Trains from Warsaw to Krakow (and back)

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jleonard518
jleonard518

I just returned from a one-week trip to Poland. I highly recommend Poland to everyone.

We flew in and out of Warsaw and used the train to get to Karkow.

Lonely Planet has rules against promoting websites but I hope it is OK to share the one I used. I don't stand to gain anything by sharing the link. I used this site to buy my tickets and they are legitimate.

http://booking.polrail.com/

I booked 10 days before my trip and didn't want to chance the tickets not arriving by mail so I opted to have them left for me. The company sent me an email with a 1-page PDF document. The document had clear instructions in English regarding how to pick up my tickets. The tickets were left at a downtown post office that is open 24/7 so I was able to pick them up on a Sunday.

We rode a first class car on the 3-hour train. It was a 6-person compartment, comfortable enough for the trip but a little tight for luggage space. We booked out of the central train station in Warsaw and into the only train station in Krakow. The Karkow station (Krakow-Glowny?) is attached to the Krakow bus terminal.

Here's another good tip. You can take a train from the central warsaw transtation to the Chopin International Airport. We lucked out there, I was assuming we'd have to walk with our luggage to the subway or bus in Warsaw. However, we arrived in Warsaw at 12:47 PM and hopped on a 13:20 train to the airport. The airport run is 20 minutes or less.

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bassalegboy
bassalegboy

When I was in Poland last year I just bought my tickets for the next stage as I arrived. (For example when I arrived in Lublin, I bought my ticket for my next stage, Krakow, there and then. Likewise for Wroclaw and the Warsaw). Easy and quite cheap way of doing it.

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akiestar
akiestar

Curious question for the thread starter: where were you when you bought your tickets? To an extent I'll understand buying from a reseller if you were outside Poland, but if you were in Poland I don't really see the point of buying from Polrail or any reseller f you could have bought directly from PKP, either online or at Warszawa Centralna.

Also, you lose out on other trains when buying from Polrail: it seems that they only offer the express PKP trains. For example, I took the train from Warsaw to Kraków onboard a Przewozy Regionalne train: it was a decent Inter-Regio train which made it to Kraków in three hours, stopping only twice. Sure, the train is a bit slower than the expresses, but it's much cheaper.

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donbigosso
donbigosso

hahaha! i don't get it??? why u make your life much more difficult and expensive. i checked pollrail train tickets from my hometown Bydgoszcz to Warsaw and they are about 150% the price of a normal ticket... and going to the post office??? crazy! use the cashier desk at the station!

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mithunkr
mithunkr

Hi Friends,
I found that there's also PolskiBus service between Warsaw and Krakow. It seems to be cheaper and slightly longer in terms of travel time (bit more than 4 hours).

Does anyone have experience of a bus ride between these cities? Would you recommend it, if one is in no hurry to reach?

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ig0r
ig0r

PolskiBus is fine. Nice modern coaches, free WiFi on board. The drawback is you can't stretch your legs as on the train, but the journey is not that long anyway. Regarding travel time, you also need to add the time to reach the departure stop in Warsaw, which is at Wilanowska metro station, not exactly in the city centre.

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naive2016
naive2016

What about train travel over the Christmas period?
I'm travelling to Poland (Krakow) on 24 Dec and want to then travel to Warsaw and back to Krakow sometime between 24 and 31 Dec. What would people recommend? Do I need to book in advance, assuming it's a busy period to be travelling on trains? If so, what website can I use or should I speak to an agent?

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ig0r
ig0r

During the Christmas period it's best to book in advance - it's the busiest travel period in the whole year. Book online directly with the Polish Railways at [www.intercity.pl].

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