Driving To Poland

[Pummer67]

I am trying to decide whether to drive to poland or fly and rent a car. I have priced it up and it's cheaper to drive by around £500. That was if we don't go via Luxembourg to fill up with some cheaper fuel. And also I didn't cost in stopping somewhere on route in an aire.
Has anyone ever drove that and have any thoughts. We have 2 kids which is my main concern but they are good and have done quite a few long trips now but not one quite that far. Last summer we drove from lake annency back to Belgium in one day with them going the non toll route through Switzerland and eastern france. This is obviously a bit further than that but split into 2 I am thinking it will be ok.
Any thoughts? Mark

 

[dnoermann]

If you have the time and like driving than drive.
I was in Holiday this year in London with my T5 and drove from Bavaria throught the ChannelTunnel there.
Good drive, but long.

 

[andys]

It’s all down to how your kids can cope. I’m a machine when it comes to long distance driving and can do 5-600 miles in a day with only quick coffee/toilet stops, whereas my 5yr old granddaughter needs a break every 2 hours and gets fed up with more than 5 hrs in a day. I’ve never been to Poland (though it’s on my list) but I’ve driven to Lubeck which is within kicking distance, quite a pleasant drive, though the traffic round Hamburg can be pretty awful if you catch it at the wrong time.
£500 though, that’s a fair chunk of change...

 

[DOUG WARD]

We drive to to Poland every year and love it We have 2 children 10 and 6 and they love the Adventure but sleep most of the way .. we start off late at night so 1 = tunnel is the cheapest . 2 = hardly nothing on the road. 3 = and When driving in Europe no lorries driving at night. I say to everyone drive

 

[czmate1999]

I have been driving backwards and forwards to the Czech Republic for 12 years and it’s not a problem, sometimes through Poland - if I’m going to the east of the country. I do Prague from Kent in a straight run - via eurotunnel - only stopping for fuel once or twice depending on what vehicle I’m driving. Last year I drove for 20 hours with a 1 hour break to get to the Far East of the country through Poland. I generally drive through the evening and night and arrive in Czech in the morning. My Daughter sleeps through most of it.

We really love driving in Europe and always make a trip of it on the way back stopping at lodges and hotels - this was part of the motivation of getting the van as when we have it converted it will give us more freedom!

 

[Robert]

I drive to Poland few times a year. Two adults and three kids! From Ireland to Poland door step to door step in 30 hours!
Constant driving(wife helps a little bit) and two ferry crossings
DSG and ACC make huge difference

 

[DXX]

I've been driving about Europe for the last 3 weeks. I've seen a couple of people re-filling their tanks in lay-bys from chemical drums ~20L. Either they know a bent truck driver or they've filled up somewhere much cheaper. Luxembourg diesel was only 1.13 Euro / L a few weeks ago while France was approx 1.60+
Unless your servicing your own van the running costs are higher than just fuel and tyres.

 

[Pummer67]

Thanks all. I think it comes down to kids. I will see how we get on on our way home from Cornwall this week. On the way here they were arguing the whole way so I'm thinking fly at the moment unless like you say make a trip of it but we only have the 1 week in half term. We have to be back and can't leav3 early as other half is teacher so that's the end of non term time holidays.