What's the best way of seeing some of the wooden churches in southern Poland? I'll be staying in Krakow and would rather not rent a car. Are there any day trip tours that leave from Krakow? I'm particularly interested in the UNESCO churches, but not limited to these if you are familiar with one that you feel merits a visit. Thanks.
Wooden Churches within easy reach of Krakow
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There are quite a few between Krakow and Zakopane. My photos are geo-tagged, so that it is easy to see where they are located on a map:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/sets/72157630700966746/show/with/7624787438/
Debno was seen on the way out of Zakopane going farther east, but could be included on a tour from Krakow.
I used a private guide to see three wooden churches outside Krakow. It was a full day since they're not close to the city. There is a wooden church in Krakow (closed when we went by) and two that I know of in Zakopane (about 2.5 hours by bus from Krakow). One in Zakopane is near the center (with a wooden cemetery next to it), the other is outside the town and we hired a taxi to take us, wait while we looked at the church, and then bring us back to our hotel. The hotel arranged for this.
I did the wooden church tour on a Sunday and there were docents in two of the churches but they did not speak English. My guide translated. The third church had a service when we were there followed by the Rosary (October is the month honoring the Blessed Virgin and there are long Rosaries said in all the churches) so we did not wait. It was starting to get dark.
I'm not sure if there are docents in the churches during the week or only on weekends. The churches seemed to open at noon so visit the farthest church first.
It would have been difficult to navigate if I had hired a car and probably not much cheaper to do it on my own.
I did see a tour that was given (I can't find the site at the moment but will continue looking) but I didn't book with them as they needed a certain number of participants to do the tour. I didn't think there would be enough interest in wooden churches for the tour to go ahead and didn't want to wait for the last moment to find out that the tour had been cancelled.
I'm so glad I did this day trip. It was a bit of a splurge for me alone (my travel companion didn't want to do this) but I enjoyed the day and enjoyed getting a day with a guide to talk about Poland.
Here are my photos of the churches and a link to my trip report. In the trip report search for Zakopane and wooden churches to get to the part you're interested in. My guide's email address is in the TR.
http://modigliani.shutterfly.com/poland2011/188
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/five-polish-towns-plus-frankfurt-september-2011-a-trip-report.cfm
I found the web site but no longer see a mention of wooden church tours.
http://www.krakow-info.com/tours.htm
I can't help you with any info on wooden churches nearby Krakow but I can tell you that the largest wooden church in the country, possibly in the world is located outside of Krosno (also known as "Little Krakow"), about 170 km drive from Krakow.
Krosno was the first frontier against any raids from the eastern enemies. The city center has 3 of the oldest churches in Poland (although not wooden), wonderful medieval architecture and fascinating history all around it.
My suggestion is to take a train or a bus to Krosno and stay there for couple of nights. A short taxi ride will get you to the old wooden church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacz%C3%B3w
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krosno
Whatever you decide, have a wonderful trip!