Poland is situated in Central Europe. It borders on Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania. Through the Baltic Sea it has easy access to Scandinavia. As a result, within a radius of 1000km there are 500m consumers.
On 21 December 2007 Poland entered the Schengen zone. As a result, systematic border controls were abolished on Poland’s border to Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Lithuania.
Poland is relatively large, with an area of 312,683 square kilometres (120,727 square miles) making Poland the ninth biggest country of the continent. Around 75% of the area is plain, so Poland is predominantly a lowland country. Unusually, almost 30% of the country is covered by forests. The northern part of Poland is the Baltic Coast with more than 500 kilometres of sandy beaches, bays and cliffs. The southern part is mountainous. The north-eastern part of Poland is Mazuria, called “the country of a thousand lakes” where it is possible to sail uninterrupted for almost 750km.
The climate of Poland is moderate and is characterized by warm summers and relatively cold winters. The coldest months are January and February with average daily temperatures between minus 5 C and minus 1 C. July temperatures ranges from 17 C to 20 C.
