Would you consider renting a car? In 2003 we were in Krakow & rented a car for 2 days to drive out to the countryside; in fact, we were very close to the Ukraine border & stayed in a castle in Poland & then drove back through the mountains to Krakow.

No. I'm thinking about taking the train or bus, but can't find connections to get to Lviv in Ukraine.

You can take a train from Tarnov to Przemysl and then connect to a train to Lviv. The service to Lviv arrives at nearly midnight. I suggest that you have a hotel booked and paid for.

I drove in to the Ukraine from Poland in 1992 and stayed a day in Lviv at Hotel Sputnik. It is an easy drive across the wheat fields on a very good road and much faster than the train. I am anxious to go back and almost did five years ago but the transport connections are miserable and I didn't have the time as I was passing through the Baltics and Poland.

In 1992 Lviv a local fellow picked up on me in a bookstore and proceeded to guide me around the city for the day. I keep in touch with him and can send you his email address if you are interested in some local help. If Orest has some spare time he would probably be happy to show you around his city. He is flawless in English.

sorry to hijack the thread but Kwoo, we'll be in Krakow next spring and the idea of seeing the countryside and staying in a castle are both very appealing. Would you mind sharing the town you visited and the castle you stayed in?

Csandoval, unfortunately I have not made the trip from Poland to Lviv but I have been to a few places in Ukraine. It is a neat country to see and I hope you are able to make it there.

I traveled from Lviv (a city I loved - see http://tinyurl.com/32mjj29 for pix) to Krakow by train. I checked bahn.de where Tarnov is Tarnow and Lviv is Lvov and found a direct night train.

thank you all for your feedback. I did some research on the trains, and there is a train that will get me to Lviv by almost midning traveling from Tarnow. Although, the train ride will be a long one, over 6 hours. That's too much time to be on the road. I think I will have change location on where to go, I don't want to spend more than 4 hours traveling. Again, thank you so much for your feedback!

Why not take the night train and spend the six hours asleep? It will get you into Lviv first thing in the morning.

Akrobat,
We stayed athe Krasiczyn Castle (spelling) very close to the Ukraine border. I think the name of the town is the same as the castle. I found the castle by doing a google search for castles in Poland. Because we only had 2 days in which to do this, we basically had time to see the countryside & stay in the castle. We took one route to the castle & a different route back to Krakow, which took us through the mountains. If I can find my map, I can tell you what route we took to get to the castle. It was a brief trip, but worth it to see the countryside & have the expereince of staying in the castle on Halloween night. We were the only ones there! November 1 is a big religious holiday in Poland, so we got to see the Polish people walking to local cemeteries & placing flowers, candles, etc. on their relative's graves. At night, driving by the candle-lit cemeteries was very special.

I just came across this posting and am wondering how relevant and up-to-date this information is. My wife, 1-year old daughter and myself will be in L'viv this June (2012) for the Euro Cup matches and would like to get to Poznan, Poland from there. I have looked into trains but it appears the only option is to travel to Krakow, first and then to Poznan.
I am curious about driving between L'viv and Poznan. The distance does not look too bad, but am more curious about the process of renting a car and driving it across the Ukarine-Poland border. Does anyone have any insight or information that could help with this trip planning. Also, @ spaarne, it appears that you have met a local who is passionate about his city and his culture. Would you be willing to share his contact information, or put him in touch with me at the very least, so that he can pass on his knowledge and experience of Lviv with my family.

Poppamoore,

Send me your email address and I'll forward it to Orest. Mine is jjhopscotch at att point net. I skyped with him a couple of weeks ago. I want to get back to the Ukraine this summer but if there are a million sports fans crushing the place I don't know if I'll do that.

BTW, there were only a few allowable border crossings back in 1992. The first one I drove up to looked like something out of a WWII movie. The porky guard would not let me cross. I had to drive south to Przemysl and buy a visa. That was an interesting experience. I had to drive over an open pit so the guards could inspect the underside of my car. There was another guy there buying his visa who seemed to know what he was doing so I asked him what the speed limit was in Ukraine. He replied "What you like!!" Well I got half way to L'vov and was waved down by a uniformed officer with two civilian buddies by his side. They were looking for booty and wanted some of my cigars when they saw the box in the back seat. I only had a few left and got going after giving them some chewing gum. Bring a few bottles of some cheap perfume as bakeesh (Arabic word for bribe) if you get stopped. In L'vov I was pulled over two more times for inspection of my papers. The hotel had one of those huge iron bars across the front door, just like the old castles in Europe. Those people were paranoid. I hope the situation has changed.

The road was excellent. You could easily drive 100 mph, unless there are actually speed limits now. Ukraine is just one big wheat field. Driving in Poland was not the best experience. Watch out for speed limits in the villages. There were police everywhere.

Another point. Polish train service is quite good. I was there about 5 years ago. I trained from Warsaw to Krakow and then to Prague on an overnighter.

"I hope the situation has changed."

Yes. You need bribes for Transnistria, not Ukraine. However, the roads in Crimea are (or were in 2006) lousy.

thursdaysd,
Those are really great photos on your blog.