When I first visited Poland for tourism in 2016, I did not have particularly high expectations. I’d previously visited Krakow on a work trip, gotten a taste of the city and was keen to explore more. Additionally, I wanted to visit some historic landmarks such as the Auschwitz concentration camp, which are within reach from the city. Other than that, I had in my head this stereotype of a grey Soviet country. I’ve made many a rail trip around Poland since, both for work and for leisure, and have been pleasantly surprised every time.
The train is my favourite mode of transport for travel around Poland. It’s affordable, it’s relaxed and you get many options for getting from one place to another. The country keeps surprising me. Most Polish cities are packed with history and have been carefully restored after the Second World War and the communist era. The sites reminiscent of WWII are sobering and the countryside is beautiful. Are these not all the ingredients for a successful rail trip around Poland?
Rail travel around Poland
The polish rail network is great. A large and varied suite of rolling stock, ranging from modern high-speed trains to old soviet wagons takes you everywhere around Poland. There is a good range of options for getting from point A to point B.
Timetables & prices
The Polrail website allows you to check the schedule and options. You can buy tickets online, but I have never done this (I tried once, but couldn’t use my foreign credit card). Even though trains can fill up, I’ve never bought a ticket more than a few days in advance and I could always get on the train I wanted. Prices don’t go up closer to the date. They are typically very affordable (for example, I paid 7 euros for a 4 hours’ journey to Lublin) although some of the new high-speed trains between large cities are pricier (Wroclaw to Krakow was around 40 euros).
Buying tickets in advance?
For short distance, suburban trains, there is no need to buy tickets in advance. Just go to the station well in time and buy a ticket at the counter or the vending machine. These trains run at a high frequency, so worst case you have to wait an hour. I try to avoid typical commuter times, as the suburban trains get packed on weekday mornings. For longer distances, I typically buy my onwards ticket upon arrival in a city (i.e. 3 – 4 days before the travel date) to be 100% sure I get a place on the train I want and to avoid long, stressful queues right before departure.
Communication
The main challenge is the language barrier. I’ve found that few of the railway staff speak (or want to speak) English and I got shouted at a couple of times when attempting German (WWII is not that very long ago). I’ve sometimes had to write down the name of the city I wanted to go to or indeed, find a friendly fellow traveler willing to do to talking for me. On one occasion, I’m pretty sure the cleaning lady in a small station sold me a fake ticket when the counter was closed!
Warsaw
If you are flying in from abroad, Warsaw will most likely be the easiest starting point for a Polish rail trip. Spend at least a couple of days in this capital packed with history. I enjoyed spending time in Warsaw’s historic centre and old town, but the best part were the excellent museums.
My two recommendations for must-see museums are the Jewish Museum and the Museum of the Uprising. The Museum of the Uprising covers Poland during the second World War. The focus is on the infamous Warsaw Uprising instigated by the Polish Resistance toward the end of the war. We then had a quick (and late) sandwich lunch in the Jewish museum and spent several hours going the exhibits of Jewish history in Poland. Finally, Warsaw is the city of Chopin and no visit is complete without going to the museum dedicated to the composer.
Warsaw is well connected to the rest of Poland by train and therefore the ideal place for starting your trail trip. After having spent time in the busy capital, you will enjoy winding down in Malbork. This small town with huge castle is just a 2.5 hours train journey away.
Malbork Castle
A stop at Malbork, perhaps better known internationally as Marienburg, is the perfect layover when crossing Poland in any direction or as a day trip from Gdansk. Malbork a relatively sleepy town in the Pomerania province. It conveniently benefits from a large station where most high-speed trains call. However, if it weren’t for its UNESCO listed Teutonic castle, Malbork would most likely be overlooked by the crowds.
The Teutonic order is a Catholic order of crusaders who made it their mission to provide shelter and protection to Christians on pilgrimage to the Holy land. The order exists up to today and conducts charitable works. The castle is actually a fortified monastery dating from the 13th century. Throughout the centuries it fell in decay and additionally suffered damage during the World War II. It is now beautifully restored.
Apart from the Teutonic castle, there is one other interesting sight for those visiting Malbork. It is Esperanto Square (Skwer). The square is merely a small stretch of green in between grey apartment buildings that breathe communist legacy. Nonetheless this little oasis in honour of the global language invented by Ludwig Zamenhof is quite interesting. The memorials to Esperanto speakers from all over the world (as far away as Congo) give an idea of the size of the Esperanto project.
From Malbork, Gdańsk is the logical next stop. A fast train takes you there in 30 minutes.
Gdańsk
Gdańsk has been up and coming as a tourist destination for a few years. Allegedly, 80% of the city was founded by the descendant of a Flemish family, one Abraham Van Den Block. The thought of the legacy of one of my compatriots generated even more excitement. After World War II, most of the buildings in the main town have been restored to their original state. I didn’t appreciate prior to my visit how violently Gdansk has been hit by the war. The “before” and “after” photos I saw were shocking.
A visit to the Post Office Museum made the war feel very real. The museum tells the story of post office staff fiercely defending themselves during a Nazi attack at the very beginning of the war. They held strong for 15 hours before finally surrendering and being executed in the courtyard.
After a couple of days in town, I crave countryside. If you are the same, I recommend catching some fresh air on the Baltic Coast as next stop. A two hours train journey will take you to the Hel Peninsula. The first leg of the journey is a 30 minutes ride to Gdynia. Then you travel onwards on a slow train terminating in Hel.
Hel Peninsula
Hel is a quaint seaside village that feels like Heaven! It sits on the outermost point of a 35km long sand bar stretching into the Baltic sea. In terms of tourism, Hel has seen better days. Expect 60s style seaside apartments and old-fashioned eateries serving classic Polish dishes, rather than hipster cafés. But that’s what makes Hel charming. We rented bikes one day to ride along the peninsula and explore the beaches. Another day we rented go-carts to see the points of interest closer to Hel, such as the lighthouse and former military buildings.
Since the Hel Peninsula is so remote, the next stop is a bit of a trek. An 8 hours journey will take you to pretty Wrocław. A layover in Poznan (7 hours) is an option, but hardly brings relief.
If you don’t want to undertake the trek to Hel but still get sea views, catch a train from Gdańsk to Sopot (20 minute). Once a posh beach resort, Sopot is now mainly known for partying, but during daytime you can get some quiet time on the beach and the pier.
Wroclaw
Wroclaw is sometimes named as the most beautiful city of Poland, beating better known siblings such as Krakow or Gdansk. Tourism in Wroclaw only really took of in 2016, when the city held the title of Europe’s culture capital. The river Oder crisscrosses the city, dividing it in multiple small “islands”. A city walking tour is the best way to get to know this labyrinth and take a peak in Wroclaw’s complex past. The market square (rynek) with old town hall and the cathedral island are the main attractions of Wroclaw. Wandering around the centuries old university and baroque-style royal palace completes your dose of culture.
If you are up for some kitsch rather can culture, let the gnomes of Wroclaw guide you around the city. Indeed, more than 300 bronze statues, featuring gnomes in different configurations can be found around the city. In the 1980s, a protest movement against the communist regimes adopted gnomes (krasnal in Polish) as their token. They used them creatively to mock the standing regime and communists. Until a few years ago, only a small number of gnome statues were hidden in Wroclaw, reminding the communist days. However, they have recently boomed and become the subject of advertising campaigns and clever marketing of local businesses. From Wroclaw, the trip to Katowice is an easy 2.5 hours ride.
Katowice + day trip to Oswiecim (Auschwitz & Birkenau)
Katowice on its own wouldn’t make my list of top stops on a rail trip around Poland. It’s a small town with a large industrial heritage. If you are interested in Poland’s mining past, you have come to the right place. If not, half a day will suffice to take a walk around the old town and pretty market square and perhaps enjoy a modernist art exhibition or concert.
The main reason to stop in Katowice is its proximity to Oswiecim (50 minutes by train). Better known internationally as Auschwitz, a visit to the former concentration camp is not the most pleasant stop on a trail trip around Poland, but definitely the most sobering. Auschwitz & Birkenau is a very popular excursion these days and a guided tour is the only way to enter the site. If you are planning to visit, book your tickets at least a few weeks in advance.
A day trip is the best way to visit Oswiecim, returning to Katowice. The next stop, Kraków, is just one hour by suburban train.
Kraków
Kraków is the city I’ve visited several times, but I still feel like I can go back and explore more! The old city and Wawel Castle are worth a detour, but my favourite area in Kraków is the historic Jewish quarter, Kazimierz. It is still the melting pot of Polish and Jewish culture that has long defined and in the recent years it has also become home to many indie shops and crafts markets. A very pleasant place to hang out for a few days.
From Kazimierz, it is easy to visit the Podgórze district, where the Kraków ghetto was located from 1941 onwards. The main attraction here is Oskar Schindler’s former enamel factory, which now houses the city’s historic museum.
The train to my next recommended stop, Lublin, takes 5 hours. Direct trains are not frequent, so you might have to change at Radom.
Lublin
Lublin was best surprise of my latest trip to Poland. Unlike many other Polish cities, Lublin remained largely undestroyed during WWII. As a result, the streets of Lublin are lined with beautiful historic buildings, churches and old city walls. It’s easy to spend 2 – 3 days just enjoying the old town and visiting the many points of interest and quirky museums, such as the tunnel labyrinth hidden underneath the market square and the medieval castle.
Lublin is sometimes dubbed the “Jerusalem of the West”, because of the large Jewish population. Despite the fact that the town escaped destruction, the atrocities of WWII hit Lublin like almost no other Polish city – more than 40.000 resident Jews perished in nearby Majdanek concentration camp. Majdanek is an easy bus ride from the centre of Lublin and a visit to the grounds and mausoleum will leave you speechless.
Today, Lublin is still home to a significant and growing Jewish population. Finding authentic Jewish food is easy and delicious.
From Lublin, multiple direct trains can take you back to Warsaw. However, if you have a couple of days left for your rail trip around Poland, I recommend hopping across the Ukrainian border! From Lublin it’s a relaxed four hours’ train journey to Przemyśl, a small town on the border of Poland and Ukraine. Here you can hop on a Ukrainian train and just one hour later you will arrive in old Habsburger town Lviv.
BONUS: hopping into Ukraine (Lviv)
In Lviv, you can try Ukraine’s hippest cafés, coolest baristas and best hot chocolate in. My trip not only got me high on caffeine, it also changed my view and altered any preconception I had about this former Soviet county.
Lviv is the largest city in Western Ukraine, barely 70km from the Polish border. Convenient train services connect Lviv with major Polish cities, making it the perfect extension of a road or rail trip around Poland. The city escaped the biggest destructions of the Second World War. As a result, the city centre is packed with Austro-Hungarian history and beautiful architecture. Moreover, sitting in one of Lviv’s traditional cafés, sipping delicious kavy or creamy hot chocolate, feels like sitting in a posh Vienna neighbourhood.
From Lviv, you can travel back to Warzaw on a daytime train (change at Przemyśl). Alternatively, my preferred option, is to take the sleeper train (you can not only travel to Warsaw, but also Krakow or Wroclaw). You get to travel on an old Soviet train, experience gauge changing at the border in the middle of the night and save a night’s accommodation.
