Summer holidays in Poland with kids 2020 - from Czech rock towns to Kashubia

Summer holiday in Poland with kids, a tent and a car: in summer 2020 we drove over 1,700 km in 19 days. We started in the Czech rock towns and the Table Mountains, then came mines in Lower and Upper Silesia, Legendia, the Jura, the Holy Cross Mountains, Belchatow and Ciechocinek, and at the end a lake in Kashubia. Below is the whole plan day by day, with distances, campsites and links to the posts about each stage.

You can watch all the videos from this trip in the Czech Republic / Poland 2020 playlist on our YouTube channel.

Why Poland?

For summer 2020 we were planning Greece. Back in December 2019, before anyone had heard of the pandemic, we booked a house with a pool for a week. The plan was ambitious: a week of driving south with quite a lot of sightseeing on the way, a week of rest in Greece and a week to get back home. The pandemic changed everything: travel restrictions were lifted only at the start of the holidays, and we did not want to risk a long trip abroad.
For a while it looked like we would lose our deposit, but luckily we got it back. We were lucky, because later we started to see rules in Booking and Airbnb offers saying that money is not returned in situations like a pandemic. Today we read the cancellation terms before every booking. We stayed in Poland, with just a short visit to Czechia, and chose places we did not know yet. It turned out that within a few hours' drive from home there is so much to see that it was enough for almost three weeks.

In short

• Dates: from Monday 3 to Friday 21 August 2020, 19 days.
• Regions: the Czech Broumov region, the Table Mountains, Zloty Stok, Gliwice and Tarnowskie Gory, Chorzow, the Jura, the Holy Cross Mountains, Belchatow, Ciechocinek and Kashubia.
• Distance: over 1,700 km.
• Accommodation: a tent at 8 campsites and, at the end, a resort by a lake in Kashubia.
• We travelled with four kids in our golden Ford Tourneo Custom, packed with boxes.
• On the way we collected points for the Mountain Tourist Badge (Gorska Odznaka Turystyczna).

Day by day

Days 1-2 (3-4 August): Wroclaw and Teplice Rocks

170 km to the Wroclaw Aquapark, then 105 km to Kamenec campsite in Teplice nad Metuji. The next day we walked a loop around Teplice Rocks in the drizzle (Teplice Rocks with kids).

Day 3 (5 August): Adrspach

The Great Waterfall, a boat trip on the rock lake and crowds in the gorges (Adrspach with kids).

Day 4 (6 August): Szczeliniec Wielki

32 km to the Stolowogorski campsite in Radkow and a climb from Karlow to the highest peak of the Table Mountains (Szczeliniec Wielki with kids).

Day 5 (7 August): Bledne Skaly

A rock maze where the kids fitted everywhere and the adults not always, and a swim in Radkow (Bledne Skaly with kids).

Day 6 (8 August): Gold Mine in Zloty Stok

Arsenic, gold bars and our own ducat from a press, then 140 km to Camp9 campsite in Tarnowskie Gory (Zloty Stok Gold Mine with kids).

Day 7 (9 August): Gliwice Radio Tower and the Black Trout Adit

A wooden tower and a sensory park in Gliwice, a boat trip underground in Tarnowskie Gory and a second night at Camp9 (Black Trout Adit with kids).

Days 8-9 (10-11 August): Legendia and Molo Resort

A whole day in the amusement park in Chorzow, then 50 km to Osiek and a day of rest by the water (Legendia with kids).

Days 10-11 (12-13 August): Ojcow National Park

Lunch in Chrzanow, Nasza Dolina campsite below Pieskowa Skala and a walk to the Krakow Gate while some of the trails were still closed (Ojcow National Park with kids).

Day 12 (14 August): Bledow Desert and Checiny

Sand to the horizon in the morning, a royal castle in the afternoon and a campsite in Suchedniow in the evening (Bledow Desert and Checiny Castle).

Days 13-14 (15-16 August): Lysica and Swiety Krzyz

The highest peak of the Holy Cross Mountains, a field of boulders and a viewing tower next to the monastery (Lysica and Holy Cross with kids).

Day 15 (17 August): the bunker in Konewka

115 km to a World War II railway bunker, a crawl through the tunnel on all fours, and a night at Camping Los by the Sulejow Reservoir (Konewka Railway Bunker with kids).

Day 16 (18 August): Belchatow and Ciechocinek

A terrace above the open-cast mine in Zlobnica, the PGE Giganty Mocy museum and 200 km to Ciechocinek (Giganty Mocy in Belchatow with kids).

Days 17-19 (19-21 August): Kashubia

A morning walk around the graduation towers, 200 km on the A1 motorway to Chmielno, two days by Lake Klodno and 190 km home (Kashubia and Chmielno with kids).

Campsites along the way

• Camp Kamenec, Teplice nad Metuji (Czechia): 3 nights, close to Teplice Rocks and Adrspach.
• Campsite no. 26 Stolowogorski, Radkow: 2 nights, 8 km from Karlow.
• Camp9, Tarnowskie Gory: 2 nights, in the forest.
• Molo Resort, Osiek: 2 nights, a beach by the water.
• Nasza Dolina, Suloszowa: 2 nights, on the edge of Ojcow National Park.
• Campsite no. 140, Suchedniow: 3 nights, by a reservoir.
• Camping Los, Leonow: 1 night, by the Sulejow Reservoir.
• Campsite no. 17, Ciechocinek: 1 night, next to the graduation towers.
• Bachus resort, Chmielno: 2 nights, by Lake Klodno.

Holidays during the pandemic

August 2020 looked different than usual. In mines, museums and castles we wore masks, campsites had hand sanitiser stations, and for some places you had to book an entry at a set time. In Ojcow some of the trails and caves were still closed. Even so, we managed to see almost everything we had planned.

Practical info

We checked in November 2026.

• Entry limits: Szczeliniec, Bledne Skaly and Adrspach now have limits on the number of visitors, so in the summer holidays it is worth buying tickets online.
• Czechia: in Adrspach and Teplice you need Czech koruna (CZK), because the boat trip can only be paid in cash.
• Weather: in the rock towns and mines it is cool even on a hot day, so bring sweatshirts and good shoes.