Off the beaten track Polish villages

It's a big country with hundreds of small villages - the prettiest areas for random village driving are probably the north (southwest of Gdansk, the Kashubia region), the south (foothills of Malapolska between Krakow and Zakopane). Last summer I drove around Lower Silesia and there are some lovely areas there too; the Klodzko region, around Boleslawiec and the CZ border region around Sk.Poreba though it gets touristy there).

Kashubia west of Gdansk is lovely, rolling hills and pretty villages. Doesn't miss Kartuszy with its rather grim church dedicated to death.

There are also pretty villages along the mountains in the South, particularly the bieszczady south and east of Sanok.

Not sure that you'd want to spend day after day driving between pretty villages. There are lots of them but they're all fairly similar and the novelty will wear off - also few of them have places to stay or eat. The exception is the Bieszczady area where there's lots of accommodation aimed at hikers.

There aren't lots of monasteries (nothing like Nekresi or Gremi in Kakheti, for example) but there are dozens of wooden churches in the Bieszczady region, many now in ruins but a few maintained by the tiny remaining populationof Boyks and Lemks whose ancestors buolt the churches in the 19th century.

I agree that Kaszuby are really beautiful and you can find lots of small villages there.
However, I would recommend the Beskid Niski - you would need to get to Gorlice (app 120km from Krakow) and then head off to Bartne, than you can try Gladyszow on the other side of the Magura mountain, also Wysowa is nice (slightly bigger as it is well known for its mineral waters). On Magura Malastowska you can drive to Nowica - small and picturesque village you might be looking for. You can walk on the trails and meet nobody during the whole day. These are still the wildest mountains in Poland.
Those regions were the battlefields for the I WW, so instead of monasteries, you can look for small cementaries, scattered in forests.
Interesting in the area is also the history. The area used to belong to Hucul people - they were moved from their homelands by the government implementing the Vistula Action. They left their villages and they slowly went to ruins. Wandering around you can find then, although not all of them visible at first sight.

Jeroen, Andrew, Mysza: Thanks for putting so much thought into your responses! This is exactly the information I was hoping to receive...and "random driving" is the perfect expression for what I will be doing. It looks like it will be wooden churches (Bieszczady) and small cemeteries scattered in the forest (Beskid Niski), with a bundle of fascinating history keeping me company (Vistula action). You have to love thorntree....I think I am excited about this trip!
One last question: In places like Armenia and Georgia I was able to find "spontaneous" accommodation. Locals willing to put you up for the night for a fixed sum, a shared bottle of vodka, and the chance for kids to play games on my ipod. I believe this works in such countries because the rural areas see few tourists and I was a bit of a novelty/oddity. Any chance of this happening in the foothills and rural areas of Poland?
Thanks again.

Hi,
If you were in Bulgaria, Romania, Armenia, Albania, Georgia and Ukraine you will certainly like eastern part of Poland with a lot of villages. But Poland is much more developed than those countries (you'll find similar villages though)

First of all Mazury, northern eastern part, the land of thousand lakes, my favourite part of PL.

Then the whole south, full of mountains, with Bieszczady close to Ukraine quite different.

Whereever you drive, drive off the main road, the more the better. It is different Poland. I am Polish and love to do it.

Rememebr that late March/early April is usually not the preetest moment to go to Polish countryside as winter is over and spring starts. It might be shitty as well as full of snow as well as great spring. It is a low season for POlish tourists.

In terms of accomodation - Mazury, Kaszuby and mountains are full of private rooms for rent, so no problem. If you go through notmal regions without any tourism. I doubt it, but I am Polish ;)

Hi!

I also recomend South-East of Poland - between cities of Przemysl and Sanok, Nowy Sacz. Or in the north - Warmia and Mazury region, also area to north from city of Torun is nice.

If you take the route advised by Mysza_28 under #3 and start driving from Krakow, you can also visit some interesting non-touristy places underway - e.g. Tuchow (a small town with a Redemptorist monastery and local pilgrimage center), Bobowa (a small town with an old synagogue, famous for its Jewish Hassidic tradition) or Biecz (a small medieval town). In such a way you could combine seeing some small-town, out-of-the-way Poland with visiting the remote (and sometimes desolate) villages in Beskid Niski.

A strong recommendation - if you decide on your itinerary, try to read something on history and culture of the places you plan to visit, by doing a web search or looking for some books. The non-touristy parts of Poland may seem uninteresting if you miss all that background - there are mostly no spectacular landscapes or architecture and no particular attractions in itself.

#4. Poland is quite different to Georgia / Armenia for spontaneous accommodation. In remote parts of Georgia, you have to ask around a village, everyone knows some little old lady with a spare bed, but you usually share everything (even bedroom) with other family members.

Poland is more developed / organised than this. Homes that take guests advertise Wolne Pokoj (room available) or sometimes Zimmer (German for room) or Pension. You'll get more privacy than in Georgia, with own bedroom and likely dedicated guest bathroom facilities too. And the family will most lilkely ignore you, expecting you prefer privacy. So in some ways its more comfortable but its not the "part of the family" Georgian experience.

Przybo, Sihi, Meczko, Andrew:

Thanks for the responses. Much appreciated. I have been reading up on your suggestions. I think I will focus on the Mazury region for 1/2 the trip, and then down south-east for the remainder. Biecz, Tuchow and Bobowa sound particularly interesting. I will indeed combine such towns with those in Beskid Niski.

Meczko: I am curious as to how the villages of Beskid Niski might differ from the others you mentioned (I have to admit, you had me at "desolate". Now I am really interested in the area) If you could perhaps spare a moment, I would really like to know.

Andrew: You have answered questions for me before. Always helpful. Thanks. If I were in an area such as Beskid Niski, and there are no Zimmer signs, does that mean I will be sleeping the car? I was hoping that I would be "rescued" for a fee (I certainly have no problem paying for the room) if I were stuck in a more remote area. Like you say, In Georgian and Armenia, that was no problem. I should have suspected it would be a little different in Poland. I had more trouble with spontaneous accommodation in Ukraine - especially in the east. It was a little easier in the west.
Any more insights would be more than welcome.
Thanks again everybody.