Kraków Approx. 2-3 days.

Take a train from Berlin to the small Polish city of Kraków. This well-preserved medieval city is a great place to explore for a few days. Plus, it’s known for its nightlife and cheap drinks. Kraków is also near the Auschwitz concentration camp, which is a popular/sobering day trip option.

 Tatry Mountains and Zakopane Town 

Poland's Ultimate Mountain Resort. 

Alps-like Tatra Mountains, or the Tatras (Polish Tatry), is the highest range of the Carpathian Mountains and lie along Poland’s border with Slovakia. Two hour’s drive from Krakow one finds stunning views and pristine nature as well as the best skiing in winter and hiking, rock climbing, cave exploration, cycling, paragliding, etc. through the rest of the year. As tourism has been the area’s main business for over a century, visitors are thoroughly catered to. Annually some three million of them turn up in the Polish alps, mostly getting along well with wildlife preservation which is paramount seeing that twin national parks cover the whole of the Tatras both sides of the national border.

Weather in Zakopane and in the Tatry Mountains. 

The Tatras’ mountainous climate is cold due to high altitude, with much precipitation. What might produce superb ski conditions for many months–most of the year, actually, on some elevated slopes–proves unwelcome to non-skiers. Anyway, even in foothill Zakopane allow for a drop in temperature of 2C to 5C vis-a-vis lowlands, and the higher the colder. Fierce rainstorms or snowstorms all of a sudden are common, as gales.

Note: Unlike Poland's part of the range, Slovakia's mountain trails in the Tatras are off limits to tourists from November till May. 

Wildlife in the Tatry Mountains. 

Besides species common also elsewhere in Poland, such as deer, roe, fox and badger, the Tatras boast rare animals–lynx, brown bear, eagle, heath-cock, and alpine chamois and marmot.

Tips for visitors to the Tatry Mountains. 

• Skiing December through May, and hiking May through September.
• Book well in advance if you want to come on Christmas, New Year, Easter, Polish national holidays, during school recesses, or on any weekend December through September. Allow for slow traffic on the afternoon before and on the last one.
• Those who shun crowded resorts may well give up Zakopane hotel and opt for quieter–and cheaper– lodgings in any of the region’s villages. There are also resorts on the Slovak side.
• Be extremely careful on mountain tracks, notably in winter.
• The Tatras’ local snack is oscypek, a piece of smoked sheep cheese.

Budapest

Approx. 3-4 days

If you’re coming from Vienna via train, it will take about 2.5 hours. If you’ve decided to skip Vienna, the train from Prague to Budapest takes about 7-8 hours (there are both day and overnight trains available).

Budapest is called the “Paris of the East” and it’s one of my favourite cities in Europe. It has everything you’d want in a city (architecture, great nightlife, shopping, restaurants, etc.) and it’s affordable. Budapest is also know for its natural thermal baths — which are popular with locals and visitors.