1

Hi - and welcome to Thorn Tree.

Best and cheapest, as usual, are two different options.
Cheapest option....
S7 - KZN to St. Petersburg (via Domodedovo). Finnair via Helsinki and Warsaw.
Total time 16+ hours.... €360.

Best option....
Aeroflot - KZN-Moscow Sheremetyevo. LOT Sheremetyevo-Katowice via Frankfurt Main.
Total time 10 hours.... €1,400.

The train(s) with 3 changes in Wekowa, Moscow and Warsaw takes 41 hours. I don't know the fares though.
The changes en-route involve hanging around for connections, totalling 8 hours.
I think I'd take the flights. Not the most expensive ones though.
There's probably a bus route as well. Others here might be able to help you with that.
Best of luck with everything.

2

Hi aliceimwunderland1!

Welcome to TT!

Take also a look at fares (and travel times) by air from Kazan to Krakow. You can easily go from Krakow to Katowice overland by train.

3

Train:
Kazan - Moskva - 1000 rub. in platskart
Moskva - Brest - 1700 rub. in platskart
Brest - Terespol - ~5 euro on local train
Terespol - Warszawa - 45 zł
Total: approx. 85 euros
That's the cheap option, requiring getting off the train in Brest and taking a local train over the border (e.g. you can go overnight from Kazan to Moscow, then take the afternoon train no. 27 arriving in Brest at 5:30 local time. This would allow you to catch the 8 am train from Brest to Terespol and then one of the trains from Terespol to Warsaw) . There are of course direct Moscow-Warsaw trains, but they are more expensive (~100 euro for Moscow - Warsaw).

4

Actually I suspect the method mentioned above by Igor is not the cheapest. I suspect that taking the train from Moscow - Lviv (Ukraine) is cheaper than going via Brest for two reasons: 1) Brest is in Belarus, so you will need a visa and 2) Lviv is closer to Katowice than Brest is.

From Lviv there are direct trains to Krakow in Poland, or you can get a local bus to the border, cross it on foot, then get a bus to Przemysl and from there on to Krakow.

5

I still think the €360 I posted in *8 - is right up there with the 'Best' ! !

6

Here are some bus options but they all go through Latvia or Lithuania, which makes little sense if you want to get to Katowice. If you use a good search engine, you may find really cheap flights from Moscow to Warsaw / Frankfurt via Riga or Prague (about 150-200 Eur, 6 hrs). If you book well in advance on LOT site you may find a straight Moscow-Warsaw ticket for less than 100 Eur, and an express train to Katowice takes 2 hours and costs about 30 Eur, and departs every hour or so.

The best combination of price and comfort is a train to Moscow (900 roubles 3rd class, 8hrs), then a train to Lviv (2100 roubles 3rd class, 22 hrs), then to Katowice (check at http://www.pkp.pl , 12 hrs, about 200 pln = 2000 roubles, 2nd class) = 5000 roubles and at least 3 days.

I usually take a straight train Moscow-Warsaw (18 hrs for 100 euro), but I have a multiply Belorussian visa.

7

Wow wow wow,

thank you guys. I see there are a few options travelling to Katowice as I firstly thought. You are indeed so much better in helping and describing than the old ladies at the Kazan trainstation. Thanks a lot!!!

8

try wizzair or airbaltic, both stop at Katowice and other main cities in the region (but not Kazan, better get to moscow)