Kraków Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Contents

Land

Bus

The modern bus terminal is behind the city’s main train station, Kraków Główny, just northeast of the Old Town. Travel by bus is particularly advisable to places like Zakopane (16zł, 2½ hours) as it’s considerably shorter and faster than by train, and fast PKS buses go there roughly every half-hour. Two private companies, Trans Frej (www.trans-frej.com.pl) and Szwagropol (www.szwagropol.pl), also run buses to Zakopane, which are marginally cheaper and much faster (15zł, 1¾ hours). Tickets for Trans-Frej are available from Waweltur (012 422 1921; www.waweltur.com.pl; ul Pawia 8; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, 8am-2pm Sat); for Szwagropol, tickets are sold by Centrum Turystyki (012 422 2904; ul Worcella 1) opposite the train station. Both also go to Nowy Sącz (16zł) and Nowy Targ (14zł).

There are around six daily PKS departures to Częstochowa (15zł, three hours) and hourly ones to Oświęcim (8zł, 1½ hours). Other destinations include up to five buses a day to Lublin (35zł, 4½ hours), six to Zamość (21zł to 35zł, four to five hours) and 10 to Cieszyn (15zł, two hours) at the Czech border. There are also up to four buses a day to Warsaw (38zł to 43zł, five to 5½ hours). Other des­tinations are better served by train.

There are plenty of international buses run by Eurolines (www.eurolinespolska.com.pl), including those to Amsterdam (269zł, 20½ hours), Budapest (100zł, 7½ hours), London (349zł, 27 hours), Munich (231zł, 19 hours), Paris (349zł, 24 hours), Prague (115zł, 10 hours), Riga (194zł, 20 hours), Rome (350zł, 25 hours) and Vienna (130zł, 10½ hours). Information and tickets are available from Waweltur as well as Jordan (012 393 5266; www.jordan.pl;8am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-3pm Sat) in the bus terminal. Check the website www.eurolinespolska.com.pl for the latest prices and timetable information.

Train

The lovely Kraków Główny (Kraków Central) train station, on the northeastern outskirts of the Old Town, handles all international and most domestic trains. The only other station of any significance is Kraków Płaszów, 4km southeast of the city centre, which operates a few trains that don’t call at Kraków Główny. Local trains between the two stations run every 15 to 30 minutes. All trains listed here depart from the central station. Advance tickets for international and domestic trains can be booked directly at the station or from Cracow Tours.

Each day from Kraków, 10 fast trains head for Warsaw (71zł to 89zł, 2¾ hours) and to Wrocław (34zł, 4½ hours). Count on six trains to Poznań (50zł, five to six hours), two to Lublin (40zł to 115zł, five hours) and eight to Gdynia via Gdańsk (105zł, 7¼ hours).

To Częstochowa (31zł, two hours), there are two morning fast trains as well as several afternoon/evening trains. Trains to Katowice (20zł, 1½ hours) run every half-hour to an hour. There are plenty of trains daily to Tarnów (13zł, 1½ hours). A dozen of these trains continue to Rzeszów (19.50zł, 2½ hours). To Oświęcim (11zł, 1½ hours), there are a couple of trains early in the morning and then nothing until the afternoon.

Internationally, there are daily direct trains to Berlin, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Hamburg, Kyiv, Odesa, Prague and Vienna.

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Air

John Paul II International Airport (012 295 5800; www.lotnisko-balice.pl) is in Balice, about 11km west of the city. The only domestic flights from here are to Warsaw (up to 10 a day), which you can reach more cheaply centre to centre by train, and Gdańsk (twice daily). Kraków has direct international flight connections with up to four dozen mostly European cities including Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Rome and Vienna. There are also flights to Chicago (daily) and New York (twice weekly).

LOT (0801 703 703; ul Basztowa 15; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-3pm Sat) makes reservations and issues tickets.

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