travel advice for Bialystok & surrounding towns

this area of poland is more interesting for its wonderful nature areas than for its cities and towns....it is and never has been highly developed.....but if you would like to check out an interesting town with a jewish connection....go to tykocin....besides the usual sites it has a quite famous synagogue.....as far as getting to bialystok.....the train is the fastest and cheapest form of transportation.....when you get there i would arrange for a driver that is bilingual as this part of poland doesnt strike me as an area where many speak english....you can do it all in the time you have alloted but why not have a look around warsaw for a day on the way...btw....poznan has a wonderful old town.....particularly lively in good weather

Unless you really want to see Bialystok, which has little Jewish remaining, I suggest a day trip from Warsaw to Milejczyce. There are many Jewish connected sites in Warsaw to visit. It will be easy to find a translator with car in Warsaw. Milejczyce is 175 km (105 miles) from Warsaw, 2.5 to 3 hr trip one way. Warsaw is a less than 3 hr from Poznan by train.

1,yes, can do
2.train for long-dist bus for the short trips to the villages
3, up to you-it seems you have lost any contact anyway with how PL works. But henryk does a good sugg: hiring a car in WAW works out just as well. ANY even so tiny PL village has a direct bus a few times/day to the nearest main town with schools/hospitals. IMHO all tiny PL villages look disappointing very much same-same too.
5. as PL has an extensive railnetwork-there may be varioius routes to choose from. But if you opt for the -recommended- fast IC-express trains-you have to go and transit in WAW-in any station in common-as you must reserve these trains-untill dep.-the ticket shows all-the ladies in BS wont speak english though. Both sectors have trains ev 2/3 hrs or so-at least.

Can't remember too much about trains, but look out for the superhappy, friendly blond station/manager/guard at Bialystok Station.- she's great n speaks a bit of English.

To see there - the new orthodox cathedral - again cant remember exactly but its 10 min from centre on a bus ... its architecturally spectacular. I spent nearly an hour staring at the outside of it.

Instead of hiring a car in Warsaw or Białystok, which are both quite far away from Milejczyce you could conside getting to Siemiatycze, which is the main town close to Milejczyce. Siemiatycze can be reached by train from Poznań with one change in Warsaw. Another option is hiring a car in Siedlce, a larger town in the region with frequent train connections from Warsaw.
There are also public buses from Siemiatycze via Nurzec (also a train staion there) to Milejczyce, check [www.rozklady.com.pl] (instructions how to use the site should be somewhere in the FAQ).

Re your last question, to get by train from Białystok/Siedlce/Siemiatycze to Kraków you need to pass through Warsaw.

wow! thanks so much all of you for your very helpful replies!