rick Steves guidebook? I'll see if Robert wants to stuff it in his suitcase!
Do zobaczenia! Our next post will be from Poland!
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