Travel around Poland: Public transport. Information and Tips
If you are planning your trip to Poland and are wondering how to travel around during your visit, this blog post is for you.
Poland is a relatively big European country, so it may take time and effort to travel around.
The way of getting around the country also depends on how long you are planning to stay in Poland and which places you want to see, whether you are focusing on the biggest cities or you also want to include other spots.
In this blog post, I will tell you more about public transportation in Poland. We will also look at the most common routes that tourists would plan.
All in all, I think it’s safe to say that public transport in Poland is well developed, and you can count on it during your trip – especially on these, the most frequent routes.
Flying between cities
There are 15 international passenger airports in Poland, and you can fly between some of them. Here, you can find details regarding airports in Poland.
You can fly between most of the airports and Warsaw (Okęcie-Chopin Airport) with LOT Polish Airlines. You can also use Warsaw airport for a change if you fly with LOT between Kraków and other cities like Gdańsk or Szczecin.
Also Ryanair flies between some cities, like Kraków or Wrocław to Gdańsk or Kraków to Szczecin.
During the summer there are usually more connections to Gdańsk from Lublin (Ryanair) or Zielona Góra (with LOT).
As you see, you may fly between some of the airports if you prefer this way of transportation more.
Rail transport in Poland
In many cases though, you can use trains. Delays and other issues happen, but trains are still relatively fast, cheap and comfortable. I’ve been using trains a lot during the last 20 years. In past years, the comfort has improved a lot.
Types of Trains
There are different types of train:
Polregio – regional trains stopping at many smaller stops. They are usually quite comfortable; you can use them if you are travelling outside a big city.
Other regional companies – there are also other regional companies specific to the region like Koleje Śląskie or Aviva.
TLK – the abbreviation comes from ‘tanie linie kolejowe’, meaning ‘cheap railways’. These trains are more expensive than Polregio and usually quicker. However, I rather try to avoid them, as they are not comfortable enough for me. On the same routes you will also find trains called Intercity, and I suggest you use them instead.
Intercity – quicker trains travelling on many routes. You can buy tickets for first and second class. Quite often you will find a restaurant waggon in such a train (not always though; you will see it mentioned when buying the ticket).
A few such trains on the longest routes (like from the north of the country at the sea to the south in the mountains) will also have sleeping wagons.
Some of them are part of the international routes: Warsaw to Vienna and Budapest, Warsaw/Gdańsk to Berlin, Gdańsk/Poznań to Prague, etc.
EIP-Express Intercity Premium – it’s a special type of Intercity, so-called Pendolino. It’s the most comfortable and quickest; it’s also more expensive. It’s not going on all the routes, but you can use it, for example, for travelling from Gdańsk to Warsaw or Kraków or between Warsaw and Kraków.
At the moment it costs 225 zł to travel Pendolino from Gdańsk to Kraków (45 GBP, 53 EUR), but the comfort is worth it. It takes less than 6 hours.
You can check the schedule (and buy tickets) for all types of trains here.
Polish Train: Tips
You can buy tickets easily online and just show the PDF. Then you need to have ID with you (if you buy a ticket in the ticket office, ID is not needed).
In Intercity it’s best to buy a ticket a little bit earlier to have a reserved seat. However, you can enter this train if you have a ticket without a seat reservation (in the worst case, you will stand/sit in the corridor).
With Pendolino (EIP) you can only go if you bought the ticket with a reserved seat before. Don’t enter the Pendolino without the ticket and place, as it can cost you around 150 euro to buy it on the train.
Buy the ticket in advance if you go on the most used routes, especially at weekends (and public holidays).
In Intercity and Pendolino, in most of the cases there should be wifi, but honestly, it doesn’t always work, especially in Pendolinos.
Pendolino waggons are always plane-style waggons. For Intercity, it can be plane style or compartments (sometimes there are both options in one train). If you have a preference, you can choose your place during booking.
In some of the trains there is a ‘silent zone waggon’ (usually in the 7th or 8th waggon). It’s good for sleeping, reading or working; I try to use it if I travel alone.
You can check online if the train is on time.
You can order food or drinks from the restaurant waggon to your seat. You can do it in the waggon or even via the WARS app. The food in Wars (meaning restaurant waggon) is not too bad. I recommend especially pierogi.
Bus transport and other options
Buses in Poland
There are obviously also buses. You will use them mostly if travelling to smaller towns or in the eastern part of Poland, as there are fewer train lines and bus transport is more important. You may use buses when going to the Mazury region or to some parts of the mountains.
If you want to use a bus for travelling between bigger cities, look at Flixbus.
In general, I don’t think that on the ‘standard’ touristic route you will use a lot of buses.
Other options
You can obviously rent a car or use taxis and pre-booked transfers if you prefer to travel privately. When it comes to roads, it depends on the place you want to go. Between cities, there are highways.
Generally, it will depend on your needs and plans. However, if you are planning to see the most well-known places in the country, I don’t think you will need to rent a car; you can easily commute with the public transport.
There are also options for shared cars like BlaBlaCar.
How to travel: Most common routes
Let’s look at some of the most common routes that tourists could plan.
Kraków to Warsaw (or opposite)- definitely use the train, EIP for the biggest comfort
Kraków to Wrocław-train
Wrocław to Poznań-train
Wrocław to Gdańsk-train or fly Ryanair
Gdańsk to Warsaw-you can fly with LOT, but I would suggest the train, less than 3 hours, EIP for the biggest comfort
Gdańsk to Kraków- flight (Ryanair or LOT with change) or train, EIP for comfort
Gdańsk to the Mazury region-train+bus
Kraków to Zakopane (Tatra Mountains)-train or bus. Bus outside Zakopane
Gdańsk to Zakopane-train (night train) or Wizzair to Poprad since December
Gdańsk to Hel Peninsula or to Malbork-train
Of course, they are just examples, but I think these are really the most common ones for people doing longer routes in Poland than just a city break.
There is one widely used app that can be quite useful for checking transport options, called Jakdojade (which literally means ‘how I will get’).
Hopefully, together with the other tips mentioned in this blog post, you will be able to get around Poland easily.
Check information about airports in Poland.
Here, you will find other tips regarding your trip to Poland.
