In June 2018 I traveled through Eastern Europe with my partner for about 3 weeks. We bridged the distance to Auschwitz over the highway in two days, with an overnight stay just before the town of Bautzen (Pension Jiedlitz). The drive to Jiedlitz from the Netherlands is a long sit on the highway, but the next day is therefore a lot more relaxed so that you can easily reach Auschwitz.

The motorways in Poland are well paved. From Wroclaw you have to pay a toll, but it is worth doing this anyway. We left the highway just before Wroclaw, but the inner roads there were busy, mainly by trucks. This makes it not relaxed driving.

This route goes from Auschwitz in to Zakopane. Along the way you come across a number of sights that are worth stopping for a while. In Stara Wies you will come across one of the many wooden churches in Silesia and Lesser Poland. This church is a good example of this and is open for viewing. There is also a spacious parking lot across the street.
A little further on you come across a special construction in the same village: a huge steel cross. In the distance it may not stand out among the electricity pylons, but as soon as you get closer you will see the cross. At the foot of the cross you can park well to take a picture.

On about a third of the route you pass a somewhat larger city (Bielsko Biala). If you still feel well, I advise you to continue driving and only pause later. As soon as you leave the city, you enter a beautiful nature reserve. You first cross a modest mountain pass and then drive along a reservoir to Mount Gora Zar. Pay attention if you are driving with Garmin maps: the way to the top is best followed by the directions on the signs. TomTom gives the correct instructions.
The approximately 740 meter high Gora Zar mountain offers beautiful views of the surrounding area, and you can also enjoy a nice break and a bite to eat and drink. If you like speeding without a helmet on, you can also race down the mountain with the toboggan run. With a small train you can come up again.
If you do not want to drive up the mountain, you will pass Hotel Restaurant Kocierz a few kilometers past the reservoir. You can park in front of the hotel and enjoy a meal and the view on the terrace.

The rest of the afternoon you will cycle through beautiful nature reserves (such as Babiogorski National Park) and small villages. You will notice that the further South you drive, you see more and more wooden houses. These beautifully decorated houses are characteristic of this area. Zakopane is the highlight of this. In this fashionable town you will find several large wooden villas, where you can also spend the night.
Zakopane is quite touristy: in the winter it is a busy ski area and in the summer you encounter many hikers and mountain bikers. That makes it that this town is full of life. You will find many nice restaurants and shops for a short stop.
We spent the night at Villa Nosal. This hotel is approximately 1 km walking distance from the center and is therefore a bit quieter. Certainly if you want to go hiking in the Tatra Mountains (which is absolutely worth it!), This hotel is a great base.

For your information: before we started this day trip to Zakopane, we spent 2 nights in Auschwitz to visit Auschwitz concentration camp. If you are also interested in visiting it, we advise you to book tickets in advance via the internet, because it is crowded. It may also be useful to drive the day after the visit: the tour was fierce and impressive. We were happy that we could recover.

This route gets 4.5 stars from me because you cross beautiful nature areas along the way, cross small modest mountain passes and pass a number of viewpoints and interesting stops. In addition, the chosen roads are of good quality.